{"id":2654,"date":"2024-08-22T02:40:19","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T02:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2654"},"modified":"2024-10-12T20:58:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T20:58:52","slug":"dazed-and-confused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/22\/dazed-and-confused\/","title":{"rendered":"Dazed and Confused"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Dazed and Confused<\/strong> (1993)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gramercy\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 102 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong language, teen drug and alcohol use, some violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Richard Linklater\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Richard Linklater\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harry Garfield (supervisor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Lee Daniel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 24, 1993 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Rory Cochrane, Matthew McConaughey, Sasha Jenson, Cole Hauser, Jason O. Smith, Benn Affleck, Michelle Burke, Christine Harnos, Deena Martin, Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, Marissa Ribisi, Shane Andrews, Milla Jovovich, Joey Lauren Adams, Parker Posey, Nicky Katt, Christin Hinojosa, Catherine Morris, Esteban Powell, Mark Vandermeulen, Jeremy Fox, Renee Zellweger,\u00a0 Terry Mross, Rick Moser, Kim Krizan, Katherine Asher, Kathleen Cunningham, Richard Dillard, John Swasey, Fred Lerner, David Blackwell, Mona Lee Futz.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $7.9M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0ABSOLUTE PERFECTION! No two words better describe Dazed and Confused<\/strong>, writer-director Richard Linklater\u2019s flawless sophomore effort. After breaking onto the scene with 1991\u2019s droll comedy Slacker, he went on to create one of the best high school comedies ever made. In my not-so-humble opinion, it\u2019s also one of the best movies EVER!<\/p>\n

\u00a0I saw Dazed and Confused<\/strong> for the first time on October 6, 1993 (it opened in Philadelphia on Oct. 8) at an advance screening. I knew it would be great. It had many things I liked- a 70s setting, a rock-driven soundtrack, an ensemble cast and pot smoking. It made my list of all-time favorite movies that same night. I ended up seeing it four times at the cinema and many more when a friend gifted me with a screener copy the following January.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In anticipation of the \u201cspiritual sequel\u201d Everybody Wants Some, I watched Dazed and Confused<\/strong> for the first time in nearly 20 years. It\u2019s still as great as ever. Structured like American Graffiti, it\u2019s set over the course of a single day and night (May 28, 1976), the last day of school at Lee High School in Austin, Texas. Next year\u2019s seniors are planning the annual hazing- boys get paddled, girls get humiliated- of the incoming freshmen. Star football player Randall \u201cPink\u201d Floyd (London, The Rage: Carrie 2) struggles with deciding whether or not to sign a pledge promising that he will abstain from drugs and alcohol over the summer for the good of his team. His teammates urge him to sign; he thinks it\u2019s a violation of his rights.<\/p>\n

\u00a0After a violent hazing, mostly at the hands of sadistic second-time senior O\u2019Bannion (Affleck, Good Will Hunting), new freshman Mitch (Wiggins, Waking Life) is invited to hang out with Pink and his friend Wooderson (McConaughey, A Time to Kill), a man in his early 20s who still likes to socialize with high school students. He says, in one the movie\u2019s most quotable lines, \u201cThat\u2019s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Most of Dazed and Confused<\/strong> takes place that night. The teens hang out, cruise, drink beer, smoke weed, make out and get into trouble. The night ends at an impromptu keg party in a field near the moonlight tower. As you see, there\u2019s not much in the way of plot. I think the term is \u201chang out movie\u201d. Or \u201cparty flick\u201d. Either way, it\u2019s a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Instead of just offering up high school archetypes like nerd, jock and mean bitch, Linklater gives us characters that are more like the kids we knew when we were in high school. They\u2019re more grounded in reality than the kids in Porky\u2019s. They don\u2019t play elaborate, meticulously-planned pranks. The guys don\u2019t go to ludicrous measures to spy on the girls in the locker room. The keg party doesn\u2019t go wildly out of control. The night unfolds in pretty much the same way it has for many a high school student hanging out with their friends on a summer night. Like with any group of high schoolers, you like some and some not so much. As I\u2019m sure you recall, every class has a few kids we could do without like resident mean girl Darla (Posey, Josie and the Pussycats).<\/p>\n

\u00a0The ensemble cast does a great job. Who would have guessed that three of them- Affleck, McConaughey and Renee Zellweger (in a wordless role)- would go on to win Oscars? Rory Cochrane (CSI) is great as resident stoner Slater. Some of his monologues are priceless. Other great and memorable characters include feminist Kaye (Harnos, Judgment Night), Pink\u2019s girlfriend Simone (Adams, Chasing Amy), Mitch\u2019s older sister Jodi (Burke, Coneheads), stoner couple Pickford (Andrews) and Michelle (Jovovich, Resident Evil) and intellectual trio Mike (Goldberg, Saving Private Ryan), Tony (Rapp, Adventures in Babysitting) and Cynthia (Ribisi, The Brady Bunch Movie). Rounding the ensemble are jocks Dawson (Jenson, Halloween 4), Benny (Hauser, Good Will Hunting) and Mel (Smith), macho bully Clint (Katt, A Time to Kill), Dawson\u2019s girlfriend Shavonne (Martin), cute freshman girl Sabrina (Hinojosa) and sophomore Julie (Morris).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Dazed and Confused<\/strong> has an awesome soundtrack that includes cuts from Aerosmith (\u201cSweet Emotion\u201d), Alice Cooper (\u201cSchool\u2019s Out\u201d), Foghat (\u201cSlow Ride\u201d), Black Oak Arkansas (\u201cJim Dandy\u201d), Peter Frampton (\u201cShow Me the Way\u201d), Jethro Tull (\u201cStranglehold\u201d) and Nazareth (\u201cLove Hurts\u201d). Oddly enough, the Led Zeppelin song of the title is NOT in the movie (Linklater couldn\u2019t get the rights). The music adds a strong note of authenticity as do the cars, fashions and interior d\u00e9cor. At one point, some of the characters go to a drive-in burger joint. Linklater has a great eye for period detail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Dazed and Confused<\/strong> even looks like it was made in the 70s. A friend I brought with me on my third viewing said it looked like a movie that would be shown late at night on a UHF channel. The screenplay is spot-on perfect! The dialogue is both funny and authentic. The movie never feels too crowded. Linklater knows how to handle a large cast. Dazed and Confused<\/strong> is pure excellence! It paints a beautiful and realistic portrait of being a teen in the 70s (or any decade after for that matter). There\u2019s a reason why it\u2019s a cult classic.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dazed and Confused (1993)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gramercy\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 102 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong language, teen drug and alcohol use, some violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Richard Linklater\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Richard Linklater\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harry Garfield (supervisor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Lee Daniel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 24, 1993 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Rory Cochrane, Matthew McConaughey, Sasha Jenson, Cole Hauser, Jason O. Smith, Benn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cool-cult-flicks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Dazed-and-Confused-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2654"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3556,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2654\/revisions\/3556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}