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Year: 1993 - Detour Film Production
Director: Richard Linklater Screenplay: Richard Linklater Starring: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Christin Hinojosa, Sasha Jenson, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Rory Cochrane, Joey Lauren Adams, Milla Jovovich, Shawn Andrews, Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, Marissa Ribisi, Michelle Burke, Cole Hauser, Esteban Powell, Jason O. Smith, Matthew McConaughey, and Terry Mross |
This was the era before Nancy Reagan's "Say no to drugs" campaign. The drinking age was eighteen, and Texas had very lax drinking and driving laws. What a person did in the privacy of their car was considered equivalent to what they did in their own home. A drug or alcohol test as a condition of employment or participation in school activities was out of the question. Many school teachers during the era had lived during the radical sixties when experimentation with mind expanding drugs was common. While many sixties' drug users would consider what they did a way of altering their perception of reality, most of the high school users of the seventies used drugs along with alcohol for purely recreational purposes. Many parents and school administrators became increasingly alarmed at the widespread use drugs and the high rate of alcohol related highway deaths during the late 1970's. What followed in the coming years was the raising of the legal drinking age and the now familiar anti-drug campaigns.
Linklater focuses on the rite of passage of two freshmen and the character of senior quarterback Randall "Pink" Floyd. Rite of passage for the freshmen in this film involves some rather cruel and violent hazing. For incoming freshmen males, this hazing consists of a summer full of fraternity style spankings with wooden paddles by the new high school seniors. These spankings are administered with particularly severe gusto that would make any L. A. policeman proud. We follow the hazing through the eyes of Mitch, played by Wiley Wiggins. After his humiliating beating he is invited by Randall to ride with the seniors to a party later that evening. While this sick and repulsive hazing practice on the surface appears to be a guarantee that Texans grow up to be arrogant, sadistic assholes, it also serves a deep social function. By enduring the beatings, Mitch shows the seniors (particularly the football players) that he is worthy of inclusion into their society. Such hazing has existed in many societies around the world for thousands of years. The fact that this practice persists is amazing. As in other tribal societies (I consider a football team a tribe), the young initiate has to go through some test of endurance of pain. For males, there usually are also tests of maturity or manhood. Many times, mind altering substances are administered to the candidate as a part of a spiritual quest. Mitch has a chance to experience all of this in one day.
After the pain test, Mitch bonds with his elders by riding around with them and participating in some pranks. He proves his manhood by buying some beer. Some of those doing the hazing in the movie are doing it for pure sadistic pleasure. One such is character is O'Bannion, played by Ben Affleck. Mitch demonstrates is unwillingness to be intimidated by devising a prank that ultimately humiliates O'Bannion in front of his friends. His newfound status in the society attracts the attention of a sophomore girl, Julie (Catherine Morris), proving his sexual maturity. At the party that night, Mitch partakes in his first drug use and a whole lot of drinking. He stays out until the early morning hours making out with Julie. When he finally makes it home, even his mother treats him as if he has been transformed into someone older.
For Sabrina (Christin Hinojosa) and other freshman females the hazing takes the form not of physical abuse, but of cruel public humiliation. The girls must; suck on baby pacifiers; lie on the ground any time a senior demands it; propose marriage to a senior boy; get covered with mustard and catsup; and endure a shower at a car wash. Like Mitch, Sabrina is invited by one of the seniors to that evening's party. She also hangs out with the senior girls. The bonding between the young women does not seem as close as with the guys. There is a lot of flirting with boys and the competition for attention does not allow the senior women to so easily accept the younger students. At the party, Sabrina also partakes of drugs and beer. She spends most of the evening with a senior boy, Tony, portrayed by Anthony Rapp. Tony, who has little romantic experience with women, is at the party with his other two intellectual friends for some "real visceral experience." Sabrina, although much younger than Tony, is more mature than Tony emotionally and makes him feel confident and comfortable in her presence. She is probably the first female to ever show interest in him. When she is with Tony, she has the confidence to stand up to a particularly spiteful senior, Darla, played by Parker Posey. Like Mitch, Sabrina feels transformed by her initiation into high school.
For Randall "Pink" Floyd, the day is the day when he decides what is to be a man. In his senior year in high school he will be the starting quarterback for the football team. This is no small thing. In Texas, high school football is taken very seriously. To insure the total commitment of his team, the coach has handed out a pledge for all of the players to sign. By signing the pledge, each team member promises to refrain from the use of drugs and alcohol. All of Pink's teammates simply sign the pledge and go about their usual partying lifestyle. Pink sees the pledge as an affront to his privacy and refuses to sign.
Team sports are suppose to build strong character traits in student athletes. This is one of the main justifications for their inclusion in academic institutions. The assumption made by the coach, and quite a few other people, is that the drug and alcohol use by the team members will have an adverse affect on their character. Linklater tries to show that this is not necessarily true. Linklater does not portray his characters in the film as addicts, however; they are not just casual users either. In almost every scene in the film, when the students are not under the watchful eye of an adult, there is always somebody either drinking a beer, toking some weed, or taking a hit on a bong. Despite the drug and alcohol use by Pink, he is shown to have admirable qualities. He is fair and honest with dealing with people. He shows compassion and befriends Mitch after the freshman's hazing. He steps in and stops a fight when one of his friends is obviously overmatched. He provides leadership because he elevates the character of others when he is around. His coach's concerns that his hanging around "that bad crowd" would bring him down are unfounded. If anything, Pink brings out the best in that bad crowd. By choosing not to sign the pledge, Randall shows that he is not willing to be a hypocrite. Standing up for his friends and against his coach takes the type of courage that team sports are suppose to foster. By taking responsibility for his actions and beliefs, Randall makes the transition into full adulthood.
The film has several other interesting characters. Most notably are the intellectual friends; Tony, Mike, and Cynthia. Tony ,as mentioned earlier, has his first romantic encounter. Cynthia (Marissa Ribisi) gets some attention from an older man and gear head, Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey), who still hangs around the much younger high school kids. Wooderson can't get over his high school years when he was the big man on campus. Despite the protests of her friends, Cynthia is glad for the attention. Mike (Adam Goldberg) gets in a fight at the party with a thug, just because he is tired of being too afraid to fight. A very funny character is Slater, played by Rory Cochrane. Slater is the school pot head. It's easy to see that Slater takes on the persona because it gives him the notoriety he needs.
On the whole, the movie gets better on subsequent viewing. There are some problems with the film's narrative. This was Linklater's first big budget film and it was probably a difficult adjustment. In some ways, a smaller budget may have added a little more intimacy to this film. The studio was probably hoping for a good-time, party film. It's notable that Linklater tried to avoid many of the party movies clichés (moving the party from a house to an outdoor setting helped). Although not the film Slacker is, this movie is definitely worth seeing if only for the dead-on accurate cultural portrayal of small town, high school life.
*1976 - Gas was still less than $0.50 a gallon. It was the last gasp for the muscle cars; Camaros, souped up Novas and Challengers, Trans Ams, and Mustang's. The details, as far as hairstyles and cloths, are hilariously accurate. This was a year before punk broke. The only alternative to disco was Frampton, Foghat, BTO, and Nugent. Yikes!!! back