Editor’s Note: A special thanks goes out to actress Meredith Salenger for her contributions to this article.
This won’t be your clichéd Top 10 list, where all of the movies are the overused, always predictable classics. No, this list is about the movies that you may or may not know – but should get more credit for their excellence. So with all due respect and love to National Lampoon’s Animal House, To Sir, With Love, Better Off Dead, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club, here are the ten movies that rise to the head of the class.
Honorable Mention: One Crazy Summer
No list of school movies would be complete without the summer vacation movie of the ’80s. John Cusack’s Hoops McCann joined a gang of ’80s stars (Demi Moore, Curtis Armstrong, Bobcat Goldthwait) to bring to life the “hardships“ of a Nantucket summer. Add in veteran actors Billie Bird, William Hickey and Mark Metcalf, and the comedy rolled. In one of the more memorable moments, Bruce Wagner’s Uncle Frank blows up the local radio stationafter his pursuit of a summer contest goes wrong.
10.
Back to School
Rodney Dangerfield’s performance as Thornton Melon in the 1985 comedy Back to School is a reminder that education has no boundaries or age barriers. Wanting to earn his college degree, Melon joins his son at Grand Lakes University and learns that money can’t buy everything. With his bug-eyed bravado, Dangerfield charms his way into the #10 spot on the list, earning extra points for introducing us all to the dive we wish we could try, the Triple Lindy. With ever-present ’80s badass William Zabka showing up to instigate the action (Zabka will show up again on this list), Back to School is the perfect start to your school movie viewing.
09.
Stand and Deliver
Based on the true story of Jaime Escalante’s methods of teaching calculus to students a a school in East Los Angeles, the performances turned in by Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips are second to none. Their chemistry only added to the story of the underprivileged youth learning the highest levels of math in a less than supportive environment. And Olmos introduced students everywhere to the “Finger Man,” a trick I know at least a few teachers and students still use.
08.
Lucas
For anyone who hit their growth spurt a little later in life, or for those of us who wanted to be something we were always told we couldn’t, Lucas shows us all that anything is possible. Corey Haim plays the title character, and does so with an innocence and believability that made him the star he was. With Kerri Green and Charlie Sheen co-starring and Jeremy Piven as his usual ’80s self – a pompous jackass – the movie became a cult favorite, even if some of the story is campy. But I’ll be damned if that ending doesn’t get me everytime – slow clap and all.
07.
Revenge of the Nerds
“Any of you that have ever felt stepped on, left out, picked on, put down, whether you think you’re a nerd or not, why don’t you just come down here and join us.”
The second college film on the list is the 1984 masterpiece Revenge of the Nerds – a calling out to those who have ever been picked on to stand up and fight for their rights. Focused on the group of outcasts who form the Lambda Lambda Lambda (ΛΛΛ) fraternity and their battles with the Alpha Beta’s (ΑΒ), the story wins the audience with geniuses, both its characters and the comedy. Along the way, the hijinks and fun keep moving, while the Tri-Lambs earn the respect and love of those on campus.
06.
Real Genius
Val Kilmer may best be known as Batman to some, but to us kindred spirits that love everything ’80s, he was the original Dark Knight – Chris Knight. Struggling against the confines of his intelligence and against the overzealous aspirations of William Atherton’s Professor Hathaway, Knight changes the game with the help of newbie Mitch and the man who lives in the closet, Lazlo. What ensues is one of the iconic images of cinema history – with Tears for Fears ’80s smash hit, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” blasting over the credits.
05.
Just One of the Guys
“It’s OK, everybody, it’s all right. He has tits.”
And so goes the 1985 comedy Just One of the Guys – a story about a young woman who attempts to prove that she can make it as a man. Many elements worked in this film – the princess of one school goes undercover as a wimp at another. She falls for a boy, all while avoiding the ire of school bully (the brilliant Zabka, again) only to have it all blow up in her face, where else, at prom. But the beauty of this movie is the amazing portrayal by Joyce Hyser and the chemistry of the entire cast.
04.
Can’t Buy Me Love
Taking its title from the old Beatles song, 1987’s Can’t Buy Me Love was all about the lengths a boy would go to be part of the “in” crowd. A young Patrick Dempsey’s Ronald Miller (and an even younger Seth Green in an early movie role) bribes his head cheerleader friend Cindy to pose as his girlfriend for one week – transforming the unknown nerd into a high school demigod.
Miller takes things to new levels to fit in, ignoring his true friends and the natural spark between he and his business partner. Kindhearted at his core, Miller does what it takes to make things right – for himself, the girl he loves and his best friend. And who can forget the African Anteater Ritual?
03.
Porky’s
Porky’s can best be described as the funniest of the movies on this list. Each of the students was perfectly cast and the staff was even better, especially Miss Balbricker. Though the movie takes place in Florida in 1954, it still translates today, because it revolves around the efforts of the teenage boys to lose their virginity, by any means necessary. Throw in a coach that earns the nickname Lassie and some serious parts about racism, and you have one hell of a movie.
But it doesn’t end there, because the conflict of the film bases itself as the boys go head-to-head with a local brothel owner – Porky. After finding embarrassment at the hands of Porky, the boys and their sidekick Wendy seek the sweetest type of revenge – one that will leave everyone laughing.
02.
Some Kind of Wonderful
Written by teenage master John Hughes, Some Kind of Wonderful combined a lot of the themes we see in teenage movies: love, social separation, best friends, stereotypes and the list goes on. Eric Stoltz is perfect as Keith, Mary Stuart Masterson is his best friend Watts, Lea Thompson is the untouchable Amanda Jones and Craig Sheffer is Hardy Jenns, the arrogant, lying, cheating bad guy.
John Ashton is awesome as Keith’s father, showing the true struggle of what it meant to be a father and a son in the jungle of adolescence. The story is fresh, different and unique – and the characters go through the same things we did in school. Hughes may have had bigger hits with Ferris and the Breakfast crew, but none were as sincere as Some Kind of Wonderful – which is probably why it wasn’t as big a hit as it should have been.
Elias Koteas steals the show, though; go watch the movie and see why.
01.
Dream a Little Dream
When it comes to school movies that go largely under-appreciated, no movie is higher on the honor roll than Dream a Little Dream.
The Coreys are in top form (and Corey Haim does his best to keep up with a broken leg sustained before filming), the performances by Jason Robards, Piper Laurie, Harry Dean Stanton and the ever-beautiful Meredith Salenger are phenomenal.
Salenger herself admits that if she could have done another movie in the ’80s it “would have been The Breakfast Club,” but something tells me she is happy with her part in Dream a Little Dream. The self-admitted fan of, “Weird Science (see: Ilan Mitchell-Smith), The Wild Life and The Goonies,” knows a thing or two about characters, and she more than shows that in the film. Salenger’s character Lainie Diamond is the real gem of the film, balancing out playing a teenager and portraying parts of the spirit of a senior citizen. But don’t take my word for it.
