Class (film)

Last updated
Class
Class film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster by John Solie
Directed by Lewis John Carlino
Written by
Produced by Martin Ransohoff
Starring
Cinematography Ric Waite
Edited byStuart H. Pappé
Music by Elmer Bernstein
Production
company
Distributed byOrion Pictures
Release date
  • July 22, 1983 (1983-07-22)(United States)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7 million [1]
Box office$21.6 million

Class is a 1983 American comedy-drama film directed by Lewis John Carlino, starring Rob Lowe, Jacqueline Bisset, Andrew McCarthy, and Cliff Robertson. In addition to being Lowe's second film (released four months after The Outsiders ), it marked the film debuts of McCarthy, John Cusack, Virginia Madsen, Casey Siemaszko, and Lolita Davidovich.

Contents

Plot

Upon first arriving at prep school, Jonathan Ogner is mocked for wearing his school uniform. Then, going up to his dorm he meets his roommate, who introduces himself as Squire Franklin Burroughs IV but tells him to call him "Skip". Skip then takes off his bath robe, revealing a red bra and panties, then explains to the shocked Jonathan that it is tradition for seniors to parade around campus wearing only girls' underwear.

Jonathan does not have any, so Skip gives him a set from his dresser. They head out of the dorm together until they get to the final door where Skip stays behind and locks the door. The other students laugh and mock Jonathan for wearing girls' underwear. Mortified, Jonathan tries to get back inside. After discovering all the doors are locked, he climbs a trellis leading into his room where he finds Skip rolling on the floor laughing.

Skip tries to tell Jonathan it was a practical joke and to laugh it off, but Jonathan is too embarrassed. Later, during lunchtime in the cafeteria, the other students again taunt Jonathan as he tries to eat. When Skip invites him over to his table to sit with him and his friends, Jonathan turns to reveal that he is crying. Skip is now deeply remorseful for pulling the prank on Jonathan as he flees the cafeteria.

When Skip returns to their room to apologize to Jonathan, he finds him hanging with a rope around his neck in an apparent suicide. Going to get help, on his return to the room, Skip and the gathering crowd find not Jonathan but a mannequin with a picture of the dean's face attached to its head. The crowd crack up hysterically at Skip as the dean says he wants to see him and Jonathan in his office. As the crowd disperses, Skip finds Jonathan very much alive and laughing hysterically in the closet. He grudgingly accepts the prank reversal and they become fast friends. Afterwards they share secrets, and Jonathan confesses he cheated on the SAT.

After several failed attempts to find Jonathan a date, Skip vows to help him have a successful sexual encounter. He sends Jonathan to Chicago to gain sexual experience before their reputations are ruined. He is picked up by Ellen, a beautiful older woman, and has an affair with her. He falls in love with her, although she considers it to be just a fling. Jonathan lied, claiming to be a Ph.D. student. When he proclaims his love to Ellen during one of their sessions, she has second thoughts about continuing. Her decision is finalized when she discovers Jonathan is both much younger than he had claimed and that he also attends the same school as her son.

Over Christmas break, Skip invites Jonathan to spend Christmas with him and his family at the Burroughs estate. Here, Jonathan discovers that Ellen is Skip's mother and is married. He tries to end the affair, but she contacts him several times. Eventually, he agrees to meet to talk. Lying to Skip, he claims to need time alone. When Jonathan and Ellen meet, they have sex again. Attempting to cheer up his friend, Skip and friends go to the hotel room. There they discover Jonathan in bed with Skip's mother, upsetting Skip. Later, the friends have a fist fight, but later reconcile.

Cast

Production

Principal photography for the film took place in Chicago and the surrounding area between September and November 1982. Suffield House, [2] a private mansion in Lake Forest, played the part of Skip Burroughs' family estate, given the fictitious address of 65 Spring Creek Road, Barrington Hills. Lake Forest College was used for numerous scenes; including the hockey scenes, the exterior dorm scenes, and, most notably, the lunchroom scenes.

Bisset replaced Lesley Ann Warren for the role of Ellen Burroughs. [3] Bisset was disappointed that scenes involving her character's backstory were cut. These included a scene at the end where her son visited her in a mental hospital. "When you're in a comedy ... It's always difficult to develop a character because they always cut for comedy, the comic effect. I lost a couple of scenes that would have explained my character better. She was more interesting in the original script. Why does she do what she does? She's a very unhappy woman. She doesn't have any relationship at home. Cliff tells her in the bedroom that she's a Burroughs and as long as she's a Burroughs she must behave. That's not much of a relationship to have with your husband. So she's a bit off balance, greatly in need of a childlike component in her life. She's been completely buckled down by Cliff. There's absolutely no fantasy aspect to her life. She's condemned to being an adult... The director sees it much more as a rites-of-passage film", Bisset said. [4]

McCarthy attended an open call held at New York University and wound up with the lead part in the film. [5]

Lowe said, "It was a very atypical role for me. So it's a little uncomfortable when I'm too readily associated with it. 'Oh yeah, him, he was in Class.' It was such an extroverted role, and most of my work has been just the opposite. I like the movie. I think it was fun, not the vile concoction a lot of people seem to think it was." [6]

Madsen dislikes talking about her experience making the film, stating in a 2013 interview, "Those guys were assholes. They were really shitty to me. It was bad. Bad memories." [7] Rob Lowe said her comment was justifiable, pointing out "her big part in that movie required her shirt to get ripped off, and looking back, it couldn't be a more egregious, vintage, lowbrow, 1980s Porky's -esque, shoehorned-in moment... I can imagine it was not much fun to do that big sequence with a bunch of laughing, ogling frat-boy actors. I mean, can you imagine putting up with me, [John] Cusack, Alan Ruck, and Andrew McCarthy at 18?" [8]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 29% rating based on reviews from 14 critics. [9]

Variety said "Class is anything but classy....[It] seems something like an unofficial remake of one of Bisset's first Hollywood efforts, the 1969 The First Time ". [10]

Vincent Canby wrote "The movie can't make up its mind whether it's a lighthearted comedy, set in what appears to be a posh New England–style prep school just outside Chicago, or a romantic drama about a teen-age boy who has a torrid affair with his roommate's mother. Either way it's pretty awful." [11]

Roger Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars and said it was a "prep-school retread of The Graduate that knows some of its scenes are funny and some are serious, but never figures out quite how they should go together;" the film is "entertaining when it's not dealing with its real subject matter, painful when it is, and agonizing when it confuses rigid mortification with humor." [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Thelma & Louise</i> 1991 film by Ridley Scott

Thelma & Louise is a 1991 American crime drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. The film stars Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as Louise and Thelma, two friends who embark on a road trip that ends up in unforeseen circumstances. The supporting cast includes Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, and Brad Pitt. Filming took place in California and Utah from June to August 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline Bisset</span> British actress

Winifred Jacqueline Fraser BissetLdH is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in The Detective, Bullitt, and The Sweet Ride, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. In the 1970s, she starred in Airport (1970), The Mephisto Waltz (1971), Day for Night (1973), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Le Magnifique (1973), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), St. Ives (1976), The Deep (1977), The Greek Tycoon (1978) and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.

<i>High Fidelity</i> (film) 2000 film by Stephen Frears

High Fidelity is a 2000 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears, starring John Cusack, Jack Black, and Iben Hjejle. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, with the setting moved from London to Chicago and the protagonist's name changed. Hornby expressed surprise at how faithful the adaptation was, saying "at times, it appears to be a film in which John Cusack reads my book."

The Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s. The term "Brat Pack", a play on the Rat Pack from the 1950s and 1960s, was first popularized in a 1985 New York magazine cover story, which described a group of highly successful film stars in their early twenties. David Blum wrote the article after witnessing several young actors being mobbed by groupies at Los Angeles' Hard Rock Cafe. The group has been characterized by the partying of members such as Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Judd Nelson.

<i>Say Anything...</i> 1989 American teen romantic comedy-drama film

Say Anything... is a 1989 American teen romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe. The film follows the romance between Lloyd Dobler, an average student, and Diane Court, the class valedictorian, immediately after their graduation from high school.

<i>St. Elmos Fire</i> (film) 1985 American coming-of-age film

St. Elmo's Fire is a 1985 American coming-of-age film co-written and directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Andie MacDowell and Mare Winningham. It centers on a clique of recent graduates of Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown University, and their adjustment to post-university life and the responsibilities of adulthood. The film is a prominent movie of the Brat Pack genre. It received negative reviews from critics but was a box-office hit, grossing $37.8 million on a $10 million budget.

<i>The Sure Thing</i> 1985 American adventure comedy romance film by Rob Reiner

The Sure Thing is a 1985 American romantic comedy Christmas road film directed by Rob Reiner and starring John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, Viveca Lindfors, and Nicollette Sheridan. The film chronicles the cross-country journey of college students Walter Gibson (Cusack) and Alison Bradbury (Zuniga) as they make their way from New England to Los Angeles over Christmas break, each in an effort to meet their ideal romantic match.

<i>Something Wild</i> (1986 film) 1986 film by Jonathan Demme

Something Wild is a 1986 American comedy thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme, written by E. Max Frye, and starring Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels and Ray Liotta. It was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. The film has some elements of a road movie combined with screwball comedy.

<i>Candyman</i> (1992 film) Film by Bernard Rose

Candyman is a 1992 American gothic supernatural black horror film, written and directed by Bernard Rose and starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons, and Vanessa E. Williams. Based on Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden", the film follows a Chicago graduate student completing a thesis on urban legends and folklore, which leads her to the legend of the "Candyman", the ghost of an African-American artist and son of a slave who was murdered in the late 19th century for his relationship with the daughter of a wealthy white man.

<i>Rumor Has It</i> (film) 2005 American film

Rumor Has It is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine and Mark Ruffalo. The concept of the screenplay by Ted Griffin is that a woman learns that her mother and grandmother may be the inspiration for the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb. The film received negative reviews from critics and was a box office disappointment, grossing $88.9 million against its $70 million budget.

<i>Secret Beyond the Door</i> 1947 film by Fritz Lang

Secret Beyond the Door is a 1947 American film noir psychological thriller and a modern updating of the Bluebeard fairytale, directed by Fritz Lang, produced by Lang's Diana Productions, and released by Universal Pictures. The film stars Joan Bennett and was produced by her husband Walter Wanger. The black-and-white film noir drama is about a woman who suspects her new husband, an architect, plans to kill her.

<i>Mulholland Falls</i> 1996 film by Lee Tamahori

Mulholland Falls is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Lee Tamahori, written by Pete Dexter, and starring an ensemble cast featuring Nick Nolte, Jennifer Connelly, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Melanie Griffith, Andrew McCarthy, Treat Williams, and John Malkovich.

<i>1408</i> (film) 2007 film by Mikael Håfström

1408 is a 2007 American psychological horror film based on Stephen King's 1999 short story of the same name. It was directed by Mikael Håfström, written by Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and stars John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.

<i>Boys</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film

Boys is a 1996 American film starring Winona Ryder and Lukas Haas. It is based very loosely on a short story called "Twenty Minutes" by James Salter.

<i>Greedy</i> (film) 1994 film by Jonathan Lynn

Greedy is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn, written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, and starring Michael J. Fox, Kirk Douglas, Nancy Travis, Olivia d'Abo, Phil Hartman, Ed Begley Jr., and Colleen Camp. It tells the story of an aging wheelchair-using scrap metal tycoon whose younger relatives compete to get the inheritance when he dies.

John Burroughs High School is a public high school located in Burbank, in Los Angeles County, California. It is known for its notable alumni, and being the filming location for many television shows.

<i>Normal Life</i> 1996 American film

Normal Life is a 1996 American crime drama film based on the real lives of husband-and-wife bank robbers, Jeffrey and Jill Erickson. The film stars Ashley Judd and Luke Perry and was directed by John McNaughton. The original screenplay was written by husband-and-wife team Peg Haller and Bob Schneider.

<i>Masquerade</i> (1988 film) 1988 American romance mystery thriller film directed by Bob Swaim

Masquerade is a 1988 American romantic mystery thriller film directed by Bob Swaim and starring Rob Lowe, Meg Tilly, Kim Cattrall and Doug Savant. Written by Dick Wolf, the film is about a recently orphaned millionairess who falls in love with a young yacht racing captain who isn't completely truthful with her about his past. The film was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best (Mystery) Motion Picture in 1989.

<i>Theres Always Tomorrow</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by Douglas Sirk

There's Always Tomorrow is a 1956 American romantic melodrama film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett. The screenplay by Bernard C. Schoenfeld was adapted from the novel of the same name by Ursula Parrott. The plot concerns a man's unhappiness with his domestic life and romantic relationship with a former employee. The film was produced by Ross Hunter for Universal Pictures, which had also produced the 1934 adaptation of Parrott's novel. It was released in the United States on January 8, 1956.

<i>Stark Fear</i> 1962 film by Skip Homeier

Stark Fear is a 1962 low-budget American film directed by Ned Hochman. Filmed almost entirely in Oklahoma, the drama was meant to tell a strong psychological story involving rivalry and hatred.

References

  1. ↑ Class at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ↑ "Suffield House". househistree.com. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  3. ↑ Mann, Roderick (December 23, 1982). "Lesley Ann Warren: Filling Void After Victor/Victoria". Los Angeles Times . p. G-7.
  4. ↑ Siskel, Gene (July 3, 1983). "MOVIES: What comes after 'Class'? A meaty movie for Jackie Bisset" . Chicago Tribune . p. K5.
  5. ↑ Caulfield, Deborah (July 18, 1983). "Warners Wondering If It Has 'STUFF' Of Success" . Los Angeles Times. p. G-1.
  6. ↑ Lyman, Rick (March 11, 1984). The Young Actors: For Lowe, at 20, Leading Roles Already Philadelphia Inquirer p. K1. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  7. ↑ Harris, Will (July 19, 2013). "Virginia Madsen on smelling Christopher Walken, getting tax advice from Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more". The A.V. Club . Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  8. ↑ Harris, Will (February 8, 2017). "Of all his films, Rob Lowe wants you to go back and watch Bad Influence". The AV Club. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Class". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Film Review: 'Class'". Variety . December 31, 1982. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  11. ↑ Canby, Vincent (July 22, 1983). "Class, Tale of an Affair". The New York Times . Retrieved June 1, 2009.
  12. ↑ Ebert, Roger (July 22, 1983). "Review 'Class' (film)". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved April 1, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.