Clase

Brats brought me here. I say that because without the 2024 documentary about the Brat Pack I would never have heard of this movie and I grew up in the 80's.

On the face of it Class is one of those all too common fish out of water movies in which a working class kid ends up at a posh university, and has to deal with fitting in.

However although it is made clear there is a class discrepancy between the two main characters, it is never discussed at any point in the movie. What instead we have is yet another one of those teenage guy makes it with a hot older woman movie. This was a very common 80's trope. The complication in this movie is the relationship that this older woman has to the two male leads.

This is a solid 6 out of 10, its entertaining enough to keep watching but not that memorable. This is probably why this isn't mention in the same breath as Ferris Bueller or Risky Business. Despite the Brat Pack member cast. Indeed you will realise that none of the characters are particularly strong or well written. There is nothing particularly taxing about watching this, aside from a few cringe moments. Its maybe a good nostalgia movie if you have seen it when it was released but there isn't much here for a younger audience. This is the kind of movie you rented from the video library when all the other stuff was out, based on the movie poster being suggestive of some hot older woman action. It doesn't quite deliver on that but none of these movies did.

This movie - one of many early 1980's movies used as vehicles for the likes of Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson and Matt Dillon - conveys many distinct qualities, which countless teen films of late seemingly lack.

What is immediately evident, is the way in which the director skillfully juxtapses the moody atmosphere with the hilarious antics of the Ivy League school boys. Regarding this movie from the point of view of intertextuality, a number of other texts immediately spring to mind: 'The Graduate', 'Animal House' and J.D. Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye'. Lowe (The Outsiders, Youngblood, Oxford Blues), and McCarthy (St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Catholic Boys) turn out meritable performances: one being the typically egotistical teenager(Lowe), and the other(McCarthy)conveyed as the naive, withdrawn 'new boy'. Jacqueline Bisset is, as always, aptly cast as the sultry seductress who, with an overbearing husband (Cliff Robertson) and a subsequent case of neurosis, seeks contentment in the shape of a teenage boy. Other striking performances come from - at the time, unknown actors - John Cusack and Alan Ruck.

'Class' is dark and moody at times, and the direction and setting conveys this aspect of the film aptly: the fight between Skip(Lowe) and Jonathan(McCarthy) takes place in the woods outside the school on a cold, grey afternoon during the fall. In contrast to this, there is the bright lights and bustle of New York City, where Jonathan embarks on a mission to apparently gain his manhood and 'save face' with the other students(here, there is that connection with the students in 'Catcher in the Rye' taking weekend trips to New York and the character 'Ackley' who is always boastful of his conquests with women). The film further depicts the antics of the school boys; for example, the incident at the neighboring girls' school and Jonathan's initiation on his first day. 'Class', like 'Oxford Blues', 'Youngblood', 'The Breakfast Club', 'Catholic Boys' and 'St. Elmo's Fire', to name but a few, is the quintessential movie for teenagers; it has depth and feeling, as well as displaying good comical dialogue.

This film is simply 'Class'.

The naive and clumsy Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy) joins the prep school Vernon Academy expecting to go to Harvard. He befriends his wealthy roommate Skip (Rob Lowe) and soon he sends Jonathan to Chicago to lose his virginity. Jonathan meets the thirty and something years old Ellen (Jacqueline Bisset) and they have a love affair. Jonathan lies to her about where he studies and he falls in love with her. When they decide to travel to New York, Ellen accidentally discovers that Jonathan studies at the Vernon Academy and she vanishes. In the Christmas break, Skip invites Jonathan to spend the holiday with his family, and Jonathan has a huge surprise finding who Ellen is.

"Class" is a pleasant movie that begins very funny, with Andrew McCarthy, Rob Lowe, John Cusack and Virginia Madsen very young. Jacqueline Bisset is extremely beautiful and fits perfectly to the role of Ellen. Unfortunately the story is lost between comedy and drama with a disappointing conclusion. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Uma Questão de Classe" ("A Question of Class")

Though this movie was clearly designed to have mass-market teen appeal, it has a serious side that makes it stand out from other movies of the same type. The premise, a teenage boy's first sexual encounter turns out to be with his roommate's mother, is contrived to arouse curiosity among adolescents. Combine this with unsophisticated humor and flaunting of authority and you have the formula for a popular teen romp. But it seems that there is a movie with some sensitivity and drama trapped within this rather restrictive framework. The boy is torn between his friendship with his roommate and his relationship with his friend's mother. The woman is repressed and intimidated by her husband and finds a sense of freedom in this forbidden relationship which she can't seem to let go. The result is a movie that tries to be both a high school date movie of the week and an adult drama, landing somewhat awkwardly somewhere in the middle. It does have some laughs though and some before-they-were-famous appearances that might make it worth while.

Okay, I must admit, it is difficult for me to remain entirely rational about this film, because it evokes sentimental memories. But I love this film, I love it, what can I say. For me it has everything, the ivy league ambience, the lovable-I-own-the-place-swagger of Rob Lowe, the appropriate witticisms, at the appropriate times read by a cast to kill for.

The film begins and ends with the "kids" in complete control, theres no PC screwing around either, all of the students do drugs, with most of the action taking place at a prep boarding school there's poker games and smoking after lights out. I tried to re-enact the John Cussack 'tip truck' smoking trick for almost a decade, in fact it was the prime reason I took up smoking in the first place.

The New Renaissance has been indicated by many social historians as the years 1982 to 1987 with the peak beginning with the opening night of the movie ET, and the end coinciding with the closing ceremony of the 1984 LA olympics. This film, having been made in 1983, stands as a virtual document to the affirmations and values of Western Culture at its peak. The scene of the triumphal holiday return of Rob Lowes character to his ancestral home is resplendant with a punk version of 'the little drummer boy', as he tears through New England countryside in his Porshe charger......breathtaking.

Nothing since the death of communism comes close to replicating the self confidence that shimmers off this film with the possible exception of "The Chocolate War". This film is not to be taken as a trite story but should be viewed in the light that reflects what it is, an artistic vision of the height of teen existence at the height of human existence, not too big a call I'm sure you'd agree.