School Daze

There are things I liked about "School Daze." In particular, there was the scene near the end of the film between Giancarlo Esposito's Julian and his girlfriend. It's when he breaks up with her for sleeping with another student, all the while completely aware that he made her do it. I've actually seen guys do this -- trick their girlfriends into doing something that, later on, they can use as cause to dump them -- and the reality of the scene carried such a raw, emotional weight that it nearly derailed the rest of the film.

"School Daze" is, first and foremost, a period piece of 1980s pop culture. Many of the sequences, especially the ones requiring dancing and choreography, are hopelessly dated, like early break-dancing videos.

Dated is okay, as long as there are other elements to counterbalance its datedness. Example: "All That Jazz" is a relic of Bob Fosse's toxic, overindulgent mind, a '70s time capsule item. However, the untouchable authority and supreme confidence he brought to it, along with the visual beauty, and the letter-perfect performances, made up for any drawbacks, and then some. "...Jazz" went from silly to sublime inside of sixty seconds.

Lee's direction is alarmingly hesitant and amateurish, giving no hint of the originality, vitality, and sheer genius he would display in his later films. It's certainly difficult to believe he made this film between "She's Gotta Have It" and "Do the Right Thing." His editing is sloppy, his staging is slapdash, and the performances from his actors and actresses range from sleepy to histrionic. The stories lose their punch through careless juggling, and the illogical "Wake Up!" scene at the end is unearned and unwarranted. Most disappointing of all, the thing I value his films for most -- his constant pushing of the cinematic envelope in all sorts of unexpected ways -- is all but totally absent.

I love most of Lee's films. I'll go so far as to say that he's one of the last risk-takers left in the business (Stanley Kubrick is dead, Quentin Tarantino is MIA, and anything done by Spielberg, God love him, automatically becomes non-risk). His "Do the Right Thing" is as good as any other film released in the '80s. The best thing I can say about this one is: I'm glad he got it out of his system.

I am only 18 years old and I just saw the movie School Daze. I do not attend a H.B.C.U., but I have friends that tell me what goes on there. To the older people out there, can you believe that that type of stuff is still going on?! My friends and I were just talking the other day about how this guy on her campus would only date lighter skinned girls. If that is his thing, than it is, however, he would not date them because of their personality. He said they just "looked better on his arm." My mother and I always discuss the future of African-Americans and I am going to tell the truth. I am scared. We hurt each other more than any other race and we have to stop. I am a dark-skinned female and I just learnd to love myself. I thank Spike Lee for not being ashamed to call us out when we needed it. No, I do not think that the movie was an Oscar winner, but I do know that it was a mind opener and should be a lesson to all of us on how we allowed the European standard of beauty to shape our self-worth.

I had not seen Spike Lee's School Daze in 13 years, the first weekend of its release. This movie has a very special meaning to African Americans like me who were college students in the 80s. The school setting acts as a microcosm of black life as a whole. The social issues it tackles are all too familiar to black life: light skin vs. dark skin, college kids vs. the surrounding economically disadvantage community, and the social responsibility of African Americans to Africans across the entire black diaspora among others.

Watching it in 1988 I thought the dance sequences were too long, but in 2001 I now see their worth. The DVD is visually beautiful, while being gritty in spots where it should thanks to the beautiful work of the great Ernest Dickerson. This was a huge leap for Spike as a director, coming from a $175,000 budget for She's Got To Have It to School Daze.

This film does a great job of giving us some of the inner workings of Black Greek letter organizations. It also shows what abuse people will go through to belong. I was actually living School Daze when I saw it in 1988, so I come from that perspective. It was thrilling to figuratively see myself on that screen in 1988.

If you are looking for Academy Award winning performances, then this isn't the film for you, although there are some really fine actors in the film. If you haven't ever lived this existence, it is really hard to appreciate School Daze. I have a great appreciation for Spike, the era, and the story Spike has written and brought to the screen.

Most folks don't get the ending "Wake Up" scene, but it absolutely belongs. The entire movie and most of Spike's works are wake up calls to America, but specifically to the black community.

This film dealt with a lot of inner conflicts that African-Americans where unwilling to deal with at the time. Class struggles, light skinned vs. dark skinned and greeks vs. non-greeks. I just purchased it on DVD, but I remember seeing this film when it first came out in February of 1988 and it is just as powerful and entertaining now as it was then. It's amazing to look at this film now and see all of the actors who went on to successful careers afterwards, like Laurence(then Larry) Fishburne, Tisha Campbell, Giancarlo Esposito, Roger Guenveur Smith, Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy, Darryl Bell, Rusty Cundieff(director of "Tales From The Hood"), Bill Nunn, Branford Marsalis, and of course I can't forget Samuel L. Jackson. Three years after this film came out a cousin from Seattle came to visit, I showed him this film and he was surprised to discover that there were actually historically black colleges and universities(HBCU's) in this country. He later attended Southern University here in Baton Rouge. That was the effect this film had and continues to have on young African-Americans and their views of HBCU's.

I'm a fan of Spike Lee and look up to him, being an aspiring director. I wouldn't rank this film up there with "Do the Right Thing," since it has its flaws, but I still found it entertaining and the characters generally engaging. Spike has a knack for writing, as well as directing. The minor problems I had with "School Daze" were that it dragged a bit (quite a few scenes could've used trimming), some of the acting is wooden, the occasional music numbers seemed forced (this is also considering I'm not a big fan of musicals) and the ending didn't satisfy me. Aside from the end scene being pretentious, it seemed way too forced in an otherwise realistic film. Laurence Fishburne, who's a naturally brilliant actor that never disappoints, gives the best performance of the film. He compensates for some of the more amateurish members of the cast. By the way, expect to see a lot of Spike's regulars--including Bill Nunn, Ossie Davis and Samuel L. Jackson in a nice bit part. Also, expect to see several actors from "A Different World." It's evident that Spike was probably in a frat back in his college days, since the film feels authentic and the frat scenes are rich with detail. I recommend "School Daze," if you're a Spike fan like me, though it's nowhere near as powerful as most of his work. (7 out of 10)