Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Dazed and Confused (1993) - Linklater's stoner youth nostalgia is a blast

3/16/2016

Dazed and Confused (1993) - Linklater's stoner youth nostalgia is a blast

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Texas Movie of the Year

The poster for Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused is up front about its raucous teen characters

It's 1976 on the last day of high school before summer break. Rites and partying is the name of the game for these confused, ecstatic youths.

Written and directed by Texan master filmmaker Richard Linklater (Boyhood (2014)) as his third feature, Dazed is his take on American high school life, which he has described as an inverse John Hughes film, in that no major dramatic event takes place, and the kids don't grow that much but rather keep doing the same things over and over again.
Wiley Wiggins (Computer Chess (2013)) is perfect as the 'little-shot' in the school hierarchy that we attach ourselves to. SPOILER Ben Affleck's (Argo (2012)) character finally gets humiliated in one of the film's highlights. It takes a bit to see what makes this film special, but once its magic kicks in - elevated by a killer soundtrack - it is a great feeling of recognition and entertainment that follows it through: Recognizing these different temperaments and personalities that are nevertheless all pretty much on the same road towards self-discovery and experience is a fun discovery that may well bring back some personal memories.
Dazed is reminiscent of American Graffiti (1973) but more fun and meaningful in my opinion. It's a hell of a youth picture, near plot-free and yet extremely well-driving.

Related posts:

Richard Linklater: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2014 in films - according to Film Excess
Boyhood (2014) or, Colored Mirror
Before Midnight (2013) - Linklater, Hawke and Delpy's Before trilogy comes to a tender, incisive and chilling end
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Bernie (2011) - Linklater, Black and Hollandsworth's incredible true-crime dramedy
A Scanner Darkly (2006) - Dick and Linklater's drug-infested vision of the future

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch the Criterion Collection's 3 reasons why this film rocks here

Cost: 6.9 mil. $
Box office: 7.9 mil. $ (North America only)
= Unknown (very probably a big flop)
[Dazed and Confused was released September 24 and runs 102 minutes. The title is taken from a Led Zeppelin song, which Linklater did not gain permission to use in the film. The film, which stars many future superstars like Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey and Milla Jovovich, opened #14 in just 183 theaters to a 0.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America. It is not possible to guess the commercial result of the film's theatrical run without international figures, but it seems very probable that it should be counted as a big flop, though it later turned into a cult favorite. Three former students of Linklater's Huntsville High School sued him for defamation in the film in 2004, but the New Mexico court dismissed the suit. The film has become a youth classic, which Quentin Tarantino has named as his favorite film of the 90s, (probably barring his own films though.) It has inspired what Linklater calls a "spiritual sequel", Everybody Wants Some, which is set in college in the 80s and recently premiered at Austin's SXSW film festival. Dazed and Confused is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dazed and Confused?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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3/16/2016

Dazed and Confused (1993) - Linklater's stoner youth nostalgia is a blast

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