Big Screen Classics: DAZED AND CONFUSED

Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused is the ultimate "school's out" film. It perfectly captures the high school changing-of-the-guard that occurs during the summer months, examining both the timidity of the incoming freshman, and the party-all-night attitudes of the newly crowned seniors.

There are rites of passage for everyone in this summer classic: the freshman boys are tracked down and physically punished with cricket bats; the girls are exposed to verbal abuse and soaking by condiments, both by the departing senior class, while they have their own transition to deal with. Some begin to exit the haze of their youth leading down the primrose path of higher education, while others are content to stay focused on the "higher" part of that destination. A stoner version of American Graffiti, Linklater (Slacker, Before Sunrise) has us ride shotgun for the final day and night in the lives of this motley crew.