Dazed and Confused

 

 

            After finishing Apocalypse Now, I decided to take a long soft break from any deep films for a while and just dive into some brain-off or mainstream films to watch especially when school ends for the summer. Speaking of "schools out, for, summer" I figured why not check out a movie that's the long-lost stepson to That 70's Show. Dazed and Confused is a coming-of-age story set in the late 70's about teenagers spending their last days of school in the summer, going to parties, smuggling beer and weed but most importantly, knowing what to do with the rest of their life. It's like George Lucas's American Graffiti hooked up with a hippie chick and made a baby and was called Dazed and Confused.

            This coming-of-age story follows the mayhem of a group of rowdy teenagers in Austin, Texas, celebrating the last day of school in 1976. The graduating class heads for a popular pool hall and joins an impromptu keg party, however star football player Randall Pink Floyd (Jason London) has promised to focus on the championship game and abstain from partying. Meanwhile, the incoming freshman tries to avoid being hazed by the seniors, most notably the sadistic bully Fred O'Bannion (Ben Affleck).

             No doubt, this was my first time seeing the film moreover I've heard about this movie through the times I either see entertainment network or anything from VH1 or MTV (anyone remember VH1?) and through the course of thirty minutes, into the movie I slowly began to realize that this was a complete knockoff of American Graffiti, in which when I slowly put the pieces together myself I was a little bit disappointed but then through the course of finishing the movie I began to give the film some go ahead respect. There's no question that both movies American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused both share a ton of similarities, both films main characters want to hang on to their youth's for which let’s be honest is a relatable thing to relate to in whatever time period you’re in as well as trying to escape from the small town life and really who doesn't want to relate to that when you think about it though if I moved to New York City or Los Angeles I would question that aspect but couldn't afford it either way, and really the character that Jason London plays is okay as well as a cool guy who takes one of the main freshman under his wing moreover give him the time of his life I actually like more of the freshman character than I did with London's character and granted I like his character development though the main freshman I like how his story progresses also I had a sister who was finishing high school who was being a good protector so, that's what I relate most . Both films share a ton of similarities with the number one hangout as well as music and driving around in a 24-hour span. The music portion does have its differences though that's a now brainier, one's sixties music and the other is seventies music, in fact one sixth of the movie’s budget was primarily spent on rights to a ton of the 70s pop songs that you hear in the film. The biggest similarity involves all the kids in the movie getting involved with a ton of checky and fun shenanigans and one difference through the both films is that there was no drugs involved in American Graffiti, though I would imagine they didn't have drugs around in Lucas's time or he wanted to focus more on his films being marketed for the teens as well as setting a good example. Now for sure I can go on and on about how similar both American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused are, but through the course of the movie I began to not mind it so much, mainly because Dazed and Confused have its moments with the central characters that you can obviously relate to but also launches a ton of actors careers, like Matthew McConaughey who plays the weird dude and loves to hang around the teens confirmed creeper, but more importantly has the iconic catchphrase "alright, alright, alright" so, without this movie we wouldn't witness McConaughey's great Oscar speech. For a standalone movie that holds a lot of similarities with George Lucas underappreciative coming of age story, I would for sure recommend watching Dazed and Confused for it's good quality brain turn off sense because in times when you watch a film like Apocalypse Now, you do need a movie that gives you a good refresher as well as rejuvenating your ability to watch movies so, last time I checked it was on Amazon Prime so unless it's still there go check it out and don't be afraid of the Deliverance reference.