Oliver’s Top Eight High School Movies

Oliver’s Top ~~Ten~~ Eight High School Movies
by Oliver Butterick

8. Pump up the Volume (1990) Classic movie that depicts how most parents are too self-absorbed to even notice their children and how one high schooler fought the system.

7. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) Ok, so it’s a high school REUNION movie, but it’s got John Cusack, so it’s good enough for me.

6. American Graffiti (1973) Hey, if you let me include Grosse Pointe Blank, then I’m going to include this one too, even though most of these kids are already out of high school.

5. Dead Poets Society (1989) Carpe Diem!

4. Say Anything... (1989) If for no other reason than the quote, “I don't want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought or processed, or repair anything sold, bought or processed--you know--as a career. I don't want to do that. My father's in the Army. He wants me to join, but I can't work for that corporation. Um...so what I've been doing lately is kickboxing, which is a new sport, but I think it's got a good future.”

3. Napoleon Dynamite (2004) Gosh! This guy is a freakin’ idiot! But at least he has skills… nun chuck skills… bow hunting skills... now don't be jealous that I’m going to chat online with babes until I have to leave for my cage fighting class.

2. Stand and Deliver (1988) The best movie about cheating I’ve ever seen.

I didn’t think it would be fair to let John Hughes have more than one entry in this list, since he is so prolific in this genre. My concession is that he gets his very own sub-list, as well as the top spot in the main list, with The Breakfast Club.

Sub-list: Top 5 John Hughes High School Movies:

5: Weird Science (1985) Great Soundtrack

3(tie): Sixteen Candles (1984) and Pretty in Pink (1986) I always confuse these two movies anyway.

2: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) We all wanted to be Ferris.

1. The Breakfast Club (1985) Very educational: it’s where I learned the word “nymphomaniac.”

Oliver can be reached at oliver@babblog.com.