Dazed and Confused at 20

Yeah, any sequel would feature:

1) One of the apparently cool/level-headed characters (Pink, Mitch) completely fucking up their lives;

2) One of the apparent fuckup characters (O'Bannion, Clint the dominant male monkey motherfucker) becoming a completely successful adult;

3) One of the nerds turning into a stunningly attractive adult;

4) Wooderson eventually becoming a Baptist/Mormon preacher, married 20 years with 6 kids.

5) Everybody else turning out pretty much as everybody expected.

 

Pretty much everybody who graduated from HS in the 1970s (that is, in their 30s at the time of release) eventually saw D&C.

However, most of OUR parents (born 1920s-40s) either had no interest in it, or were shocked/disgusted.

I remember my dad (b. 1925) saw it, and he said, "Were things really like that in the 1970s?" and I said, "yeah, pretty much."

He said, "So maybe I shouldn't have let you go to all those beer parties?"

I said, "Ahhh, we probably didn't do too much you guys didn't do at your parties in the 1940s. Chase chicks, get in stupid fights, drink beer."

He said, "Hmmmm. You may have a point."

 

It definitely found a second life on video... Such a great movie...

 

I think it was accurate about small town life in general, not just small town life in the mid-1970s. I graduated from high school 15 years after this movie was set, and we were still cruising around every Friday and Saturday night, trying to get drunk/high/laid. My teachers and football coaches talked just like the ones in the movie (and the coaches were still wearing the ridiculous Bike coaches' gear). I knew 4 or 5 older guys who still hung around the high school parties, just like Wooderson.

 

My favorite, totally underrated part of Dazed and Confused happened near the end of the bust at the moon tower. Melvin is dancing in the back of the pickup. Benny is out of beer, stands up, gets a look of like, "oh shit, bad idea," then slinks back into his chair with a sheepish, defeated look on his face.

Oh, and AIR RAID!!!

 

Well, it has several references unique to the mid-70s.

High school kids walking around more or less openly with beer was specific to the mid-70s when the 18-year-old drinking age was in effect.

 

I graduated from high school in 1992 and I could definitely relate to a lot of aspects of the film. We always had people who had graduated a couple years before who still hung around the HS parties and we would always cruise around on Friday and Saturday nights and party out in the parks...

 

When I was watching Argo, I saw Rory Cochrane and wondered if that was a coincidence or if he and Affleck met on Dazed and Confused.

 

That's what I like about these high school girls movies, man ... I get older, they say the same age.



Yes, they do.

 

My dad graduated high school in '76 and I was class of '99. My old man couldn't help telling stories about his glory days, but when I was a kid it was always his friend Melvin (who died young in a motorcycle accident and served as my parents' ultimate cautionary tale) who showed up to the 6 a.m. basketball practice still drunk from the night before or it was the guy who lived down the hall in the dorm who was stoned and did something stupid.

Of course, as I've gotten older and now have a kid of my own he retells the stories and more and more he admits to being the one who was drunk or stupid. One time last year he was telling me again about being drunk at basketball practice and said, "you know, it was the 70s, it was different then."

"Dad," I said. "I've seen Dazed and Confused like 15 times. I've always had a pretty good idea what your high school experience was like."

 

Finally saw it a few years ago.

Just OK. Some moments. Wasn't as great as people said. I will always worship at the altar of Fast Times. Unlike this one and American Pie, Fast Times never comes off like it's trying too hard.

We did too. Always regarded those dudes as total losers.

Best part of that quote is that it was completely original to Dazed and Confused.

 

That's why it became a cult classic. It didn't simply depict life as a high school burnout and/or jock in the 1970s. It depicted life as such in general. My guess is that it's still pretty much the same. On a related note, I really appreciate that the movie included foosball, which I majored in during high school.