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School Rocks … In the Movies!

Published August 30, 2007

Forget about the homework, tests, lectures, and waking up early. Friendships are really what can make or break your experience in school. It's the different types of classmates and teachers you're forced to be around with who make it fun and memorable. So, get excited about heading back to the classroom, or remind yourself of how glad you are to be done with that period in your life, by watching some of the best school movies of the past four decades.

Click on a decade below to view the best of:

The 2000s The 1990s The 1980s The 1970s

Best of the 2000s(so far)

Superbad (2007)
Long-time best friends Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill) are high school seniors about to graduate and go their separate ways to different colleges. On top of their fear and nervousness about being separated in college, their hormones are raging and they are desperate to get some female attention. After getting invited to a party and promising to supply the alcohol, the two friends find themselves dependent on their friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) to secure fake ID and buy the booze. As Evan and Seth avoid one disaster after another in their quest to get alcohol and get to the party, they ultimately find out the strength of their friendship. Co-p roduced by Judd Apatow (40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up), Superbad is super good. Co-writer Seth Rogen, who starred in Knocked Up, also appears in the movie as one of the reckless cops. Watch the trailer and clips at MSN.com.

High School Musical 2 (2007)
The premiere of High School Musical 2 (aka HSM2) on August 17 drew a TV audience of 17.2 million, beating out Monday Night Football to become the most-watched basic cable program ever, according to Nielsen Media Research. You know the HSM phenomenon is big when publications like Newsweek and The New Yorker make space to talk about it. HSM2 starts on the last day of school and follows the entire crew to their summer jobs at a country club. The legally-blonde/mean-girl diva Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), whose family owns the country club, has her eyes on basketball captain Troy (Zac Efron) and smothers him with special opportunities, making the rest of his friends feeling left behind and testing his relationship with girlfriend Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens). When Troy commits to singing with Sharpay in the country club talent show, the rest of the gang, including Gabriella and Sharpay's brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) , team up to create their own performance. Just when it seems like their hard work may be wasted, the tides turn at the final show. HSM2 isn't the end of the franchise, High School Musical 3 is confirmed for 2008.

High School Musical (2006)
High School Musical (aka HSM) is the most successful made-for-TV movie ever (about 160 million viewers worldwide). HSM introduces Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), who finds out he's a talented singer when he's paired up to karaoke with a girl on vacation, Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens). They meet again at school where Gabriella has transferred. The pair shakes up the student body (literally) when they audition for the school musical, and the "jocks" and "brainiacs" end up having to work together in order for the cute couple to beat out Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and her brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) for the lead roles. At the same time, Troy must find the balance between basketball and singing. Directed and choreographed by Kenny Ortega, HSM also produced the No. 1 album in 2006. (I've even bought a couple tracks from Zune Marketplace). Note to parents: this picture-perfect story of two teens falling in love, who never kiss in the movie, is more kid friendly than Disney's Aladdin.

Mean Girls (2004)
Before Lindsay Lohan joined the ranks of real-life "plastics" Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, she played Cady Heron, a home-schooled girl raised in Africa who finds herself attending a new school and quickly becoming friends with "outsiders" Janis and Damian. To Cady's surprise, she attracts the interest and is accepted into the clique of rich, popular girls dubbed "the plastics." At first, Cady hangs out with the clique to be a spy and report back on their secrets, but they rub off on her and she soon starts acting like them. She eventually does the unforgivable and goes out with Aaron, the ex-boyfriend of "Queen Bee" Regina George (Rachel McAdams), causing drama to cascade over all the girls at school. Tina Fey (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock) wrote and appears in the movie alongside other former and current SNL cast members Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer, and Tim Meadows.

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Independent film Napoleon Dynamite is Jared Hess' directorial debut that went from 2004 Sundance Film Festival entry to mainstream movie success. Loveable Napoleon (Jon Heder) is hilarious as an awkward teen in Idaho who lives with his grandmother, brother Kip, and pet llama. When his grandmother gets hurt riding an ATV on sand dunes, his greasy Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) comes to live with them and proceeds to mess with Napoleon's life. Meanwhile, Napoleon befriends Pedro ( Efren Ramirez) and helps him campaign for the class president election against classmate Summer (Haylie Duff). After Pedro's forgettable speech to the student body, Napoleon turns the mood around by performing an AWESOME dance.

Schoolof Rock(2003)
One-half of the real-life rock duo Tenacious D, Jack Black plays Dewey Finn, a musician who is voted out of his band and needs to find work. When his roommate Ned (Mike White) gets an offer to be a substitute teacher at a private school, Dewey goes in his place to find a classroom full of kids with musical talent. Lacking any teaching experience, he tosses out the curriculum and teaches the kids the basics of rock and roll, convincing them to enter a "battle of the bands" competition against his ex-band.

Best of the 1990s

American Pie (1999)
High school comedies never fail to highlight the humiliating experiences young males endure in their efforts to contain their hormones. In American Pie, four friends make a vow to reach "home base" before their senior prom. Jim (Jason Biggs), who repeatedly finds himself in embarrassing situations with his parents, tries to hook up with exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) but resorts to band geek Michelle (Alyson Hannigan). Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), who is dating Vicky (Tara Reid), prepares to take his relationship to the next level. Football jock Oz finds himself hooked to good girl Heather (Mena Suvari). And while Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) gets an early head start from a rumor, he gets left in the gutters until he meets a classmate's mom (Jennifer Coolidge). American Pie was the directorial debut for Paul Weitz, and the film spawned two sequels, American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003).

Clueless (1995)
Before Mean Girls and Legally Blonde, there were two rich, pretty high school girls in Beverly Hills named Cher (Alicia Silverstone) and Dionne (Stacey Dash). (If I remember correctly, the outfits in the movie launched an era of plaid miniskirts and knee-high tights.) After getting a bad grade in Mr. Hall's class, Cher comes up with an idea to hook up him up with fellow single teacher Miss Geist to make him happier, and more willing to give better grades. New student Tai (Brittany Murphy) also gets sucked into the world of Cher and emerges like Cher's mini-me. Cher tries to force a relationship between Tai and rich guy Elton (Jeremy Sisto), but makes a big miscalculation when Elton mistakes Cher's efforts for flirtation. A devastated Tai turns her eyes to Cher's former step-brother Josh (Paul Rudd), but Cher finds herself surprisingly jealous and realizes she may have feelings for Josh too. Directed by Amy Heckerling, Clueless is based off the story of Jane Austen's novel Emma.

Dazed and Confused (1993, available in HD DVD)
Although it wasn't a winner at the box office, Dazed and Confused has become a cult classic and is well known for its supporting cast of future movie stars like Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, and Milla Jovovich. It's the last day of school in 1976 and seniors are preparing to haze the incoming freshman. Freshman Mitch (Wiley Wiggins) gets "paddled" by senior Fred O'Bannion (Ben Affleck), but finds some refuge with star football player Randall "Pink" Floyd (Jason London), who invites him to go out later that night. Over the course of the night, Mitch goes out with "Pink," meets the slacker David Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey), and then joins them in a mailbox-smashing spree. Meanwhile, friends Tony, Cynthia and Mike drive around looking for something to do and get invited to a keg party where seniors and freshman are having a party.

Best of the 1980s

Dead Poets Society (1989)
Set in 1958, Dead Poets Society was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director, and won for Best Screenplay. Robin Williams stars as the eclectic English teacher John Keating who joins the staff at a conservative private all-boys school and encourages his students to break free from the molds they are used to and develop a fresh perspective on life. As the boys begin to branch out, they revive an old club called the Dead Poets Society. When tragedy afflicts the school, Keating is blamed and fired. Except, at this point the boys have come to understand that sometimes the adults in their lives may not always make the right decisions, and they join together to stand up for Keating.

Lean On Me (1989)
When it comes to unruly kids, it takes an educator who thinks 'outside the box' in order to influence change. In his first lead role, Morgan Freeman plays Joe Clark, a real-life principal, who takes an unorthodox method at fixing up an inner-city school in New Jersey. While pushing the student body and staff to raise test scores, Clark manages to make personal relationships and ultimately gets results. The title song of the movie's soundtrack, "Lean on Me," is great, too.

Stand and Deliver (1988)
Based on the real-life story of math teacher Jaime Escalante, Stand and Deliver is about a class of Hispanic students who realize that education is the key out of their poor neighborhoods. Jaime (Edward James Olmos) inspires and helps the students so much that they are accused of cheating on the Advanced Placement Calculus test after their scores rose dramatically and must prove the doubters wrong.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy/Musical in 1987, Matthew Broderick plays Ferris Bueller, a wise-aleck kid who has a knack for cutting class. Determined to take one last day off before graduation, Ferris says he's sick and proceeds to get his friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) and girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) to join him on his escapade, while also convincing Cameron to take out his father's Ferrari. With the Ferrari, Ferris spends his day off visiting Chicago hot spots with Cameron and Sloane, but at the same time dodging the school principal Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), who wants nothing more than to catch Ferris skipping class.

The Breakfast Club (1985, available in HD DVD)
High school is comprised of all different types of people. What happens when you put them all in the same crummy situation? In The Breakfast Club, five teens representing different cliques discover that they actually have more in common than they first thought. Claire (Molly Ringwald) is the popular girl, Andrew (Emilio Estevez) is the jock, John (Judd Nelson) is the bad boy, Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) is the smart geek, and Allison (Ally Sheedy) is the oddball. Stuck in the same Saturday detention and forced to write an essay about who they think they are, the group comes to realize they have the same issues with parents and life. The quintessential "coming of age" drama, The Breakfast Club likely influenced many of the movies on this list.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982, available in HD DVD)
Before tackling the 1995 hit Clueless, Amy Heckerling directed the classic high school movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, written by Cameron Crowe. Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a freshman who ends up hooking up with the wrong guys, including a friend of Mark (Brian Backer), who is the one guy who truly likes her but can't get the nerve to make the right moves. Linda (Phoebe Cates), Stacy's best friend, gives her advice and Brad (Judge Reinhold), Stacy's older brother, helps her when a one-night stand results in something unexpected. And then there's Jeff Spicoli (better known as just Spicoli). Sean Penn (yes, the same actor with one Academy award and three nominations) plays Spicoli, a surfer who loves to mess with Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), a teacher who seems like he's annoyed with all the kids he's paid to teach but actually really cares about their education. Like other 80s teen movies, the movie's cast is made up of future stars, including Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) and Anthony Edwards (ER).

Best of the 1970s

National Lampoon's Animal House (1978, available in HD DVD)
The first of many National Lampoon movies, Animal House follows the lives of two fraternity houses at the fictional Faber College in 1962. The Omega fraternity is considered the elite house on campus, while the Delta house is occupied by the school's outcasts and troublemakers. As new freshman pledge at the start of the school year, the college's dean vows to shut down the Delta house once and for all, and encourages the snooty Omegas to help with the effort. Led by pledge master John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi), the Deltas continue to misbehave and party until they are finally thrown out. To get revenge against the Omegas, the Deltas decide to crash the town's annual parade. Directed by John Landis, National Lampoon's Animal House is widely recognized as one of the first movies directed specifically for a young adult audience.

Grease (1978)
Set in the 1950s, Grease is the mega-hit musical that stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Danny (John Travolta) is the leader of the bad-boy group at school who has a summer romance with a good girl named Sandy (Olivia Newton-John), who shows up as a transfer student at his school in the fall. Although Sandy becomes friends with Frenchy (Didi Conn), who is part of a tough-girl group at school called the "Pink Ladies," she's shunned by Rizzo (Stockard Channing), who is the leader of the "Pink Ladies" and also has her eyes on Danny. Because of their different backgrounds and friends, Danny and Sandy try to figure out if they're just too different to be together. Like the movie, the soundtrack (available at Zune Marketplace) also topped charts on the success of hits like "Summer Nights," "Hopelessly Devoted to You," and "You're The One That I Want."

Best of the Runner-Ups

• Freedom Writers (2007)
• She's the Man (2006)
• Friday Night Lights (2004)
• Saved! (2004)
• Bring It On (2000)
• 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
• Election (1999)
• Rushmore (1999)
• Can't Hardly Wait (1998)
• Dangerous Minds (1995)
• Heathers (1989)
• Sixteen Candles (1984)

Article by SoozyQ