Confusion – Sommer der Ausgeflippten

Film

Dazed and Confused is a 1993 coming of age film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The movie's large ensemble cast featured a number of future stars, including Matthew McConaughey, Jason London, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Parker Posey, Anthony Rapp, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Nicky Katt, and Rory Cochrane. The film depicts a group of teenagers during the final day of school in 1976.

The film grossed less than $8 million at the U.S. box office, but in recent years has achieved cult film status. Quentin Tarantino included it on his list of the 12 greatest films of all time in the 2002 Sight and Sound. It also ranked third on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies. The magazine also ranked it 10th on their "Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years" list.

The title of the film is derived from the Led Zeppelin song of the same name. Linklater approached surviving members of the band for permission to use their songs in the movie, but, while Jimmy Page agreed, Robert Plant refused.

Plot

It is May 28, 1976, the last day of school at Lee High School in Texas. Next year's seniors are preparing for the annual hazing of incoming freshmen. Randall "Pink" Floyd (Jason London), the school's star football player, is asked to sign a pledge promising not to take drugs during the summer or do anything that would "jeopardize the goal of a championship season." When classes end, freshman boys are hunted down by the seniors at the local middle school for paddling. The freshman girls are also hazed as they are rounded up in the school parking lot by senior girls, covered in mustard and ketchup, and forced to propose to senior boys.

Freshman Mitch Kramer (Wiley Wiggins) escapes the hazing with his best friend Carl Burnett (Esteban Powell) when Carl's mom pulls a shotgun on Fred O'Bannion (Ben Affleck) but is eventually cornered at his baseball game, where he is violently paddled. O'Bannion, a senior flunky participating in the hazing tradition for a second year, takes special pleasure in punishing Mitch. Pink gives the injured Mitch a ride home and offers to take him cruising with friends later that night. Plans for the evening are ruined when Kevin Pickford's (Shawn Andrews) parents discover he is to host a keg party. Elsewhere, the intellectual trio of Cynthia Dunn (Marissa Ribisi), Tony Olson (Anthony Rapp) and Mike Newhouse (Adam Goldberg), known as the class nerds, decide to go out and "viscerally" participate in the evening's activities. Floyd and his friend David Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey), a 22-year-old who still socializes with high school students, pick up Kramer and head for the Emporium, a pool hall popular with the teenagers.

As the evening progresses, students loiter around the Emporium, listen to rock music, cruise the neighborhood and stop at the local hamburger drive-in. Kramer is introduced to sophomore Julie Simms (Catherine Morris) and they seem to like each other. Mitch, cruising again with Pink, Kevin, and Don Dawson (Sasha Jenson), drinks beer and smokes marijuana for the first time. They play mailbox baseball, but a neighborhood resident brandishing a handgun catches them and threatens to call the police. They barely escape, but not before the resident harmlessly fires at their car. After returning to the Emporium, Kramer runs into his middle school friends. They hatch a plan to get revenge on O'Bannion, who continues to haze freshmen students. The plan culminates with them dumping paint on O'Bannion.

After the Emporium closes, an impromptu keg party is planned outside of town in a vacant field, attracting most of the seniors. Cynthia, Tony, and Mike arrive at their first keg party. Mike has a confrontation with tough guy Clint Bruno (Nicky Katt). Afterwards, Tony runs into freshman Sabrina Davis (Christin Hinojosa), who he met earlier during the hazing. Surprisingly, they begin to hang out together. Even more surprising, Dunn likes Wooderson and exchanges phone numbers with him. Mike, suffering from the humiliation of his confrontation with Clint, decides to make a stand and picks a fight with him. The fight is quickly broken up by Pink and David. Football player Benny O'Donnell (Cole Hauser) confronts Pink about his refusal to sign the pledge. Pink, the only player to have not signed, believes it violates his individuality and beliefs. Mitch leaves the keg party with Simms. They drive to a nearby hill overlooking town to make out. Tony gives Sabrina a ride home and they kiss good night.

As night turns to dawn, Pink, David, Don, and several friends including Ron Slater (Rory Cochrane) and Simone Kerr (Joey Lauren Adams) decide to smoke marijuana on the 50-yard line of the football field. The police arrive on the scene and, recognizing Pink, call football Coach Conrad (Terry Mross). Conrad lectures Pink about hanging out with "losers" and insists that he sign the pledge. Disgusted, Pink throws the pledge into the coach's face and says he will play football, but only on his terms. Pink leaves with his friends to get tickets to an Aerosmith concert. Mitch arrives home after sunrise, but finds his mother has waited for him. She decides against punishment due to the previous evening's hazing incident. Mitch goes to his bedroom, puts on headphones and listens to rock music. Pink, David, Ron, and Simone travel down a highway en route to purchase Aerosmith tickets.

Cast

• Jason London as Randall "Pink" Floyd
• Rory Cochrane as Ron Slater
• Wiley Wiggins as Mitch Kramer
• Sasha Jenson as Don Dawson
• Michelle Burke as Jodi Kramer
• Christine Harnos as Kaye Faulkner
• Adam Goldberg as Mike Newhouse
• Anthony Rapp as Tony Olson
• Matthew McConaughey as David Wooderson
• Marissa Ribisi as Cynthia Dunn
• Shawn Andrews as Kevin Pickford
• Cole Hauser as Benny O'Donnell
• Milla Jovovich as Michelle Burroughs
• Joey Lauren Adams as Simone Kerr
• Christin Hinojosa as Sabrina Davis
• Jason O. Smith as Spivey
• Ben Affleck as Fred O'Bannion
• Parker Posey as Darla Marks
• Deena Martin as Shavonne Wright
• Nicky Katt as Clint Bruno
• Catherine Morris as Julie Simms
• Esteban Powell as Carl Burnett
• Renée Zellweger (uncredited) as Nesi White

Reception

When the film was released on September 24, 1993, it was not one of the most prominent or talked-about films of the year, and few critics reviewed it. 42 reviews have been counted on website Rotten Tomatoes. Only one of those reviews is negative, giving the film a 98% "Certified Fresh" rating. The film has achieved the status of a cult classic over the years. Roger Ebert awarded the film three stars out of four, praising the film as "art crossed with anthropology" with a "painful underside".

The film was ranked #6 on Entertainment Weekly magazine's "The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83" list.

Soundtracks

Dazed and Confused (1993)

Datei:Dazedandconfused.jpg

Dazed and Confused 1993 Motion Picture Soundtrack

1. "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" - Rick Derringer
2. "Slow Ride" - Foghat
3. "School's Out" - Alice Cooper
4. "Jim Dandy" - Black Oak Arkansas
5. "Tush" - ZZ Top
6. "Love Hurts" - Nazareth
7. "Stranglehold" - Ted Nugent
8. "Cherry Bomb" - The Runaways
9. "Fox on the Run" - Sweet
10. "Low Rider" - War
11. "Tuesday's Gone" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
12. "Highway Star" - Deep Purple
13. "Rock and Roll All Nite" - KISS
14. "Paranoid" - Black Sabbath
15. "Hurricane" - Bob Dylan

Even More Dazed and Confused (1994)

1. "Free Ride" - Edgar Winter Group
2. "No More Mr. Nice Guy" - Alice Cooper
3. "Livin' in the USA" - The Steve Miller Band
4. "Never Been Any Reason" - Head East
5. "Why Can't We Be Friends?" - War
6. "Summer Breeze" - Seals and Crofts
7. "Right Place, Wrong Time" - Dr. John
8. "Balinese" - ZZ Top
9. "Lord Have Mercy On My Soul" - Black Oak Arkansas
10. "I Just Want to Make Love to You" - Foghat
11. "Show Me the Way" - Peter Frampton
12. "Do You Feel Like We Do" - Peter Frampton

Book

In September 1993, St. Martin's Press published a 127-page, softcover book (ISBN 0-312-09466-3) that was inspired by the screenplay by Richard Linklater and compiled by Richard Linklater, Denise Montgomery and others. The book was designed by Erik Josowitz. It was presented as a kind of yearbook that contained essays written by characters from the film as well as profiles on the characters, a timeline focusing on the years 1973 to 1977 and various 1970s pop culture charts and quizzes. It also featured dozens of black-and-white photos from the film. It is said to be based on the happenings at several high schools. The most popular are Austin High School and Texas Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas, Robert E Lee High School in Tyler, Texas and Lamar High School in Houston, Texas, and Mountain Brook High School outside Birmingham, Alabama.

Some of the material contained in the original 1993 book was reprinted in the 72-page book included with the Criterion DVD release in 2006.

Criterion Collection DVD

A two-disc Criterion Collection boxed-set edition was released on June 6, 2006 in the U.S. and Canada. The set features an audio commentary by Richard Linklater, deleted scenes, the original trailer, the 50 minute "Making Dazed" documentary that aired on the American Movie Classics channel on September 18, 2005, on-set interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, cast auditions and footage from the ten-year anniversary celebration. Also included is a 72-page book featuring new essays by Kent Jones, Jim DeRogatis, and Chuck Klosterman as well as memories from the cast and crew, character profiles (as seen in the original 1993 book) and a mini reproduction of the original film poster designed by Frank Kozik.

Lawsuit

In October 2004, three of Linklater's former classmates from Huntsville High School, whose surnames are Wooderson, Slater, and Floyd, filed a defamation lawsuit against Linklater, claiming to be the basis for the similarly named characters on the film. The lawsuit was filed in New Mexico rather than Texas because New Mexico has a longer statute of limitations.

External links

Wikiquote: Confusion – Sommer der Ausgeflippten – Zitate

• Vorlage:Imdb title
• Vorlage:Amg title
• Vorlage:Mojo title
• Vorlage:Rotten-tomatoes
• Retrospective article at the Austin Chronicle
• Film Radar Linklater interview

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