the groundhog day project

"Sportoes, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads--they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude." Don't we all? Even though he's a bit of a selfish jerk, his heart's in the right place. He--being Ferris Bueller. Class clown... perhaps; in the film we never see him in school, of course, and we'll ignore the follow-up TV series for now. "Righteous dude." And, maybe a bit of a pied piper out to inspire his fellow teens. Day 1 with a movie I've seen many times, I should have a lot to say, but I find myself just sitting here enjoying the show. I suppose what matters here is what Ferris Bueller's Day Off adds to the conversation I've gotten going with Porky's and Fast Times at Ridgemont High . The initial topic worth discussing is adults. In Porky's , the adults were either the enemy or just as bad as the teenagers--remember, Officer Jarvis and Coach Brackett join in the final conflict with...

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First a nitpick: Lisa should not be in Mr. Hand's US History class. At least, I don't think she's supposed to be a freshman. While a senior (Brad) being with a freshman isn't unheard of, it seems strange that, since they've been together for two years (and this is said at the beginning of the movie, thus at the beginning of the school year), that he, presumably as a freshman, got together with a sixth grader... or if the 2-year measure is approximate, sophomore Brad got together with seventh grader Lisa. Seems odd. Maybe she just really sucks at history, but then she should have had summer school or something by now. If she is a freshman, or has flunked history class numerous times, it seems a lot more reasonable that Brad, a senior, wants to break up, whether or not they're having sex. Keep in mind, book Brad is a virgin while movie Brad claims that Lisa is good in bed. But anyway, I'm drifting beyond the obvious topics today. So, first... second of all...

(Before moving on from sex and feminism, there is a notable detail I should share. Crowwe's screenplay was based on Crowe's book which was based on time spent under an assumed name at the high school he had attended not too many years earlier. That isn't the notable detail. There may be a Hollywood-type reason that movie Stacy is both sexually naive and sexually adventurous... I mean aside from it actually being possible to be both. In the book, its is a girl from out of town--Laurie Beckman--who receives the blow job lesson from Linda, not Stacy. Somewhere in the transition from book to screenplay, I suppose Laurie and Stacy got combined.) But, I want to talk about Spicoli. This is from the book version of his arrival at Mr. Hand's class: Jeff Spicoli, a Ridgemont legend since third grade, lounged against the doorframe. His long dirty-blond hair was parted exactly in the middle. He spoke thickly, like molasses pouring from a jar. Most every school morning, Spico...

INT. STACY’S ROOM - ANGLE ON STACY IN HER ROOM In the middle of changing, she has caught her own reflection in the mirror. She pauses a moment, looking at the young girl looking back. This is Stacy just before she has sex with Damone in the script. This is the same Stacy who, the day after she has sex with Ron, says, “It’s just sex.” (Linda’s response, by the way: “Hey! That’s my line!”) I don’t mean to keep coming back to Ebert but his take on Stacy is not entirely inaccurate: “She’s curious about sex, so the script immediately turns her into a promiscuous sex machine who will go to be with anybody.” Well, I’ve already pointed out the basic inaccuracies there—that 2 1/2 partners over the course of 9 months is hardly promiscuous . This is normal. After the flowers, after Lisa offers up a good line—“I don’t want to have to use sex as a tool”—Brad and Stacy actually talk about sex. Before Brad tells it to the mirror, he tells his little sister, “I’ve been doing some thinking. It’...

(A quick note: I forgot to mention that yesterday I passed my prospectus defense so I will be going forward with my Master’s Thesis about the creation of this blog.) Anyway, Linda... In the film, you might get the idea that she’s the resident expert on sex at Ridgemont High, but only barely. In the script I found (again, I’m not sure what draft this would be, there’s no cover page) there’s more to her scene with Stacy after she (Stacy) has talked to Ron in the mall, and there’s an extra scene of Linda at Ridgemont early on. First, the bit at the mall, after hours, movie version: Stacy: Linda, did I show you this? He gave me his card. “Ron Johnson, Audio Consultant.” Linda: Maybe we should, like, get a frame for this and put it up on the wall. Stacy: Come on, Linda, you’re the one who told me I was gonna get a boyfriend at the mall. (BEAT) Do you think he’ll call this week? Linda: Stace, why don’t you just call him? Stacy: I can’t. Linda: Yes, you can. Guys love that sort of t...

Early in the film, Linda (Phoebe Cates) says she had sex when she was 13 and "it's no big thing." Then she references having a fiancé in Chicago. She's painted almost immediately as a sort of de facto expert on sex, but the film version is a bit simplistic. There is little more to Linda than sex. She is the guide for Stacy into being sexually active and she is later the sexual object for Brad (and for us). Oddly enough, she never has sex during the film and matters very little to the plot after the pool scene. There's more to her in Crowe's script (not sure of the draft, found it online). When Stacy tells her that Ron (the guy to which she loses her virginity... Which brings me to an interesting point. I actually had to pause on that phrasing--"loses her virginity." And, then came a google ngrams graph--"his virginity" versus "her virginity" because I was curious and the internet is awesome. At first, those results surpri...

So, right at the top, the Sherman Oaks Mall featured as the Ridgemont Mall is the same mall featured briefly in Commando . In other Groundhog Day Project news, a guy emailed me today for my help in identifying Sandy Maschmeyer (Laraine, aka the French Maid date) and Angela Paton (Florence "Mrs" Lancaster) from their high school yearbook photos. I kind of like being a guy people can ask about Groundhog Day related stuff. But anyway, Fast Times at Ridgemont High . Seven minutes in and we've already got two montage bits with songs playing over them. There's already talk of underage sex, brief nudity (albeit just in some locker photos), and a whole lot of coupling and mating-type displays going on. And, like Porky's , the main cast is older than their characters. They have to be, of course, because of some of the subject matter; it just makes production easier. It's been a while since I've watched this movie. And, I think I mentioned yesterday that I did ...