Dazed and Confused (film)

Dazed and Confused is a 1993 American movie written and directed by Richard Linklater. The movie has a large ensemble cast, many of whom share the spotlight. The title is derived from the Led Zeppelin song "Dazed and Confused".

Plot summary

The film paid considerable attention to period and locational detail, mostly the cars, clothing, slang and music of the time, the soundtrack featuring rock staples of the era and fads like citizens' band radio. It also occasionally featured a sense of melancholy, the belief of having "missed out" by several years on the monumental events of the turbulent late 1960s.

Related Topics:
Citizens' band radio - 1960s

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The film's lack of conventional narrative structure, and undemonized depiction of marijuana use, have associated it with "stoner" culture somewhat. It should be noted that the film's biggest marijuana smoker is portrayed as a loser allowing life to pass him by while everyone else gets on with their lives.

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"Dazed and Confused" has been compared to American Graffiti in its loosely-structured depiction of one night in the lives of a group of high school students.

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As the movie starts, the last day of school at a small town Texas high school is beginning. Most of the main characters are introduced during this time. One of the characters is Randall "Pink" Floyd, a star football player who hangs around with not only the jocks but also with members of the two other cliques at the school, stoners and nerds. Pink thus serves as a link connecting all of the school's different social groups.

Related Topics:
Football - Clique

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The last day of school proceeds with regular classes but the soon-to-be-senior class (Class of 1977) is more interested in getting ready for the annual hazing of the incoming freshman class, which will take place after school. The boys spend the day making paddles in shop class, the girls buy groceries which will be used for the hazing. In the film, the hazing is depicted as a ritualized event that has the support of the town (the town even opens the concession stand for the event.) Boys and girls have different hazing rituals; freshman boys are chased and paddled when caught, freshman girls have food poured on them, do "air raid" drills, and then have to propose marriage to boys in the senior class.

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Mitch Kramer, one of the incoming freshmen, is a pitcher on his baseball team and he is singled out for hazing by the seniors, who wait for him after a late afternoon baseball game. Among the seniors there is Pink Floyd; perhaps because Pink is a starting quarterback and Kramer is a starting pitcher, Pink sees Kramer as following in his footsteps as one of the school's top athletes, and invites him to tag along to party for the rest of the evening.

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Another subplot involves the coaches introducing a new policy for the upcomimg 1976-77 school year in which athletes have to sign a written pledge that they will not use alcohol or illegal drugs. Pink refuses to sign the pledge sheet. The coaches berate Pink for hanging out with "that other crowd" (meaning the stoners).

Related Topics:
Alcohol - Illegal drugs

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After the hazing is over, a night of partying begins. One of the students, the drug dealer Pickford whose parents were planning on leaving town that day for a vacation, plans a party at his house. A truck delivering kegs of beer for the party arrives early before his parents have left, and they find out about the party and cancel their vacation.

Related Topics:
Vacation - Beer

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The party thus cancelled, the kids head downtown to a pool hall called the Emporium. Kramer is sent to buy beer at a convenience store even though he is only a 14-year-old freshman. The movie conspicuously shows the much more relaxed attitudes toward both teenage alcohol consumption and driving with open beer containers at the time; Kramer can easily buy beer as the lawful Texas drinking age at the time was 18 and even that was lightly enforced.

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Also at the Emporium, Wooderson is introduced. He is in his twenties but still hangs around with the high school students and is mostly interested in smoking marijuana and chasing high school girls.

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A few freshmen have endured a particularly brutal hazing at the hands of one of the seniors, O'Bannion, and they plot their revenge by luring O'Bannion outside of the Emporium and dumping paint on him.

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After the Emporium, the kids head for an all-night keg party in the woods which was put together by Wooderson.

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Other activities depicted in the film include cruising the streets, mailbox baseball, the use of the public address function of CB radio, and foosball. The film goes into great detail showing prices of the time such as rising gasoline and cigarette prices, social issues, clothing styles and music popular in 1976, and other popular culture references ranging from Gilligan's Island and Star Trek to the American Bicentennial.

Related Topics:
Mailbox baseball - CB radio - Foosball - Gasoline - Cigarette - Gilligan's Island - Star Trek - American Bicentennial

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