''Class'' is a 1983 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by Lewis John Carlino, starring

Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and entertainment host. Following numerous television roles in the early 1980s, he came to prominence as a teen idol and member of the Brat Pack with starring roles in ...

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in ''The Detective (1968 film), The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet ...

, Andrew McCarthy, and

Cliff Robertson Clifford Parker Robertson III (September 9, 1923 – September 10, 2011) was an American actor whose career in film and television spanned over six decades. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film ''PT 109 (film), PT 109'', a ...

. In addition to being Lowe's second film (released four months after '' The Outsiders''), it marked the film debuts of McCarthy,

John Cusack John Paul Cusack ( ; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor. With a career spanning over four decades, he has appeared in over 80 films. He began acting in f ...

Virginia Madsen Virginia Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress. She is the recipient of two Critics' Choice Awards, an Independent Spirit Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Gl ...

Casey Siemaszko Kazimierz Andrew "Casey" Siemaszko (; born March 17, 1961) is an American actor. He had supporting roles in ''Back to the Future'' and '' Stand By Me'' before having starring roles in '' Three O'Clock High'' and '' Young Guns''. Personal life Sie ...

, and

Lolita Davidovich Lolita Davidovich (born Lolita Davidović; July 15, 1961) is a Canadian film and television actress, best known for portraying Blaze Starr in the 1989 film '' Blaze'', for which she received a Chicago Film Critics Association Award nomination. ...

Plot

Upon first arriving at prep school, Jonathan Ogner is mocked for wearing his school uniform. Then, going up to his dorm he meets his roommate, who introduces himself as Squire Franklin Burroughs IV but tells him to call him "Skip". Skip then takes off his bath robe, revealing a red bra and panties, then explains to the shocked Jonathan that it is tradition for seniors to parade around campus wearing only girls' underwear. Jonathan does not have any, so Skip gives him a set from his dresser. They head out of the dorm together until they get to the final door where Skip stays behind and locks the door. The other students laugh and mock Jonathan for wearing girls' underwear. Mortified, Jonathan tries to get back inside. After discovering all the doors are locked, he climbs a trellis leading into his room where he finds Skip rolling on the floor laughing. Skip tries to tell Jonathan it was a practical joke and to laugh it off, but Jonathan is too embarrassed. Later, during lunchtime in the cafeteria, the other students again taunt Jonathan as he tries to eat. When Skip invites him over to his table to sit with him and his friends, Jonathan turns to reveal that he is crying. Skip is now deeply remorseful for pulling the prank on Jonathan as he flees the cafeteria. When Skip returns to their room to apologize to Jonathan, he finds him hanging with a rope around his neck in an apparent suicide. Going to get help, on his return to the room, Skip and the gathering crowd find not Jonathan but a mannequin with a picture of the dean's face attached to its head. The crowd crack up hysterically at Skip as the dean says he wants to see him and Jonathan in his office. As the crowd disperses, Skip finds Jonathan very much alive and laughing hysterically in the closet. He grudgingly accepts the prank reversal and they become fast friends. Afterwards they share secrets, and Jonathan confesses he cheated on the

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

. After several failed attempts to find Jonathan a date, Skip vows to help him have a successful sexual encounter. He sends Jonathan to Chicago to gain sexual experience before their reputations are ruined. He is picked up by Ellen, a beautiful older woman, and has an affair with her. He falls in love with her, although she considers it to be just a fling. Jonathan lied, claiming to be a Ph.D. student. When he proclaims his love to Ellen during one of their sessions, she has second thoughts about continuing. Her decision is finalized when she discovers Jonathan is both much younger than he had claimed (only 17) and that he also attends the same school as her son. Over

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

break, Skip invites Jonathan to spend Christmas with him and his family at the Burroughs estate. Here, Jonathan discovers that Ellen is Skip's

mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

and is married. He tries to end the affair, but she contacts him several times. Eventually, he agrees to meet to talk. Lying to Skip, he claims to need time alone. When Jonathan and Ellen meet, they have sex again. Attempting to cheer up his friend, Skip and friends go to the hotel room. There they discover Jonathan in bed with Skip's mother, upsetting Skip. Later, the friends have a fist fight, but later reconcile.

Cast

Production

Principal photography for the film took place in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and the surrounding area between September and November 1982. Suffield House, a private mansion in Lake Forest, played the part of Skip Burroughs' family estate, given the fictitious address of 65 Spring Creek Road, Barrington Hills.

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducatio ...

was used for numerous scenes; including the hockey scenes, the exterior dorm scenes, and, most notably, the lunchroom scenes. Bisset replaced

Lesley Ann Warren Lesley Ann Warren (born August 16, 1946) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She made her Broadway debut in '' 110 in the Shade'' in 1963. In 1965 she received wide recognition for playing the title role in the television musical product ...

for the role of Ellen Burroughs. Bisset was disappointed that scenes involving her character's backstory were cut. These included a scene at the end where her son visited her in a mental hospital. "When you're in a comedy ... It's always difficult to develop a character because they always cut for comedy, the comic effect. I lost a couple of scenes that would have explained my character better. She was more interesting in the original script. Why does she do what she does? She's a very unhappy woman. She doesn't have any relationship at home. Cliff tells her in the bedroom that she's a Burroughs and as long as she's a Burroughs she must behave. That's not much of a relationship to have with your husband. So she's a bit off balance, greatly in need of a childlike component in her life. She's been completely buckled down by Cliff. There's absolutely no fantasy aspect to her life. She's condemned to being an adult... The director sees it much more as a rites-of-passage film", Bisset said. McCarthy attended an open call held at New York University and wound up with the lead part in the film. Lowe said, "It was a very atypical role for me. So it's a little uncomfortable when I'm too readily associated with it. 'Oh yeah, him, he was in ''Class''.' It was such an extroverted role, and most of my work has been just the opposite. I like the movie. I think it was fun, not the vile concoction a lot of people seem to think it was."Lyman, Rick (March 11, 1984)
The Young Actors: For Lowe, at 20, Leading Roles Already
''

Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' p. K1. Retrieved December 5, 2020. Madsen dislikes talking about her experience making the film, stating in a 2013 interview, "Those guys were assholes. They were really shitty to me. It was bad. Bad memories."

said her comment was justifiable, pointing out "her big part in that movie required her shirt to get ripped off, and looking back, it couldn't be a more egregious, vintage, lowbrow, 1980s '' Porky's''-esque, shoehorned-in moment... I can imagine it was not much fun to do that big sequence with a bunch of laughing, ogling frat-boy actors. I mean, can you imagine putting up with me, ohnCusack, Alan Ruck, and Andrew McCarthy at 18?"

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has a 29% rating based on reviews from 14 critics. '' Variety'' said "''Class'' is anything but classy.... tseems something like an unofficial remake of one of Bisset's first Hollywood efforts, the 1969 '' The First Time''".

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

wrote "The movie can't make up its mind whether it's a lighthearted comedy, set in what appears to be a posh New England–style prep school just outside Chicago, or a romantic drama about a teen-age boy who has a torrid affair with his roommate's mother. Either way it's pretty awful."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film 2 out of 4 stars and said it was a "prep-school retread of ''

The Graduate ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American independent romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novella by Charles Webb. It stars Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddoc ...

'' that knows some of its scenes are funny and some are serious, but never figures out quite how they should go together;" the film is "entertaining when it's not dealing with its real subject matter, painful when it is, and agonizing when it confuses rigid mortification with humor."

References

External links