American Graffiti vs Fast Times at Ridgemont High vs Dazed and Confused

I'm guessing Clueless would be the film the defined high school life in the 90s.

Dazed and Confused was the only film in which I thought Matthew McConaughey looked hot.

Dazed and Confused was my generation and corresponded to my highschool experience.

I loved Dazed and Confused but didn't get the whole paddling ritual thing, especially on the last day of school before summer. If this is true to what high school kids did in Austin, TX in 1976 then things must been pretty dull there.

Austin was dead in 1976. It started booming in the 80s. The population was 200,000 when I grew up there. It's 2 million plus now.

This is a good fight-- I don't know which I'd vote for honestly. I didn't grow up watching American Graffiti as much as I did the other two, but its influence on them is undeniable. Gun to the head-- I could probably watch Dazed and Confused the most, though I think Fast Times is a better movie overall. I don't know- all three just feel so effortless.

I like all three, but probably have more of a sentimental attachment to D&C. It seems closest to my experience even though I mostly grew up in the 80s.

My generation had Fame.

The 90s was definitely defined by "She's All That".

I COULD WATCH DAZED AND CONFUSED ONCE A WEEK

BRILLIANT FUN WITTY WACK A DOOODLE PACKED WITH STARS

90s - Clueless

Out off all the 90 teen movies I think Clueless had the most impact.

"Fast" & "Dazed" are really good, but "AG" is great. Where were you in 62? I wasn't even born, but that movie makes me feel like I know and understand a lot about some young Americans of that generation and the mostly white, mostly mainstream culture that shaped them. Haskell's Wexler's cinematography is amazing, and Lucas' direction is his personal best. In spite of the way the movie was marketed (and the crap like "Happy Days" that ripped it off), it's hardly a nostalgia trip.

American Graffiti made me feel I was riding around with easily recognizable characters. For me, the overly exaggerated part of Dazed & Confused was how the older kids seemed to live for nothing more than making the younger kid's existence miserable. Fast Times just seems like an ensemble piece.

Clueless was definitely my generation.

Of the three OP mentioned, I like Dazed best. I wasn't even born until 1979 but that film made me wish I was a kid during the seemingly lawless godless 70's.

The 70s weren't necessarily a great time to grow up gay, but helicopter parenting hadn't been invented yet (at least in my neighbourhood) and adolescence, in retrospect at least, was pretty much a free-for-all.

Fast Times understood that most teenagers' lives revolved around work, not high school, and they got that right down to the last detail.

"Look at you: member of the honor roll, assistant to the assistant manager of the movie theater. I'm tellin' ya, Rat, if this girl can't smell your qualifications, then who needs her, right?"

Even Jennifer Jason Leigh losing her virginity to a salesman at the stereo store was perfect.

Shall we add "Valley Girl" into the mix as well?

I love all three, but I love FOXES 1980 even more.

Yes, Valley Girl showed Nicolas Cage at peak hotness. There's also some funny dialogue.

Cage really was hot in the early 80s. From "Racing with the Moon". Sigh.

I love "Valley Girl" - Punk-ass Nic Cage, "Randy," was desperately in love with Rich-girl "Julie." The film is a modern-day version of "Romeo and Juliet"!

Randy/Romeo

I would say The Last Picture Show covered the bleak '50's high school experience pretty well.

And "Carrie" was even bleaker about the 70s high school experience. It was like watching a fucking documentary for me.

Clueless was G rated fluff. High school in the 90s was more like the movie Kids, for me

Heathers and Breakfast Club should be at least in this discussion...

....

Grafitti had a sweetness the otheres didn't.

Dazed and Confused was Texas 1976, so there was all that boring sports stuff and harrassment not seen in California, but the few slivers left over had some similarities. Our campus was urban and working class, so there weren't many, but my sister went to the nearby middle class school, so there were more.

I'll take Porky's over any of these.

For all its time-travel weirdness, Donny Darko captures the mood of being a teen in the late 80s really well.

No Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles? I mean really.