''Three O'Clock High'' is a 1987 American teen comedy film directed by Phil Joanou. The script, about a meek high schooler who is forced into a fight with a volatile new transfer student, is based on the high school experiences of screenwriters

Richard Christian Matheson Richard Christian Matheson (born October 14, 1953) is an American writer of horror fiction and screenplays, the son of fiction writer and screenwriter Richard Matheson. He is the author of over 100 short stories of psychological horror and ma ...

and Thomas Szollosi. It was shot in

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

Plot

Meek high school student Jerry Mitchell and his sister Brei have the house to themselves while their parents are on vacation. The students this morning are gossiping about the new student Buddy Revell, a violent delinquent who has just transferred to Weaver from a continuation high school. Jerry's first hour is spent at the school newspaper, where his best friend, Vincent Costello, is the editor. Their journalism teacher has the idea of doing an article about Buddy to welcome the "new kid", and she assigns Jerry to do an interview. Jerry sees Buddy in the restroom and clumsily attempts to introduce himself but realizes he is only making Buddy angry. He tells Buddy to disregard the interview request, and gives Buddy a friendly tap on the arm. Buddy, who does not like to be touched, responds by tossing Jerry against a wall and states the pair will fight outside the school at 3:00 P.M. Buddy also tells Jerry that running away or reporting the incident to a teacher will only make the situation worse. With little more than six hours to go, Jerry tries different strategies to avoid the fight. Trying to reason with Buddy doesn't work. Vincent suggests that he plant a switchblade in Buddy's locker to get him kicked out of school; Brei advises him to simply skip school, but when Jerry tries to leave, he finds the switchblade he planted now stuck in his car's steering wheel, and his ignition wires cut. Trying to run, Jerry is caught by overzealous school security guard, Duke, who finds the switchblade and takes Jerry to the office of Mr. Dolinski, the Dean of Discipline. Doliniski warns Jerry he is under suspicion. Jerry makes several other attempts to avoid the fight. All attempts fail, and the clock continues to tick down. Ultimately Buddy accepts cash Jerry stole from the school store in exchange for calling off the fight, but declares Jerry is a coward. Now seized with self-loathing and anger, Jerry decides to confront Buddy, and demands the money back. When Buddy refuses, Jerry insists that he is no coward and declares that their fight is back on. The clock finally reaches the appointed hour, and the fight begins with hundreds of eager students awaiting the fight outside the school. Jerry, though out-matched, stands his ground while being knocked down. His sister picks up Buddy's dropped brass knuckles and slips them to Jerry. He uses them in a desperate move to stun and knock-out Buddy; during the excitement that follows, Buddy vanishes. The next day, many students show their admiration and support to Jerry for such a great fight. They begin buying individual sheets of paper for $1 from the school store to help Jerry make up the store's missing cash. Buddy suddenly shows up, silencing the crowd. He openly returns the cash to Jerry, begrudgingly showing his respect. Weaver High is now filled with new gossip, as Jerry replaces Buddy as the school's hot discussion topic, with rumors having a wide and humorous range from the actual truth.

Cast

Casey Siemaszko Kazimierz Andrew "Casey" Siemaszko (; born March 17, 1961) is an American actor. Personal life Siemaszko was born in Chicago and grew up on the city's northwest side. He attended Saint Ignatius College Preparatory School and graduated from the ...

as Jerry Mitchell * Anne Ryan as Franny Perrins * Richard Tyson as Buddy Revell * Jonathan Wise as Vincent Costello * Stacey Glick as Brei Mitchell * Jeffrey Tambor as Mr. Rice *

Philip Baker Hall Philip Baker Hall (September 10, 1931 – June 12, 2022) was an American character actor. Hall is known for his collaborations with Paul Thomas Anderson, including '' Hard Eight'' (1996), ''Boogie Nights'' (1997) and ''Magnolia'' (1999). He als ...

as Detective Mulvahill *

John P. Ryan John Patrick Ryan (July 30, 1936 – March 20, 2007) was an American actor, best known for his role as Warden Ranken in the 1985 film ''Runaway Train''. Biography The son of Irish immigrant parents, Ryan graduated from Rice High School and st ...

as Mr. O'Rourke *

Theron Read Theron David Read (September 25, 1964 – July 20, 2009), was an American film actor. Career He was most remembered for his role as Mark Bojeekus in the 1987 comedy ''Three O'Clock High''. He also had parts in the films ''Plan 10 from Outer Sp ...

as Mark Bojeekus * Liza Morrow as Karen Clark * Guy Massey as Scott Cranston * Mike Jolly as Craig Mattey * Scott Tiler as Bruce Chalmer * Charles Macaulay as Voytek Dolinski *

Caitlin O'Heaney Caitlin O'Heaney (born August 16, 1952) is an American television, film and stage actress. O'Heaney has worked extensively in live theater, but is best known for playing Sarah Stickney White, the female lead on the American Broadcasting Company, ...

as Miss Farmer *

Alice Nunn Alice Elizabeth Nunn (October 10, 1927 – July 1, 1988) was an American film and theatre actress. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and died at her apartment in West Hollywood, California. Although she played many roles across her 31-year ...

as Nurse Palmer * Paul Feig as Hall monitor * Mitch Pileggi as Duke, School Security Guard * Yeardley Smith as Cheerleader

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is the thirty-first major release and ninth soundtrack album by Tangerine Dream. Additional music was provided by

Sylvester Levay Sylvester Levay (originally Lévay Szilveszter, Serbian language, Serbian: Силвестер Леваи, ''Silvester Levai'') is a Hungarian people, Hungarian recording artist and composer, born in Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Life and career Levay ...

. The song, "Something to Remember Me By", was written and performed by Jim Walker.

Track listing

Personnel

Edgar Froese Edgar Willmar Froese (; 6 June 1944 – 20 January 2015) was a German musical artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group Tangerine Dream in 1967. Froese was the only continuous member of the group ...

Chris Franke Chris Franke is an American experimental poet from Charlottesville, Virginia. His work includes concrete poetry, sound poetry, performance poetry, and various forms of conventional poetry. He has performed as a member of the ''Endangered Specie ...

* Paul Haslinger

Release

Box office

The film opened in 849 theaters nationwide on October 9, 1987 and earned $1,506,975 on its opening weekend, 40.9% of its total gross. The total lifetime gross is approximately $3,685,862, against the original budget of $5,000,000.

Critical response

The film earned mixed reviews, and has a "rotten" rating of 57% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 critical reviews.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of ''The Chicago Sun-Times'' gave the film one out of four stars, declaring the plot to be "pretty stupid" and lamenting that the bully Buddy Revell, "the most interesting character", was underdeveloped.Ebert, Roger (1987).
Three O'Clock High
" 09 October 1987, retrieved 18 July 2020 In a retrospective review from 2016, critic Rob Hunter called the film "a wildly inventive and energetic look at the failures and successes of a typical high school day, and it shapes the daydreams and anxieties into an exaggerated delight." The dark tone of the film contrasted with other teen films of the time—so much so that executive producer

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

removed his name from the credits. In 2017, Adrian Halen wrote that ''Three O'Clock High'' was released in "an era when ''

The Breakfast Club ''The Breakfast Club'' is a 1985 American teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The film t ...

'', '' Pretty in Pink'', '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off'', '' National Lampoon’s Vacation'' and ''

Weird Science Weird Science is the name of: * ''Weird Science'' (film), a 1985 film directed by John Hughes ** ''Weird Science'' (TV series), a television series based on the film ** "Weird Science" (song), the theme song to the film and the TV series by Oing ...

'' were the general norm for moviegoers."

References

External links

* * * * * {{Tangerine Dream main albums discography 1987 films 1980s high school films 1980s teen comedy films American high school films American teen comedy films 1980s English-language films Films about bullying Films directed by Phil Joanou Films scored by Tangerine Dream Films shot in Utah Universal Pictures films 1987 directorial debut films 1987 comedy films Films with screenplays by Richard Christian Matheson 1980s American films