Customer Reviews

Dazed & Confused [VHS]

5 star:		(248)
4 star:		(57)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I love this movie. It's one of my favorite teen comedies. It helped jump start the careers of the film's soon-to-be stars, such as: Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Matthew McConaughey, Rory Cochrane, Jason London, and Milla Jovovich, to name a few. By the end of my first viewing, I was hooked. I became obsessed with the movie, and have seen it so many times that I've lost count, and it's still fresh and hilarious with every viewing (which is rare for a film)! It has become one of my favorite movies of all time, as well.

It doesn't necessarily have a plot, it's basically about the last day of school at a high school in a small town in Texas in 1976. The soon-to-be seniors are initiating the soon-to-be freshmen, A few friends are trying to get Aerosmith tickets, and everyone is trying to party or get stoned, drunk, or laid. Oh yeah. Dazed and Confused is definitely a cult classic, and a movie I could watch easily over a million times. Even though it's about the END of the school year, it's still fun to watch whenever. Oh, and Slater is my favorite character by far. The soundtrack is AWESOME as well, featuring songs by: Aerosmith, Foghat, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, War, ZZ Top, Peter Frampton, KISS, Steve Miller Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

This is, hands down, one of the greatest teen movies ever made. People who grew up in the 70's claim this movie captures the time perfectly (just read some of the reviews here!), and this movie is definitely a must see. It'll make every young viewer wish they were there partying and having a good time, and every adult remember the good times they had during their teenage years. So, if you're looking for an entertaining flick to watch or want a flick that you AND your buddies will enjoy, check out "Dazed and Confused".

And for those who are angry that another DVD release of this film is out, you should just give your old D&C DVDs away and grab this one. In fact, Universal are the ones who SCREWED us, the fans, with their lackluster efforts for BOTH of the DVDs they've released (the barebones edition and the Flashback edition). Sure they REMASTERED the film for the Flashback edition, but there could've been so much more on THAT edition. Linklater was supposively going to record a commentary for the Flashback edition, but he didn't meet Universal's deadline, so they decided to release the DVD without the Making Dazed 10th anniversary documentary AND Linklater's commentary, hence, he was disappointed with the Flashback edition DVD, and Criterion gave Linklater enough freedom to put all of the bonus features he wanted on a "Dazed" DVD. They even allowed him and cinematographer Lee Daniel to supervise the high definition transfer of the film that will be used on the Criterion DVD. However, the HD transfer will be down converted to DVD resolution for the DVD release. It's impossible for the standard DVD format to reach the resolution of High Definition, although DVDs (especially now) can look very good.

Special features include the following:
* All new high-definition digital transfer, supervised by Richard Linklater and cinematographer Lee Daniel
* Audio commentary by Linklater
* "Making Dazed," a 50-minute documentary by filmmaker Kahane Corn
* Booklet featuring new essays by film critic Kent Jones, music critic Jim DeRogatis, and author Chuck Klosterman, plus character profiles, and memories of the film from cast and crew
* More than two hours of rare on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage featuring cast and crew
* Footage from the 10-year anniversary celebration
* Audition footage
* Deleted Scenes
* Original trailer
* Collectible film poster

Fans of this movie have had to suffer two bare bones editions before finally being richly rewarded with this new special edition from the fine folks at the Criterion Collection.

The first disc features an audio commentary by writer/director Richard Linklater who is clearly still bitter about how the studio screwed him over and mentions it frequently. He talks at length about which parts of the film are autobiographical in his usual, easygoing, genial way, delivering yet another top notch track filled with great anecdotes, smart observations and cautionary tales about the dangers of working with a Hollywood studio.

Also included are 17 deleted scenes, including footage of Pink and his friends stealing the statues that we see later on in the film painted as the band members from Kiss.

There is also a theatrical trailer.

The second disc kicks off with an impressive, 50 minute retrospective documentary entitled "Making Dazed" that combines behind-the-scenes footage from 1992 with the ten-year cast and crew reunion with more recent interviews as well. This is a fascinating look at the challenges that Linklater faced on his first studio movie.

"Auditions" features footage of 12 cast members reading for the film. It is pretty easy to see why they were cast as they slip into character quite naturally - especially someone like Rory Cochrane who eerily becomes Slater or Nicky Katt who effortlessly embodies his redneck bully.

"Beer Bust at the Moon Tower" features cast members being interviewed in character during the first week of rehearsal in an effort to get them familiar with their roles. Also included are cast interviews that look like they were done early on in production or during filming. Highlights include an amusing and candid clip of Wiggins and Christine Harnos before their kissing scene in the movie. There is also quite a bit of behind-the-scenes footage that was seen only briefly in "Making Dazed."

Finally, there is an impressive 72-page booklet with essays and interviews. And to top it all off a fold out movie poster is included as well.

"Dazed and Confused" represents one of the better entries in the film genre fans affectionately refer to as the stoner picture. After viewing this movie, I started thinking about this much maligned cinematic rubric. How many films, I wondered, fall within this category? Well, there are the Cheech and Chong movies that emerged in the 1970s, a series of films that really deserve their own special niche. What else? "The Stoned Age" came out one year after "Dazed and Confused" arrived on the scene. There are probably many more that I could not recall, but the mother of all stoner films has to be the amazing "Over the Edge," a movie notable for showcasing Matt Dillon in his first film roll, but also because of its gritty '70s feel and its wonderful fusion of youthful alienation with suburban sprawl. "Over the Edge," sadly unavailable on DVD as of this date, should serve as the standard by which viewers should measure all other stoner films. In that respect, "Dazed and Confused," while suffering a few problems, does a nice job of keeping the tradition alive.

Set in a small Texas town in the 1970s, "Dazed and Confused" follows the various misadventures of a group of high school students on the last day of school, covering a period of mere hours from the end of the school day to the obligatory beer bash held that evening. The cast of characters here is huge, ranging from a small band of junior high students about to become freshman to high school juniors about to become seniors. There's Randall "Pink" Floyd (Jason London), the high school football star who is having some doubts about signing a team pledge to refrain from drugs and alcohol during his senior year. Several of his buddies, including Fred O'Bannion (Ben Affleck) and the team coach, give him grief about his hesitancy to give in to this blatant attempt at control. In the meantime, the gang of jocks and their female counterparts take great joy in engaging in the time-honored ritual of hazing the incoming freshman class. This activity involves chasing the hapless kiddies around town in automobiles in order to administer a rather vicious beating with a stout wooden paddle. One of these new freshmen, Mitch Kramer (Wiley Wiggins) attempts to avoid the inevitable until some seniors catch him after one of his baseball games. Floating on the periphery of these scenes is a trio of eggheads (played by Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, and Marissa Ribisi) and an aging stoner, David Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey), who cannot let go of his high school years.

The scenes in "Dazed and Confused" unfold in a chaotic manner, perhaps in an effort to mirror the randomness of American youth during the 1970s. A planned party at the house of a kid whose parents are going on vacation comes to naught when a delivery truck attempts to deliver a keg as the shocked adults look on. With this party effectively put on ice, the search is on for a new place to toss back a few cold ones. Most of the kids spend a lot of time driving around town, always on the lookout for some action. After receiving his beating, Mitch Kramer discovers a newfound friendship with Randall Floyd, who invites the diminutive frosh to accompany him on an excursion to the local hangout. Meanwhile, the three brainiacs cruise around town throwing out the most hilarious observations about their future and the state of the country (my favorite line equates Gerald Ford's football injuries with the state of the economy). The kegger contains the things those who went to these atrocities in high school would expect: someone gets in a fight, new relationships form and dissolve, and the stoner archetype goes off on a rant about drugs. The movie ends with no concrete answers about where these kids will go or what the future holds for them.

The movie is notable not for its party hard theme, although that certainly plays a big role here, but for its introspective mood. Director Richard Linklater punches up the film with plenty of humor, such as Affleck's over the top role as the school jerk, but he also shows many of these characters worrying and wondering about the future and what it holds for them. Some of these scenes will break your heart. For example, David Wooderson tells his high school buddies about how the real world is a drag because of its rules and how he just does what he wants no matter what the cost. Everyone knew this guy, and also saw him fail in life. Randall Floyd muses about his high school career, stating that "if these are the best years of my life, remind me to kill myself." The last scene of the film, with that open road stretching into the distance--and into the uncertain future, for that matter--really sums up the what this movie is about.

I think the viewer who will understand this movie the best will be the person who went to high school and has been out of that place for a period of years. That way you can appreciate the humorousness of the various characters while understanding the implications of their actions. The people who were not caught up in high school because they understood that four years is only a small part of the grand sweep of life were the ones who generally succeeded after leaving the hallowed halls. "Dazed and Confused" makes you realize this fact. Although the film is a little too fractured, resulting in several undeveloped characters, it really is an honest look at a painful time in our lives. I highly recommend it, but prepare yourself for nostalgia pangs and a heavy dose of even more painful '70's atmosphere along the way.

That is one of many classic lines from this movie that makes it a classic. However, this movie could have been set in the 70's, 80's, 90's or 2003 and people would have seen themselves or their friends in this outstanding cast of characters. We all lived through high school, and we can all identify with the characters depicted in Dazed and Confused.

For example, there's the kid who's 27 and still hanging out with all the high schoolers, still trying to date high school freshmen 13 years his junior (Matthew McConaghey). For some kids, you can tell that high school will be the pinnacle of their sad, pathetic lives, and Ben Affleck plays this character to a tee. There are also the ludicrously bitchy and snobby girls (Parker Posey), the perpetually nice and perky girls (Michelle Burke), and the kid who comes to parties "to drink some beer and kick some ass." (Nicky Katt)

This movie is funny because it is so true. High school is pretty much the same regardless of decade or location. You have your jocks and your intellectuals, your snobs and the kids who are nice to everybody. In that way it's like real life, but in real life you're not bound together with 800 other kids you grew up with and who know your entire embarassing life story.

This movie depicting only one day in the life of a high school student is hilarious and touching. Though it will make you laugh out loud, it will also bring back memories of feeling inadequate or ugly that were magnified by the clausterphobic setting of high school. This movie features some stellar performances by actors who went on to become very famous. Though the characters in this movie could have gone to school at any time period in the 20th century, the 70's setting adds to the hilarity. Dive into this world of bell bottoms, bongs and Black Sabbath and try not to cringe when you recognize yourself or your friends in the wonderful cast of characters.

The 4 stars are for the movie. While this DVD is terrible in terms of extras I must confess I did buy it because it was cheap, has a great glittery cover, is anamorphic (the last one wasn't) and has a Dolby/DTS 5.1 soundtrack instead of the cruddy 2.0 sound on the last one.

The movie is great but the DVD ain't up to scratch. Linklater has said he is working on HIS OWN special edition with Criterion, which will include loads of cool stuff (much like Criterion have recently done with Linklater's Slacker). Universal denied Linklater this right with their 'Flashback' release so sit tight and wait for the definitive version.

If available cheap I am allowing you to buy to tide you over. Any REAL fan of the film wouldn't buy this version for an everlasting keep.

Criterion

Audio commentary by director Richard Linklater
Making Dazed: Fifty-minute documentary by Kahane Corn
Rare on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage
Footage from the ten-year anniversary celebration
Audition footage and deleted Scenes
Original theatrical trailer
Booklet featuring essays by Kent Jones, Jim DeRogatis, and Chuck Klosterman; memories of the film from the cast and crew; character profiles; and the original film poster by Frank Kozik

VS

Universal

Deleted Scenes (SD; 14:27) offers a few bridging scenes, including some dealing with the infamous "pledge" the Coach wants everyone to sign. The video quality of these scenes is pretty spotty at times.
The Blunt Truth (SD; 4:21) is a parody of the old Educational Films documentaries many of us were forced to watch growing up in school, this one of course about the horrors of marijuana use.
Retro Public Service Announcements (SD; 2:03) are two PSA's which play like parodies but are actual vintage pieces, one about venereal disease (replete with bouncy theme song, and no I'm not kidding) and the other the famous littering ad featuring the crying Native American.
U Control has only one fairly lame toggle switch giving information on the tunes that fill the soundtrack.

I am getting the Criterion due to better extra features than the Universal extra features, I hope it will help deciding on your purchase!

I was a Sophomore in '76 in a small midwestern town. I can tell you it was just like this. When I watch this I see my youth and my friends. Linklater hit this era right on the mark. We didn't have the amount of hazing freshmen that went on there, but I remember being "initiated" on my second day of high school and I know others that got it a lot worse - especially the freshmen jocks. I'm now 44 years old and this movie really takes me back. It's hard to believ it's been over twenty years since those days - but they were very good days. I remember toking the grass with friends. Hitting the beer bash, crusing the town in some cool cars. The ladies were so hot back then. I really dig those tight jeans and the long hair. I remember all of it and now as an adult when I need a dose of sanity I put in this DVD, light-up a little MJ, kick back and soak it up. Thers' not plot - except life - which has no plot. The music then was incredible and this soundtrack has almost all of it except for Boston's fist LP which came out in 76' and was huge. Could have at least heard som Zepplin in there - I mean, come on, the movie's called Dazed & Confused! to all you who were too young or not around, those days may be gone, but the mindset and attitude can be brought back. To those of you who were around then - how does it feel watching you youth in such incredible detail? Spooky isn't it? Get this movie.
Do it. Do it.

This edition of the DVD does not contain any commentary tracks. Amazon lists a commentary track by Richard Linklater, class-reunion style, but this commentary track is not mentioned on the DVD cover, slip, or anywhere in the menus.

For those of you looking forward to a commentary about this awesome movie, like me, it is disappointingly absent.

The 3-star review above reflects my disappointment in this DVD which I haven't bought & have no intentions to. The film, otherwise, is a 4-star pic, for sure.

There's so much I like about this unaffected film, but very little that hasn't been stated already. Although the "party" aspect of this picture is part of its charm, to be sure, what I most appreciate about it is the true character of teen life & 70s period flavor, captured with the help of the most appealing, magical cast this side of American Graffiti, to which this film owes a great deal. Something familiar & real comes through in the backwoods parties, initiation rituals and lost glories that many of us may look back upon with bittersweet remembrance, while other unforutnates - as we see through some characters - never move on, remaining stuck in a perpetual high school fog. But what about those who still have time? For most young people, these are the times that set the template for the future course in life. Will it be one of conformity? Will it be one of lucidity? Will Slater be another Wooderson? For now, the road leads to an Aerosmith concert. Great, but then what?

Not to blow my own horn, but these messages are often overlooked by audience members taken by the spectacle of "good times" on the face of the story. But while these are important themes, Dazed & Confused is certainly a very fun, humorous, special movie that should be enjoyed on all these levels (although I would argue that its purpose is not to condone most of the behavior portrayed within). Considering the fanbase its built, this so-called "special edition" is an incredible cheat, if not insultingly thin. As it's been mentioned in other reviews, Linklater did in fact plan on doing a commentary. Here's some info from the Nov. 5th edition of Entertainment Weekly:

"Dazed fans will be confused about what happened to a promised commentary by director Richard Linklater; paltry extras don't extend much beyond 14 minutes of deleted scenes (with more of Ben Affleck and Parker Posey as senior sadists), a witless new faux anti-pot short put together by the disc's producers, and a Vans ad. In a personal note spread across the Internet since appearing on a blog by actor Wiley Wiggins - who calls this the 'Ultimate Insult Edition' - Linklater laments the studio's 'continuing lameness toward this title...I feel like I'm in an 11-year echo chamber with these idiots.' He tells Wiggins he turned down Universal's commentary request after it spurned his attempts at including a behind-the-scenes doc and 10-year-reunion footage, 'because, after all these years, they're rushing the title out to make some sort of deadline."

Linklater and Wiggins, hoping for an eventual Criterion edition, decline to comment further. Universal insists 'we have received positive response' to the DVD's 'substantial bonus features.' Despondend Daze-ees may have a different message for whomever planned this 'Party': Lay off the bong!"

Kind of surprising treatment after the highly-successful "School of Rock." Let's keep our fingers crossed that Criterion will pull through!!

"Dazed and Confused" is one of my all time favorite movies. Being a film buff, most people would probably guess my choice would be "The Godfather" or "Citizen Kane". Nope!The top spot of cinema ectasy goes to Richard Linklater's simple homage to teenagers on the first night of summer vacation. Yes, episodicaly following the social rites of different cliques of teenagers, during a 24 hour period had already been done in George Lucas's classic film, "American Graffiti". Richard Linklater more then matches Lucas with probably one of the best films ever made about being a teenager during that nostalgic age that we called the 70's.Linklater's script gives us a realistic, yet very funny portrait of a night in the life of these kids. Also,like Lucas's classic, "Dazed & Confused" features a shining young ensemble of actors at the begining of their careers including Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Joey Laurence Adams and Adam Goldberg.The film also features a killer soundtract of '70s rock and pop tunes that feature such favorites as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Peter Frampton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Foghat, Deep Purple etc. For a great nostalgic '70s trip, I highly recomend this movie!