Dazed and Confused (1993)

Dazed and Confused is a 1993 coming of age comedy film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The film features a large ensemble cast of actors who would later become stars, including Matthew McConaughey, Jason London, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Nicky Katt, and Rory Cochrane. The plot follows various groups of Texas teenagers during the last day of school in 1976.

The film grossed less than $8 million at the U.S. box office but later achieved cult film status. In 2002, Quentin Tarantino listed it as the 10th best film of all time in a Sight and Sound poll. It also ranked third on Entertainment Weekly magazine's list of the 50 Best High School Movies. The magazine also ranked it 10th on their "Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years" list.

The title of the film is derived from the Led Zeppelin version of the song of the same name. Linklater approached the surviving members of Led Zeppelin for permission to use their song "Rock and Roll" in the film, but, while Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones agreed, Robert Plant refused.

Synopsis

It is May 28, 1976, the last day of school at Lee High School in the suburbs of Austin, Texas. The next year's group of seniors are preparing for the annual hazing of incoming freshmen. Randall "Pink" Floyd, the school's star football player, is asked to sign a pledge promising not to take drugs during the summer or do anything that would "jeopardize the goal of a championship season". When classes end, the incoming freshman boys are hunted down by the seniors and paddled. The incoming freshman girls are also hazed; they are rounded up in the school parking lot by senior girls, covered in mustard, ketchup, flour and raw eggs, and forced to propose to senior boys.

Actors