10. Dazed And Confused
Gramercy PicturesIts no surprise that Dazed and Confused is on this list. There isnt a better teen film that communicates the other side of high school, which is probably why Dazed and Confused will automatically make it onto any list of high school films. It doesnt buy into the cliché of the non-popular crowd secretly wanting to be part of it, and why would it? The kids in Dazed and Confused have the best time, if you discount all the violent and demeaning hazing. Set in a 1970's high school at the cusp of the summer holidays, Dazed and Confused follows several friendship groups on the last day of school. The seniors are ready to start hazing, smacking the boys around with wooden paddle boards and covering the girls with condiments and ritually humiliating them. America, you have the weirdest traditions. Matthew McConaughey turns up (in his first feature-film!) as a moderately disturbing older man who enjoys preying on young girls, with the ever memorable line That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age. Dazed and Confused may follow a lot of the jock seniors, but they are by no means the main event. One of the key conflicts in the film is a quarterback who wants to run with the stoner crowd, and would prefer to be in a band than in high school football (this film was probably inspiration for High School Musical, no?). Rather than the losers awkwardly looking to the jocks to run the school, its the kids that have the beer and the joints that have control which, really, is the way it should be. Alright alright alright.