Three O'Clock High

Three O'Clock High is a 1987 American teen film directed by Phil Joanou. It follows a meek student who is forced to fight with a volatile new transfer student. The script is based on Richard Christian Matheson and Thomas Szollosi's high school experience. It was shot in Ogden, Utah.

Three O'Clock High
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPhil Joanou
Produced byDavid E. Vogel
Written by
Starring
Music by
CinematographyBarry Sonnenfeld
Edited byJoe Ann Fogle
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • October 9, 1987 (1987-10-09)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million
Box office$3.6 million[1]

Plot

Meek high school student Jerry Mitchell and his kid sister Brei have the house to themselves while their parents are on vacation. Jerry's day begins badly when he wakes late and gets worse when he nearly wrecks his car while driving his sister and his school friend Franny to Weaver High School. 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, bringing up the article idea. Through a series of poorly chosen statements, Jerry realizes he is only making Buddy angry and decides to cut his losses, telling Buddy to "...just forget this whole thing happened", giving Buddy a friendly tap on the arm. Buddy, who does not like being touched by anyone, responds by tossing Jerry against a wall and stating that the two will now fight after school at 3 o'clock in the parking lot.

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. Seeing an otherwise perfectly clean record, the suspicious Mr. Dolinski tells Jerry that he will be keeping his eye on him from now on, and lets him go.

Jerry makes several other attempts to avoid the fight: he steals money from the school's student store, which he manages, and uses it to pay an upperclassman to "take care of" Buddy; he tries to get thrown into detention by making a pass at his English teacher; he lets Buddy cheat by copying Jerry's answers during a math quiz. All attempts fail, and the clock continues to tick down.

After trying to befriend Buddy, he offers him the stolen cash to call off the fight. Buddy accepts but scornfully calls Jerry "the biggest pussy I ever met in my life". Jerry, now seized with self-loathing and anger, decides to confront Buddy, and he 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 looking on. Principal O'Rourke, Mr. Dolinski, Duke, Franny, and even the guilt-plagued Vincent attempt to intervene, but Buddy easily disposes of them. 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 $350 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

Soundtrack
Three O'Clock High
1987 U.S. CD cover
Soundtrack album by
Tangerine Dream
Released1987
Recorded1987
GenreElectronic music
Length41:42
LabelVarèse Sarabande
Tangerine Dream chronology
Tyger
(1987)		 Three O'Clock High
(1987)		 Near Dark
(1988)

The film's soundtrack is the thirty-first major release and ninth soundtrack album by Tangerine Dream. Additional music was provided by Sylvester Levay.[2] The song, "Something to Remember Me By", was performed by Jim Walker.

Track listing
No.TitleMusicLength
1."It's Jerry's Day Today" 0:44
2."46-32-15" 0:47
3."No Detention" 1:01
4."Any School Bully Will Do" 0:33
5."Go to the Head of the Class" 3:10
6."Sit"Sylvester Levay0:47
7."The Fight"Sylvester Levay2:35
8."Jerry's Decision"Sylvester Levay4:28
9."The Fight is On"Sylvester Levay4:39
10."Paper"Sylvester Levay1:28
11."Big, Bright Brass Knuckles" 1:18
12."Buying Paper Like it's Going Out of Style" 1:35
13."Dangerous Trend" 0:54
14."Who's Chasing Who" 0:59
15."Bonding By Candlelight" 1:35
16."You'll Never Believe It" 2:19
17."Starting The Day Off Right" 1:16
18."Weak At The Knees" 2:34
19."Kill Him (The Football Dummy)" 1:04
20."Not So Quiet in the Library/Get Lost In A Crowd" 1:34
21."Something to Remember Me By"Jim Walker4:12
22."Arrival"Rick Morotta and David Tickle2:10

Personnel

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

Roger Ebert 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.[3]

The film has a rating of 67% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 critical reviews.[4]

Legacy

Over time, the film has developed a more favorable reputation. 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."[5]

The dark tone of the film contrasted with other teen films of the time—so much so that executive producer Steven Spielberg removed his name from the credits.[6] In 2017, Adrian Halen noted that Three O'Clock High was released in "an era when The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, National Lampoon’s Vacation and Weird Science were the general norm for moviegoers."[7] That same year, Derek Faraci noted that the film was "in many ways, the anti-John Hughes film that teens who liked Dead Kennedys instead of New Kids on the Block needed."[8]

In 2020, Adam Lowes opined that "The film deserved a place amongst those maligned studio offerings from the era that went on to develop a cult audience."[9]

Actor Seth Green became a fan of the film, extolling its virtues at the Seth Green Film Fest in 2008.[10]

gollark: Have you tried /makeallmyeggsgold yet?
gollark: Oh, yes, you can, it's quite useful.
gollark: It's fine, everyone, stop blaming TJ09!
gollark: Scroll down, see if *that* says that the shell is soft or whatever.
gollark: Except useless stuff submitted by users on the hub, I guess.

See also

References
  1. Three O'Clock High (1987) - Box office / business
  2. Berling, Michael (29 September 2016). "Three O'Clock High". Voices in the Net.
  3. Ebert, Roger (1987). "Three O'Clock High," 09 October 1987, retrieved 18 July 2020
  4. "Three O'Clock High". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
  5. "Three O'Clock High Blends Anxiety and Daydream with Perfection". Film School Rejects. 2016-11-03. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  6. "Why Three O'Clock High is a much better movie than you remember". The HotCorn. 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  7. "Film Review: Three O'Clock High (1987)". HNN | Horrornews.net. 2017-09-28. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  8. "Forget 'Fist Fight': 'Three O'Clock High' Is the Greatest High School Fight Movie Ever Made". Crooked Marquee. 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  9. "Why Three O'Clock High is a much better movie than you remember". The HotCorn. 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  10. Three O'Clock High Q&A, Part 1/5 - Seth Green Film Fest, retrieved 2019-12-03
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