Cinematic Throwback Thursday – Three O’Clock High
Posted June 19th, 2008 ·You and me, we’re gonna have a fight. Today. After school. Three o’clock. In the parking lot. You try and run, I’m gonna track you down. You go to a teacher, it’s only gonna get worse. You sneak home, I’m gonna be under your bed.
Easily one of the most overlooked and underrated movies of the eighties, Three O’Clock High s still an amazing flick. The film follows a defining day in the life of Jerry Mitchell, an above average student and nerd running the school bookstore and a writer for the school newspaper.
On this particular day, infamous bully Buddy Revell (Richard Tyson) is starting his first day at Jerry’s high school amidst swirling student rumors about his past doings. To welcome him, the paper selects Jerry to write a piece on Buddy. Jerry approaching Buddy in the bathroom to ask some questions and makes the mistake of touching Revell.
This prompts Buddy to challenge Jerry to a fight in the parking lot at 3:00…high.
Simple enough, Jerry is gripped by the clock, as illustrated by subtle poster, and must either find a way out of the fight or confront Revell at 3:00. To this end, Three O’Clock operates at in a High Noon fashion, examining the character’s actions under a microscope while contemplating the situation that confronts them and the alternatives to fighting. Whereas High Noon dealt in real time, 11:00 – 12:30, this film operates after this confrontation in manic, hyperbolic scenes including:
- Jerry’s dismantled car engine
- Robbing of bookstore to pay off another bully to protect him (doesn’t work out too well).
- Demonic high school pep rally
- Planting of switchblade in Revell’s locker
After these attempts, in every instance, Mitchell’s efforts to escape the fight are foiled either through efforts by his friends, Buddy’s abilities as a bully, or sheer luck. Either way, it becomes apparent that the fight at 3:00 is inevitable.
Reasons To Watch:
- Soundtrack is provided by Tangerine Dream, a group matched only by Kenny Loggins in eighties soundtrack listings…music provided for films such as Red Heat and Risky Business.
- No main character came out of this film with much of a career. Siemasko has starred in some films, notably Young Guns, and some television and some T.V. and Tyson was in Kindergarten Cop, but that is the extent of it (although the security guard is played by Shocker star Mitch Pileggi).
- One of the greatest fight scenes of all time.
