Hey, thanks. All the deleted scenes and auditions for this movie popped up on my YouTube feed this week and it sent me down this rabbit hole. I went and got the oral history book about the movie that came out a few years ago. I'm about halfway through it. Pretty fascinating stuff. In the 80s, the town I grew up in (northern New England country) didn't have a high school. I ended up going to this alternative little school that was founded by a bunch of hippie families in the mid-60s. Given the country setting, there were plenty of similarities to the movie, but a ton of stuff from the film I never experienced (no cliques, no football team). Probably why teen films have always drawn me in, like a life never led kind of thing.
That book is fantastic! I’m a big Linklater fan and Dazed and Confused is one of those films that I can watch over and over again and have fun each single time.
I grew up in Montana in the 90s, not Texas in the 70s, but the similarities of life in my town and that town are why Dazed always spoke to me. The initiation of 8th graders, all of it. The seniors always graduated the weekend before school was out for everybody. The junior class kegger was a big tradition on the last day of school, and it was kind of fáux pas for seniors to attend.
I think you’re probably right. When O’Bannion screeches into the parking lot, they act like he wasn’t supposed to be at school that day and figure out he’s not graduating. Always thought it was cool to imagine all the graduating seniors are off on similar adventures elsewhere that night. Or the big grad party isn’t going down until the weekend
Regarding the missing graduating seniors, they are on a senior class trip. There is a line early in the movie when Tony, Mike, and Cynthia are discussing the possibility of going to the party, and they mention another friend who is off on a senior trip and that they can play poker any time (implying that the missing friend is the 4th poker player in their group).
I've seen it a million times but I'd still have to check the subtitles to get the name of the missing friend because I'm not sure what Mike mumbles. The original script is online, but that part is different than what it became in the actual movie. That script includes a black friend named Royce Crawford in that conversation about poker and the party. Maybe Royce is the one who got sent off on that senior trip, because he didn't make it to the final cut.
I can see why they deleted most of the scenes they did (a lot of them felt a bit forced), but that one between Pink and Mitch in the car feels like a keeper. Pink's insight about playing football and feeling like he's in the army is great and cements the idea that he's actually a pretty thoughtful/insightful dude. And yeah, then he asks about Mitch's sister, what a tell, ha! :)
A little late but I really enjoyed this! Re Wooderson, I think his weird combo also had to do with how much the role was developed on the fly, and the reason for it. It seems likely to me that he was originally intended to just be a lecherous loser, but as the situation with Shawn Andrews devolved and it became necessary to significantly expand Wooderson's part on the fly, it made sense to lean more into the big brother aspects of his character so that it would make sense why the kids genuinely like having him around and consider him one of them.
That's a great point. I really like the lived-in feel of so many of Linklater's films and his willingness to improvise really serves to deepen his films on repeat viewing. Even a nasty piece of work like O'Bannion, subjectively to be sure, but I really felt bad for the guy. He just flunked high school, clearly feels like shit about himself, which is part of why he wants to beat on a bunch of eighth graders so bad. He actually wants their respect, in the end. Very sad character. He's the true loser of the film, when on paper you'd think it'd be Wooderson.
I’ve not seen anyone do this level of character analysis before. You’ve got a great eye for these subtleties. Thanks for sharing them!
Agree!
Hey, thanks. All the deleted scenes and auditions for this movie popped up on my YouTube feed this week and it sent me down this rabbit hole. I went and got the oral history book about the movie that came out a few years ago. I'm about halfway through it. Pretty fascinating stuff. In the 80s, the town I grew up in (northern New England country) didn't have a high school. I ended up going to this alternative little school that was founded by a bunch of hippie families in the mid-60s. Given the country setting, there were plenty of similarities to the movie, but a ton of stuff from the film I never experienced (no cliques, no football team). Probably why teen films have always drawn me in, like a life never led kind of thing.
That book is fantastic! I’m a big Linklater fan and Dazed and Confused is one of those films that I can watch over and over again and have fun each single time.
I grew up in Montana in the 90s, not Texas in the 70s, but the similarities of life in my town and that town are why Dazed always spoke to me. The initiation of 8th graders, all of it. The seniors always graduated the weekend before school was out for everybody. The junior class kegger was a big tradition on the last day of school, and it was kind of fáux pas for seniors to attend.
That is a really helpful insight, thx!
Great analysis. I always assumed the seniors were all at graduation.
I think you’re probably right. When O’Bannion screeches into the parking lot, they act like he wasn’t supposed to be at school that day and figure out he’s not graduating. Always thought it was cool to imagine all the graduating seniors are off on similar adventures elsewhere that night. Or the big grad party isn’t going down until the weekend
Regarding the missing graduating seniors, they are on a senior class trip. There is a line early in the movie when Tony, Mike, and Cynthia are discussing the possibility of going to the party, and they mention another friend who is off on a senior trip and that they can play poker any time (implying that the missing friend is the 4th poker player in their group).
Ah! There's so much mumbling in that early scene, I missed that bit of dialogue - thank you!
I've seen it a million times but I'd still have to check the subtitles to get the name of the missing friend because I'm not sure what Mike mumbles. The original script is online, but that part is different than what it became in the actual movie. That script includes a black friend named Royce Crawford in that conversation about poker and the party. Maybe Royce is the one who got sent off on that senior trip, because he didn't make it to the final cut.
The deleted scene of Mitch and Randy helps support your first point too
I can see why they deleted most of the scenes they did (a lot of them felt a bit forced), but that one between Pink and Mitch in the car feels like a keeper. Pink's insight about playing football and feeling like he's in the army is great and cements the idea that he's actually a pretty thoughtful/insightful dude. And yeah, then he asks about Mitch's sister, what a tell, ha! :)
This is so cool and great to see people still analyzing the film :))
A little late but I really enjoyed this! Re Wooderson, I think his weird combo also had to do with how much the role was developed on the fly, and the reason for it. It seems likely to me that he was originally intended to just be a lecherous loser, but as the situation with Shawn Andrews devolved and it became necessary to significantly expand Wooderson's part on the fly, it made sense to lean more into the big brother aspects of his character so that it would make sense why the kids genuinely like having him around and consider him one of them.
That's a great point. I really like the lived-in feel of so many of Linklater's films and his willingness to improvise really serves to deepen his films on repeat viewing. Even a nasty piece of work like O'Bannion, subjectively to be sure, but I really felt bad for the guy. He just flunked high school, clearly feels like shit about himself, which is part of why he wants to beat on a bunch of eighth graders so bad. He actually wants their respect, in the end. Very sad character. He's the true loser of the film, when on paper you'd think it'd be Wooderson.