Dazed and Confused [2 Discs] [Criterion Collection]

Director: Richard Linklater Richard Linklater

Overview

The radios blare Alice Cooper singing "School's Out" as an assortment of characters in bellbottoms and love beads voraciously seek out a party in a warm June night of 1976 in Richard Linklater's film about the last day of school in Austin, Texas during the Me-Generation years of the mid-70s. For high school juniors like Randy "Pink" Floyd (Jason London) and O'Bannion (Ben Affleck), the day marks their transition to high school seniors and they proceed to humiliate and haze the incoming freshmen from the junior high school. Junior high school graduates Mitch Kramer (Wiley Wiggins) and his pals have to avoid the rabid soon-to-be seniors as they chase the innocent newcomers around town with custom designed paddles. The teens cruise the night in search of the ultimate end-of-the-year blast, accompanied by twenty-something drop-out Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey), as they try to invest some meaning or passion into this rite-of-passage. But as one character says, "If I ever say these were the best years of my life, remind me to kill myself."

Product Details

Release Date:	06/06/2006
UPC:	0715515018425
Original Release:	1993
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:42:00
Sales rank:	14,542

Special Features

Disc 1:; All-new high-definition Digital transfer, supervised by director Richard Linklater and cinematographer Lee Daniel; Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 soundtracks; Audio commentary by Linklater; Deleted scenes; Original trailer; Optional English subtitles; Disc 2: Making "Dazed," a 50-minute documentary by filmmaker Kahane Corn; Rare-on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage ; Footage from the ten-year anniversary celebration; Audition footage; Plus: A 72-page book featuring new essays by Kent Jones, Jim DeRogatis, and Chuck Klosterman; memories of the film from cast and crew; and character profiles; And the original film poster designed by Frank Kozik

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jason London	Randy "Pink" Floyd
Rory Cochrane	Slater
Sasha Jenson	Don Dawson
Wiley Wiggins	Mitch Kramer
Milla Jovovich	Michelle
Marissa Ribisi	Cynthia
Adam Goldberg	Mike
Michelle Burke	Jodi Kramer
Shawn Andrews	Kevin Pickford
Anthony Rapp	Tony
Christin Hinojosa	Sabrina
Parker Posey	Darla
Cole Hauser	Benny
Deena Martin	Shavonne,2nd Cop
Christine Harnos	Kaye
Ben Affleck	O'Bannion
Jason Smith	Melvin
Steven Powell	Actor,Carl
Mark Vandermuelen	Actor
Catherine Morris	Actor
Jeremy Fox	Actor
Matthew McConaughey	Wooderson
Zoe Grief	Actor
Autumn Barr	Actor
Pricilla Kinser	Actor
Erika Germinder	Actor
Heidi Cole Trenbath	Actor
Doug Taylor	1st Cop,Actor,1st Geek
Mona Lee Fultz	Mitch's Mother
Diane Perella	Sabrina's Mom
Parker Brooks	Actor
Cathleen Cunningham	Actor
Richard Dillard	Pickford's Dad
Kim Arnette Krizam	Actor
Joey Lauren Adams	Simone
Jacob Jones	Actor
Rick Moser	Actor
Nicky Katt	Clint
Terry Mross	Coach Conrad
Don Phillips	Actor
Kim Krizan	Ms. Stroud
Julius Tennon	Mr. Payne
Erika Geminder	Freshman Girl
Zeke Mills	Old Timer
Fred Lerner	Guy with Pistol
David Blackwell	Liquor Store Clerk

Technical Credits

Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Sean Daniel	Producer
James Jacks	Producer
Fred Lerner	Stunts
Don Phillips	Casting
Charlie Ajar Jr.	Sound Effects
Anne Walker-McBay	Producer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Dazed and Confused
1. Last Day of School, May 28, 1976, 1:05 P.M. [10:52]
2. "Get Your Priorities Straight" [3:34]
3. "Twenty-Five of You Ain't Coming Back" [5:49]
4. "Air Raid." [5:31]
5. "Inconvenience for You" [5:20]
6. Mitch Gets Busted [7:29]
7. Cruisin' [2:50]
8. The Emporium [4:33]
9. Last Junior High Party [6:46]
10. "I Get Older, They Stay the Same Age" [8:39]
11. O'Bannion's Paint Job [:30]
12. "A New Fiesta in the Making" [4:24]
13. The Moon Tower [4:31]
14. "That's What I'm Talking About" [5:36]
15. 'Dominant Male Monkey Motherfucker"|00:04:28|}
16. End of the Night [2:15]
17. Joint Subcommittee Meeting [3:24]
18. L-i-v-i-n [5:33]
19. "Slow Ride" [2:44]
20. Color Bars [7:20]
1. Greatest Hits [10:52]
2. Questioning Everything [3:34]
3. Absolute Glee [5:49]
4. Initiation Rituals [5:31]
5. "Nothing Ever Changes" [5:20]
6. Flavor of the Scene [7:29]
7. The Lowrider [2:50]
8. A Night in '75 [4:33]
9. "Take a Swig on That" [6:46]
10. Property Damage [8:39]
11. Teenage Fantasy [:30]
12. "Taking it to the Grave" [4:24]
13. Nostalgia? [4:31]
14. Cliques [5:36]
15. Full-On Brawl [4:28]
16. Lynyrd Skynyrd to the Rescue [2:15]
17. Finding an Ending [3:24]
18. What Would Pink Do? [5:33]
19. Series of Denials [2:44]
20. Color Bars [7:20]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Dazed and Confused
   Play
   Chapters
   Commentary
      On
      Off
      Index
   Deleted Scenes
      Play All
      First National Bank
      "Banned From the School"
      Smoking in the Girls' Room
      "When They Lost, We Lost'| : : |}
      Narcing on a Friend
      Family Plot
      "Are the Good Times Worth It?"
      "Where's My Drugs, Man?"
      Eighth Graders Going Into Ninth
      "You Little Slut!"
      Parents Without Plans
      Global Thermonuclear War
      Cutting in the Keg Line
      Bumfuckville
      Tailgate
      "Knew Then What I Know Now"
      Way Me the Show to Go Home
   Trailer
   Audio Options
      Dolby Digital 5.1
      Dts 5.1
      Commentary
Disc #2 -- Dazed and Confused
   Making "Dazed"
      Play
   Auditions
      Play All
      Michelle Burke
      Rory Cochrane
      Adam Goldberg
      Cole Hauser
      Christin Hinojosa
      Nicky Katt
      Jason London
      Deena Martin
      Matthew McConaughey
      Anthony Rapp
      Marissa Ribisi
      Wiley Wiggins
   Beer Bust at the Moon Tower
      Go to the Fiesta! (Random Play All)
      Index
         Character Interviews
            Play All
            Sabrina Davis
            Don Dawson
            Cynthia Dunn
            Randall "Pink" Floyd
            Jodi Kramer
            Mitch Kramer
            Darla Marks
            Mike Newhouse
            Fred O'Bannion
            Benny O'Donnell
            Tony Olson
            Ron Slater
            Shavonne Wright
         Cast & Director Interviews
            Play All
            Linklater Before Shooting
            Parker Posey
            Ben Affleck (1992)
            Affleck & Cole Hauser
            Nicky Katt & Adam Goldberg
            Rory Cochrane
            Wiley Wiggins & Catherine Martin
            Wiley Wiggins
            Michelle Burke & Christine Harnos
            Christin Hinojosa
            Linklater at End of Shoot
            Linklater, Matthew McConaughey & Don Phillips
         Behind-the-Scenes Footage
            Play All
            Every Other Decade
            Muscle-Car Driving Lessons
            The Costumes
            The Boys
            The Girls
            "Love Those Redheads"
            Retaliation on O'Bannion
            Buying Beer
            Crest Hotel
            Picture Day
            "Start Acting"
            The Props
            Wiley's First Day Back at School
            Reunion Clips

Editorial Reviews

School's out for summer and the kids are looking to party in Dazed and Confused, the brilliant ensemble comedy/drama from writer/director Richard Linklater (Slacker, Waking Life). Set in Austin, Texas, on the last day of the school year in 1976, the film follows a large ensemble cast over a single 24-hour period as they celebrate the arrival of summer with car trunks full of Bud and a seemingly endless supply of pot. While everyone will ultimately converge on one big beer bash, the first half of the film centers on initiation rituals in which the senior girls and guys haze the incoming freshmen. It's a fascinating portrait of a tradition that combines institutionalized violence and tribal rites of passage. Yet here, as in the rest of the film, Linklater eschews the kind of detached satire practiced by contemporaries like Todd Solondz. Dazed and Confused may expose the vapidity of this mid-'70s suburban world, yet Linklater embraces his characters and milieu with the same big-hearted compassion that George Lucas displayed in American Graffiti. Indeed, Dazed and Confused can be seen as a virtual homage to the Lucas masterpiece, with the same loving attention to an era's clothes, hairstyles, and, of course, music. As in Graffiti, period pop songs provide the soundtrack for the characters' lives as they cruise around town, with 8-track tapes blasting the likes of Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, War, Peter Frampton, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The ensemble cast includes Wiley Wiggins (star of Linklater's Waking Life), Parker Posey, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, and a host of others whose naturalistic acting evokes a remarkable feeling of authenticity. And the easy way in which Linklater weaves introspective and even metaphysical themes into a slice-of-life comedy is completely engaging. The result is both a brilliant, microcosmic portrait of an era and an offbeat mediation on the rituals of teen life.

Barnes & Noble - Gregory Baird

Dazed and Confused is an American Graffiti for the 1990s, set in the 1970s. Though not quite up to the high standard of its spiritual predecessor, it does an excellent job of following an ensemble cast, who, through the course of one day, enjoy the myriad emotions and experiences that compose the teenage years. Writer/director Richard Linklater does not force the film to follow one storyline in particular, and this choice helps him avoid the conventions of the teen genre, in which the kids learn a big lesson after a series of wacky misdeeds. Indeed, the film is notable for its refreshing lack of sentiment. This isn't a movie interested in leading us through standard character arcs, and it gives us a portrait of youth that is surprisingly realistic, wiping away much of the gloss with which we often remember "the best years of our lives," but never going too far in the other direction by indulging in too much grittiness. Dazed and Confused is also remarkable for its sheer number of young actors who went on to big careers, including Milla Jovovich, Jason London, Joey Lauren Adams, Adam Goldberg, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey, as the memorable Wooderson ("That's what I like about these high school girls: I keep getting older; they stay the same age"). Dazed and Confused offers neither a warmly reminiscent nor an intentionally bleak picture of high school. It is a uniquely astute portrait of those teenage years, which at times seem full of magic and energy and at other times feel as anticlimactic and banal as adulthood.

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