| Three O'Clock High | |
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Theatrical release poster by Drew Struzan |
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| Directed by | Phil Joanou |
| Produced by | David E. Vogel John Davis Neal Israel Aaron Spelling Steven Spielberg |
| Written by | Richard Christian Matheson Thomas Szollosi |
| Starring | Casey Siemaszko Anne Ryan Richard Tyson Stacey Glick |
| Music by | Tangerine Dream |
| Cinematography | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Editing by | Joe Ann Fogle |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
| Release date(s) | October 9, 1987 |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3,685,862[1] |
Three O'Clock High is a 1987 high-school comedy film, directed by Phil Joanou, written by Richard Christian Matheson and Thomas Szollosi, and produced by Aaron Spelling. It was filmed at Ogden High School in Ogden, Utah, but, in part, was inspired by Joanou's own experiences at La Canada High School. Though it did not do very well at the box office, the film is a minor cult classic among high school films. It shows high school as most people remember it, with mundane days punctuated by occasional thrills.
The term "three o'clock high" is a play on words, a war-time aviation term using clock position for an enemy that is above and to the right, and a High Noon confrontation that takes place at 3:00 p.m. (in a western high school). Like Gary Cooper in High Noon, Jerry Mitchell is powerless to keep the march of time from bringing an appointment with a frightening enemy. During the film, Jerry runs through a typical high school day: working at the student store, the school paper class, a science film, a pep rally, World History, English Literature, Algebra 2, getting sent to the office, and facing a bully. But the film also is like the daydream world of a frustrated high school senior, punctuated with increasingly fantastic events as he goes through his day. Siemaszko, and the rest of the cast, are plain looking actors portraying ordinary students and teachers. Unusual photography, camera angles, zooms and closeups characterize the film, along with slow motion sequences.
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Meek high school student Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemaszko) and his kid sister Brei (Stacey Glick) have the house to themselves, as their parents have gone to Fort Lauderdale. It's 7:30am and Jerry had to open the student store at 7am, so he rushes through his morning routine. His car has a flat tire, so the kids must take Mom's uncool station wagon. Jerry picks up his odd girlfriend, Franny (Anne Ryan), and nearly wrecks the car when he pays more attention to another girl than to a red light. When they arrive, the talk of the school is about Buddy Revell (Richard Tyson), a delinquent who has transferred in from the continuation high school.
Jerry's first hour is at the school newspaper where his best friend, Vincent Costello (Jonathan Wise), is the editor. The teacher has the idea of doing an article about Buddy to welcome the "new kid" and she assigns Jerry to do the interview. Jerry is sick over the assignment, and goes to the restroom. While there, he sees Buddy and clumsily attempts to introduce himself and brings up the idea of the article. Through a series of poorly chosen statements, Jerry realizes he is only making Buddy angry and ultimately decides to cut his losses and tells Buddy to "...just forget this whole thing happened", giving Buddy friendly tap on the arm. Jerry, not knowing that Buddy is a "touch freak", is then quickly and angrily tossed around the bathroom by a raging Buddy and violently thrown and held up against the now broken mirror. Buddy then calmly tells a terrified Jerry that has made him very mad and he has to "work off" his anger with a fight in the parking lot after school at 3 o'clock.
With little more than six hours until the encounter, Jerry tries different strategies to avoid the fight. Trying to reason with Buddy in the hallway doesn't work. Vincent suggests that he plant a switchblade in Buddy's locker to get him kicked out of school (which backfires). Brei advises him to simply skip school, but when Jerry tries to drive away, he finds the switchblade stuck in the steering wheel, and the car ignition wires cut. Trying to run, Jerry is caught by an overzealous school security guard known as "the Duker" (Mitch Pileggi), who finds the switchblade and takes Jerry to the office of Mr. Dolinski (Charles Macaulay), the Dean of Discipline. Seeing an otherwise perfectly clean school record, the now suspicious Mr. Dolinski informs Jerry that he will be keeping his eye on him from now on and lets him go. Jerry's next idea is to ask Craig Mattey (Mike Jolly), a boy on the football team to beat up Buddy. Craig agrees, but wants $450, so Jerry robs the cash register in the student store and pays Craig's fee. As Jerry and Vincent watch from afar, Craig finds Buddy in the library, quietly reading a book. While he's trying to intimidate Buddy, Craig makes the mistake of touching him. Buddy then breaks Craig's finger and punches him in the face, sending all of the bookshelves toppling like dominoes, revealing Jerry and Vincent. The sight of Craig's bloodied face and missing teeth sends Jerry to the bathroom, vomiting. Vincent brings back $350, having given Craig $100 "for his trouble". Jerry asks why he didn't get all the money back and the two friends begin arguing about how the whole thing started. The confrontation gets heated and finally, Jerry wants Vincent to admit that he set him up from the start. Vincent doesn't deny the accusation and throws down the money before walking away.
Brei suggests another idea for avoiding the fight: cause trouble during his next class, getting detention, and thus having an excuse not to meet Buddy after school. To do this, Jerry engages in a sequence of actions calculated to offend the literature teacher, Ms. Farmer (Caitlin O'Heaney). He volunteers to give an impromptu book report on a raunchy paperback, "Honey Goes to Hollywood". As he gives the report, he lights a cigarette and casually smokes it while giving the report; all the while using dialogue laced with slang and poor English. He then makes a thinly veiled attempt to seduce the primly dressed yet sensuous Ms. Farmer, culminating in a passionate kiss. This plan also backfires when, instead of being offended, she is visibly aroused by his "performance" and affected rugged demeanor, as she responds to his advance. In the act of kissing her, he loses consciousness and falls to the floor with a content expression on his face. When he wakes up in the school infirmary, the nurse (Alice Nunn) informs him that he didn't get detention, but Ms. Farmer said his was the best book report and left her home phone number. Leaving the infirmary, Jerry runs into the beautiful Karen. Already having heard about what happened in Ms. Farmer's class, she invites him to her party the following night. Jerry then finds a confident Franny at the student store, who has lit candles to set the mood for "bonding" with him. After another passionate kiss, Franny becomes woozy and leaves as she tries to catch her breath, leaving Jerry alone. Just as Franny has left, Mr. Rice returns to the store, along with a detective (Philip Baker Hall) who is investigating the store robbery, strongly suspecting an inside job.
In Algebra class, Jerry finds Buddy sitting right next to him. As a pop quiz is given, Buddy signals to be allowed to copy off Jerry. He sees this as an opportunity to get out of the fight and allows it, only to get caught. Both of them are sent to the office of Mr. O'Rourke (John P. Ryan), the vice principal. Seeing this as another chance to get Buddy off his back, Jerry admits to cheating off of Buddy which O'Rourke doesn't believe. But when Buddy correctly answers the rather involved math problems involving exponents posed ad-hoc by O'Rourke, he concludes that Jerry must have cheated, and expresses disappointment in him. Leaving the office, Jerry tries to approach Buddy as a comrade, with no success. Finally, Jerry offers Buddy the remaining $350 to call off the fight. Buddy accepts the money, but scornfully calls Jerry "the biggest pussy I ever met in my life." Self-loathing leads to anger and determination, and the frightened, undersized Jerry decides to confront Buddy and demand his money back. When Buddy refuses to do so, Jerry tells him that he "is no pussy" and that the fight is on. He proudly walks away to get ready for the fight.
The fight begins in front of the entire student body who are all cheering in a frenzy. Attempts are made throughout by O'Rourke, The Duker and Franny to stop the fight but all wind up incapacitated on the ground at the hands of Buddy. Jerry, though obviously out-matched, still manages to stand his ground as the fight continues and the tension builds. Jerry finally lands a punch that draws blood and Buddy, more embarrassed than physically stunned, returns a devastating blow that knocks Jerry down in a daze. Buddy doesn't consider the fight over yet as he slowly puts on brass knuckles while standing over a barely conscious Jerry. In a last-ditch effort to save his friend, Vincent runs up throwing a flurry of nerdy punches knocking the brass knuckles out of Buddy's hand. Meanwhile, out of Buddy's sight, Brei picks them up and gives them to her brother who is now ready to continue the fight. Buddy quickly disposes of Vincent and now wants to finish Jerry off. Jerry had put the knuckles on his right hand and hides this fist behind his back and so Buddy don't know Jerry's got it. The two circle each other slowly and finally Buddy throws a punch, missing. Jerry sees his opportunity and lands a fight-ending punch, knocking Buddy unconscious to which the crowd erupts with cheers.
The next day, many students show their appreciation to Jerry for giving them such a great fight (one student had set up a betting pool and did quite well), and begin buying individual sheets of paper from the school store for $1 each (at the suggestion of a remorseful Vincent) to help Jerry make up the lost student store cash. Buddy Revell shows up silencing the bustling crowd and begrudgingly shows respect by returning the $350. Karen Clark then expresses interest in Jerry by reminding him about her upcoming party. Ms. Farmer reappears and confesses her desire for Jerry by kissing him in front of everyone. The film ends with Jerry replacing Buddy as the new talk of the school, with the rumors having a wide and humorous range of alignment with the truth.
Three O'Clock High opened in 849 theatres nationwide on October 9, 1987; gaining a $1,506,975 opening weekend gross. The total lifetime gross of the film is approximately $3,685,862, earning 40.9% of its total gross during opening weekend.
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