High School U.S.A.

High School U.S.A.
DVD Cover
Genre	Comedy
Written by	Alan Eisenstock Larry Mintz
Directed by	Rod Amateau
Starring	Michael J. Fox Crispin Glover Nancy McKeon Todd Bridges Dana Plato Angela Cartwright Anthony Edwards Bob Denver Tony Dow Crystal Bernard Dwayne Hickman Lauri Hendler
Theme music composer	Tony Berg Miles Goodman
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Leonard Hill Philip Mandelker
Producers	Alan Eisenstock Larry Mintz Robin S. Clark (co-producer) Richard Freiman (associate producer) Wolfgang Glattes (co-producer) Dori Weiss (supervising producer)
Production locations	Covina, California Excelsior High School – 15711 Pioneer Boulevard, Norwalk, California, USA
Cinematography	Jack Whitman (director of photography) Hal Trussell (uncredited)
Editor	John Cortland
Running time	96 minutes
Production company	Hill-Mandelker Films
Distributor	NBC
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	Color
Audio format	Mono
Original release	October 16, 1983 (1983-10-16)

High School U.S.A. is a 1983 American made-for-television comedy film starring Michael J. Fox, Nancy McKeon, Anthony Edwards, and Crispin Glover, directed by Rod Amateau. The film originally aired on NBC on October 16, 1983.

Several of the main actors appeared in sitcoms that were popular at that time. These include Todd Bridges and Dana Plato from Diff'rent Strokes, Nancy McKeon from The Facts of Life, and Michael J. Fox from Family Ties, as well as a number of former 1950s and 1960s sitcom stars, including Tony Dow, Frank Bank, and Ken Osmond from Leave It to Beaver.^[1][2][3][4]

Plot[]

The film focuses on the intrigue inside Excelsior Union High School. Michael J. Fox plays J.J. Manners, who becomes enamored with Beth Franklin (Nancy McKeon), the girlfriend of Beau Middleton (Edwards), who somehow manages to be the class president despite alienating most of the school; he is also their football team's quarterback. Middleton is also the richest student, a spoiled young man who drives around in a brand-new Porsche convertible.

The core story involves Manners and Middleton competing for the affections of Beth. Ultimately this rivalry culminates in a drag race between the two. The result of the race tips the balance and changes the dynamics within the school irrevocably. In the end, J.J. ends up winning Beth's affections.

Other storylines include Todd Bridges as a genius who has created a robot that he believes to be capable of traveling into space (the robot also humiliates Beau Middleton at the end of the film by pulling down his trousers before the entire student body). Crispin Glover plays Archie Feld, a socially impaired boy who stands out as nervous about interacting with the opposite sex, all while surrounded by friends who all struggle with the intricacies of intergender relationships. Also, Beau Middleton's father has created an incentive for the teachers by offering a sizable reward for the best teacher. Subsequently, the teachers focus extra effort on impressing Beau with their worthiness of the reward.

Cast[]

• Michael J. Fox – J.J. Manners
• Nancy McKeon – Beth Franklin
• Crispin Glover – Archie Feld
• Frank Bank – Mr. Gerardi
• Crystal Bernard – Anne-Marie Conklin
• Todd Bridges – Otto Lipton
• Dana Plato – Cara Ames
• Jon Caliri – Jerry
• Angela Cartwright – Miss D'Angelo
• Kelly Ann Conn – Swoozie
• Bob Denver – Milton Feld
• Elinor Donahue – Mrs. Franklin
• Tony Dow – Principal Pete Kinney
• Anthony Edwards – Beau Middleton
• Steve Franken – Dr. Fritz Hauptmann
• Jonathan Gries – Dirty Curt
• Dwayne Hickman – Mr. Plaza
• Lauri Hendler – Nadine
• Barry Livingston – Mr. Sirota
• Jerry Maren – Robot
• David Nelson – Mr. Krinsky, janitor
• Ken Osmond – Baxter Franklin
• David Packer – Danny
• Cathy Silvers – Peggy
• Tom Villard – Crazy Leo Bandini
• Kaley Ward – Chris
• Dawn Wells – Miss Lorilee Lee
• Michael Zorek – Chuckie Dipple

Production[]

Casting[]

According to stand-up comedian and future Mystery Science Theater 3000 star Joel Hodgson, he was asked to be one of the stars of the proposed series. Hodgson turned the offer down after telling the network he did not think the material was good. The network raised their offer, thinking his refusal was a bargaining ploy. Because of this experience, Hodgson decided Hollywood was too shallow to work with and quit the industry until 1987,^[5] when he created MST3K.

Shooting[]

Fox met McKeon on set and the two of them dated for a while, and starred in another TV movie, Poison Ivy.^[6]

Pilot[]

A one-hour pilot was created due to the success of the original movie, but no longer featuring the star teen actors. It was not picked up by the network, and was aired on May 26, 1984 (the Saturday evening of Memorial Day weekend).^[7][8]

References[]

External links[]

• High School U.S.A. at IMDb
• High School U.S.A. at AllMovie