Three O'Clock High

Three O'Clock High
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Phil Joanou
Written by	Richard Christian Matheson Thomas Szollosi
Produced by	David E. Vogel
Starring	Casey Siemaszko Anne Ryan Richard Tyson Jeffrey Tambor Philip Baker Hall John P. Ryan
Cinematography	Barry Sonnenfeld
Edited by	Joe Ann Fogle
Music by	Tangerine Dream
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	October 9, 1987 (1987-10-09)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Box office	$3.6 million[1]

Three O'Clock High is a 1987 American teen film directed by Phil Joanou. The script, about a meek high schooler who is forced into a fight with a volatile new transfer student, is based on the high school experiences of screenwriters Richard Christian Matheson and Thomas Szollosi. It was shot in Ogden, Utah.

Plot[]

Meek high school student Jerry Mitchell and his sister Brei have the house to themselves while their parents are on vacation. Jerry's day begins badly when he wakes late and gets worse when he nearly wrecks his car while driving his sister and his school friend Franny to Weaver High School. The students this morning are gossiping about the new student Buddy Revell, a violent delinquent who has just transferred to Weaver from a continuation high school.

Jerry's first hour is spent at the school newspaper, where his best friend, Vincent Costello, is the editor. Their journalism teacher has the idea of doing an article about Buddy to welcome the "new kid", and she assigns Jerry to do an interview. Jerry sees Buddy in the restroom and clumsily attempts to introduce himself, bringing up the article idea. Through a series of poorly chosen statements, Jerry realizes he is only making Buddy angry and decides to cut his losses, telling Buddy to "...just forget this whole thing happened", giving Buddy a friendly tap on the arm. Buddy, who does not like being touched by anyone, responds by tossing Jerry against a wall and stating that the two will now fight after school at 3 o'clock in the parking lot.

With little more than six hours to go, Jerry tries different strategies to avoid the fight. Trying to reason with Buddy doesn't work. Vincent suggests that he plant a switchblade in Buddy's locker to get him kicked out of school; Brei advises him to simply skip school, but when Jerry tries to leave, he finds the switchblade he planted now stuck in his car's steering wheel, and his ignition wires cut. Trying to run, Jerry is caught by overzealous school security guard, Duke, who finds the switchblade and takes Jerry to the office of Mr. Dolinski, the Dean of Discipline. Seeing an otherwise perfectly clean record, the suspicious Mr. Dolinski tells Jerry that he will be keeping his eye on him from now on, and lets him go.

Jerry makes several other attempts to avoid the fight: he steals money from the school's student store, which he manages, and uses it to pay an upperclassman to "take care of" Buddy; he tries to get thrown into detention by making a pass at his English teacher; he lets Buddy cheat by copying Jerry's answers during a math quiz. All attempts fail, and the clock continues to tick down.

After Buddy rebuffs Jerry's plea to "just be friends", he offers him the stolen cash to call off the fight. Buddy accepts but scornfully calls Jerry "the biggest pussy I ever met in my life". Jerry, now seized with self-loathing and anger, decides to confront Buddy, and demands the money back. When Buddy refuses, Jerry insists that he is no coward and declares that their fight is back on.

The clock finally reaches the appointed hour, and the fight begins with hundreds of eager students looking on. Principal O'Rourke, Mr. Dolinski, Duke, Franny, and even the guilt-plagued Vincent attempt to intervene, but Buddy easily disposes of them. Jerry, though out-matched, stands his ground while being knocked down. His sister picks up Buddy's dropped brass knuckles and slips them to Jerry. He uses them in a desperate move to stun and knock-out Buddy; during the excitement that follows, Buddy vanishes.

The next day, many students show their admiration and support to Jerry for such a great fight. They begin buying individual sheets of paper for $1 from the school store to help Jerry make-up the store's missing cash. Buddy suddenly shows up, silencing the crowd. He openly returns the $350 to Jerry, begrudgingly showing his respect. Weaver High is now filled with new gossip, as Jerry replaces Buddy as the school's hot discussion topic, with rumors having a wide and humorous range from the actual truth.

Cast[]

• Casey Siemaszko as Jerry Mitchell
• Richard Tyson as Buddy Revell
• Anne Ryan as Franny Perrins
• Stacey Glick as Brei Mitchell
• Jonathan Wise as Vincent Costello
• Jeffrey Tambor as Mr. Rice
• Philip Baker Hall as Detective Mulvahill
• John P. Ryan as Mr. O'Rourke
• Theron Read as Mark Bojeekus
• Liza Morrow as Karen Clark
• Guy Massey as Scott Cranston
• Mike Jolly as Craig Mattey
• Charles Macaulay as Voytek Dolinski
• Caitlin O'Heaney as Miss Farmer
• Alice Nunn as Nurse Palmer
• Paul Feig as Hall monitor
• Mitch Pileggi as Duke, the school security guard
• Yeardley Smith as Cheerleader

Soundtrack[]

Three O'Clock High
1987 U.S. CD cover
Soundtrack album by Tangerine Dream
Released	1987
Recorded	1987
Genre	Electronic music
Length	41:42
Label	Varèse Sarabande
Tangerine Dream chronology
Tyger (1987) Three O'Clock High (1987) Near Dark (1988)

The film's soundtrack is the thirty-first major release and ninth soundtrack album by Tangerine Dream. Additional music was provided by Sylvester Levay.^[2] The song, "Something to Remember Me By", was written and performed by Jim Walker.

Track listing[]

Personnel[]

• Edgar Froese
• Chris Franke
• Paul Haslinger

Release[]

Box office[]

The film opened in 849 theaters nationwide on October 9, 1987 and earned $1,506,975 on its opening weekend, 40.9% of its total gross. The total lifetime gross is approximately $3,685,862, against the original budget of $5,000,000.^{[citation needed]}

Critical response[]

The film has a rating of 67% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 critical reviews.^[3]

Roger Ebert gave the film one out of four stars, declaring the plot to be "pretty stupid" and lamenting that the bully Buddy Revell, "the most interesting character", was underdeveloped.^[4]

In a retrospective review from 2016, critic Rob Hunter called the film "a wildly inventive and energetic look at the failures and successes of a typical high school day, and it shapes the daydreams and anxieties into an exaggerated delight."^[5]

The dark tone of the film contrasted with other teen films of the time—so much so that executive producer Steven Spielberg removed his name from the credits.^[6] In 2017, Adrian Halen wrote that Three O'Clock High was released in "an era when The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, National Lampoon’s Vacation and Weird Science were the general norm for moviegoers."^[7]

Actor Seth Green became a fan of the film, extolling its virtues at the Seth Green Film Fest in 2008.^[8]

See also[]

• High Noon, 1952 film
• Fist Fight, 2017 film
• List of teen films

References[]

External links[]

• Three O'Clock High at IMDb
• Three O'Clock High at Rotten Tomatoes
• Three O'Clock High at Box Office Mojo