Dazed and Confused is a 1993 American coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The film follows a variety of teenagers on the last day of school in 1976. Although the film was shot in Austin, it was inspired by Linklater's time growing up in East Texas and no town name is ever given. The film has no single protagonist or central conflict; rather, it follows interconnected plot threads among different social groups and characters, such as rising ninth graders undergoing hazing rituals, a football star's refusal to sign a clean-living pledge for his coach, and various characters hanging out at a pool hall. The film features a large ensemble cast of actors who would later become stars, including Jason London, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Nicky Katt, Joey Lauren Adams, Rory Cochrane, and Anthony Rapp.
Linklater originally planned to make a teen film after his breakout feature Slacker. Slacker caught the attention of Universal Pictures producer Jim Jacks, who secured 6 million dollars for Linklater's next feature. Linklater drew heavily on his adolescence in Huntsville, Texas, to write the script, lifting the names of several people from his hometown for the characters. Most actors cast for the film were undiscovered talent, including McConaughey, who became the film's breakout star. Linklater shot the film around Austin, with several members of his crew from Slacker. The actors were encouraged to improvise and develop their own characters, with some writing in extra scenes. Linklater gathered several 1970s rock songs for the soundtrack, which made up a significant portion of the film's budget. The picture was marketed by Gramercy Pictures as a stoner film, to Linklater's dismay.
Released on September 24, 1993, Dazed and Confused was a commercial disappointment at the box office, grossing less than $8 million in the United States. The film later found success on the home video market and has since become a cult classic. It ranked third on Entertainment Weekly magazine's list of the 50 Best High School Movies. The magazine also ranked it 10th on its "Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years" list. Reviewers have praised the film for its faithful and humanistic depiction of the setting and of high school life.
Plot
On May 28, 1976, the last day of school at Lee High School in an unnamed Texas town, the next year's group of seniors commence annual hazing of junior high students that are to be freshmen in the next semester. Randall "Pink" Floyd, the school's star quarterback, is asked to sign a pledge promising not to take drugs during the summer or do anything that would "jeopardize the goal of a championship season".
When classes end, the incoming freshman boys are hunted down by the seniors and paddled. The incoming girls are rounded up in the school parking lot by senior girls (led by Darla), covered in mustard, ketchup, flour, and raw eggs, and forced to propose to senior boys.
As day fades to night, freshman Mitch Kramer escapes the initial hazing with his best friend Carl Burnett, but is later cornered after a baseball game and violently paddled. Fred O'Bannion, a senior participating in the hazing tradition for a second year after failing to graduate, delights in punishing Mitch. Pink gives the injured Mitch a ride home and offers to take him cruising with friends that night.
Plans for the evening are ruined when Kevin Pickford's parents discover his intention to host a keg party. Elsewhere, the intellectual trio of Cynthia Dunn, Tony Olson, and Mike Newhouse decides to participate in the evening's festivities. Pink and his friend David Wooderson, a man in his early 20s who still socializes with high school students, pick up Mitch and head for the Emporium, a pool hall frequented by teens.
As the night progresses, students loiter around the Emporium, listen to rock music, cruise the neighborhood, and frequent a local drive-through restaurant. Mitch is introduced to sophomore Julie Simms, with whom he shares a mutual attraction. While cruising again with Pink, Pickford, and Don Dawson, Mitch drinks beer and smokes marijuana for the first time.
After a game of mailbox baseball, a neighborhood resident brandishing a gun threatens to call the police. They barely escape after he fires at their car. After returning to the Emporium, Mitch runs into his middle school friends and hatches a plan with them to exact revenge on O'Bannion. The freshmen dump paint on him from a roof, causing him to leave in a rage. After the Emporium closes, an impromptu keg party is planned in a field under a moonlight tower.
Cynthia, Tony, and Mike arrive at their first keg party, where tough guy Clint Bruno threatens Mike. Tony runs into freshman Sabrina Davis, whom he met earlier during the hazing, and begins spending time with her. Mike, suffering from the humiliation of his confrontation with Clint, makes a stand by punching him. In return, he gets tackled by Clint and receives a beating. Pink and Wooderson break up the fight. Football player Benny O'Donnell confronts Pink about his refusal to sign the pledge. Pink, the only player not to have signed, believes it violates his individuality and beliefs.
Mitch leaves the keg party with Julie. They drive to a nearby hill overlooking town to make out. Tony gives Sabrina a ride home, and they kiss goodnight. As night turns to dawn, Pink, Wooderson, Don, Ron Slater, and several other friends decide to smoke marijuana on the 50-yard line of the football field, where Wooderson advises Pink to "keep livin without concern for what is expected of him.
The police arrive and, upon recognizing Pink and Don, call Coach Conrad, their football coach. Conrad lectures Pink about hanging out with "losers" and insists he sign the pledge. Pink says that he might play football, but he will not sign it, and leaves with Wooderson and Slater to travel to Houston to obtain tickets to an Aerosmith concert. Mitch arrives home after sunrise to find his mother has waited up for him. She decides against punishment, but warns him about coming home late again. Mitch goes to his bedroom, puts on headphones, and listens to "Slow Ride" by Foghat, as Pink, Wooderson, Slater, and Simone Kerr travel down a highway to purchase their tickets.
Cast
Production Development
Director Richard Linklater's previous film, Slacker, caught the attention of Universal Pictures producer Jim Jacks, who saw the film at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival. Jacks and his colleague, Sean Daniel, had been searching for a first project for their production company, Alphaville Films, which would have an exclusive production and distribution deal with Universal. Hoping to get Universal to finance the film for $6 million, Jacks called Linklater and flew him to Los Angeles to discuss producing a studio film. Linklater agreed, and received a $25,000 check to write the script, which he used to pay off his debts from producing Slacker.Maerz 2020, pp. 61–71
For several years, Linklater had thought about and written notes about a film that would "capture the moment-to-moment reality of being a teenager". When asked in an interview about his next film, Linklater said "I want to make this teenage rock'n'roll spree. I knew I wanted the story to take place on one day in the spring of 1976, but at one point it was much more experimental. The whole movie took place in a car with the characters driving around listening to ZZ Top." Lee Daniel, the director of photography, described the concept: "It would have been two shots—one of a guy putting in an eight-track of ZZ Top's Fandango! and one of two guys driving around talking. The film would be the length of the actual album, and you'd hear each track in the background as a source." Eventually, Linklater decided "to represent different points of view" in his script, the first draft of which took a month to complete. Universal Studios fast tracked production of Linklater's script, jumping ahead of 30 other films which were in development at that time. Linklater based much of the story off his own experiences growing up in Huntsville, Texas. The names and personalities of many characters were lifted from actual classmates and acquaintances of Linklater.Maerz 2020, pp. 1–65
Linklater sought to hire members of his Slacker crew for Dazed and Confused. Many of those who had worked on Slacker were wary of the project's ties to Hollywood, and had assumed Linklater's next feature would be another independent film. However, he succeeded in bringing on many members of his old crew, including Lee Daniel as director of photography. Linklater commented that "I think some of the pros involved saw us as these indie, Slacker amateurs, but we'd all earned it." He stated that bringing back his old crew members "brought our little Slacker punk spirit to everything we did on Dazed."Maerz 2020, pp. 72–79 To achieve a 1970s look, Linklater avoided using Steadicam.
Casting Linklater wanted to use undiscovered talent for Dazed, and enlisted co-producer Anne Walker-McBay, who had helped cast Slacker, to search for talent throughout Texas. Walker-McBay handed out cards to high schoolers and conducted interviews to find extras and cast minor roles. Casting searches were done in Austin, New York, and Los Angeles.Maerz 2020, p. 85 Vince Vaughn was almost cast as the bully O'Bannion before Ben Affleck was chosen. As Linklater put it, "Ben was smart and full of life. You don't cast the unappealing person, you cast the appealing person." Other young actors considered for roles include Elizabeth Berkley, Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd, Brendan Fraser, Jon Favreau, Ron Livingston and Claire Danes. Casting director Don Phillips said, "We wanted Claire Danes for the girl, but she was too young. She couldn't leave school." Renee Zellweger has an uncredited role in the film, but was originally considered for the part of Darla, which went to Parker Posey instead. Linklater said, "Parker was just crazier." Wiley Wiggins was the "big find" in Austin, according to Linklater, who described him as "a 15-year-old with all the bad habits of a grad student: smoking cigarettes, hanging out at coffee shops, my kind of guy." Linklater describes Walker-McBay as "flipping out" over her discovery of Wiley Wiggins due to his name and long hair. In total, the entire supporting cast and eight of the main ensemble actors were found in Texas.
Matthew McConaughey was not originally cast in the film, as the role of Wooderson was originally small and meant to be cast locally for budget purposes. He was a film student at the University of Texas in Austin and went out drinking with his girlfriend one night. They ended up at the Hyatt hotel bar since his friend was a bartender there and could get them a discount. He approached casting director Phillips in the bar. Phillips recalls, "The bartender says to him, 'See that guy down there? That's Don Phillips. He cast Sean Penn in Fast Times.' And Matthew goes, 'I'm gonna go down and talk to this guy. Phillips also recalls that Linklater did not like McConaughey at first because he was "too handsome".
Filming Development of characters