A reader question
Hello,
As a follow up to your recent re-post of “Classic Prep School Books,” I wonder if you and the community have a list of “Classic Prep Movies”? I’m not intending to limit this solely to movies about prep schools, but to the movies that preps have always considers “in canon” or otherwise accurately depict elements of prep life.
Thanks
Anything from the Criterion Film Library
ReplyDeleteThe Paper Chase. The Philadelphia Story. The Graduate. Metropolitan. The Dead Poet's Society. Love Story.
ReplyDeleteI added a comment but inexplicably omitted The Holdovers - which I think has to be considered a modern classic in this genre.
ReplyDeleteThe Holdovers is a very good movie, but it's too recent to be considered a classic. It may stand the test of time, however.
DeleteWholeheartedly agree! Still needs a minute or two to be worthy of this designation, but that's to take nothing away from it in the slightest - and sure this fabulous film will indeed stand time's test.
DeleteWhit Stillman- anything by him.
ReplyDeleteNot "anything" by him, but Metropolitan, Barcelona, and Last Days of Disco certainly. I've come to the conclusion that it is impossible for non-preps to make a film that really rings true. I think that's because they don't understand preppies or take them seriously
DeleteConcur. Need to take a look at Whit's pedigree. His great great grandfather Charles aka Carlos Stillman with business partners of Richard King of King Ranch & Mifflin Kenedy of Kenedy Ranch were involved in the steamboat business, ranching, real estate, banking et al along the Rio Grande river in the 1840's - 1860's.
DeleteNeedless to say he became wealthy in South Texas & moved to New York City & founded National City Bank which morphed into
Citicorp. Well, I guess his descendants became civilized including Whit.
The Four Seasons. On Golden Pond.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with the other post which listed the Dead Poets Society - the last movie I went to. Also agree with The Paper Chase and On Golden Pond. I am not into movies but liked the three I listed and all three should be on the list.
ReplyDeleteSt. Elmo’s Fire
ReplyDeleteComedies: "Animal House" and "Making the Grade"
ReplyDeleteThey can't do that to our pledges, only we can do that to our pledges!
DeleteLOL Well done.
Delete“Love Story.” “Dead Poet’s Society”. Anyone with thoughts on “A Wedding” or “Rope?”
ReplyDeleteDead Poet Society, Bullitt, Rebel Without a Cause, Talented Mr. Ripley.
ReplyDeleteThe World According to Garp and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, Jaws
ReplyDeleteGreat choices
DeleteClass
ReplyDeleteI also thought of this one! The scenes at school seemed to have the right feel.
Delete"On Golden Pond" and "Dead Poets' Society" are what I would consider to be classics in this genre in the last 40 years.
ReplyDelete'Igby Goes Down'
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteThe Paper Chase!
ReplyDeleteGoodbye Columbus.
ReplyDeleteGoodbye Mr. Chips
ReplyDeleteScent of a Woman, Rushmore, and Trading Places (of course!) "Looking good, Louis. Feeling good, Todd." And the list of British movies are endless, with Brideshead Revisited and Chariots of Fire first coming to mind.
ReplyDeleteAll these suggestions are great, of course 'Metropolitan' and 'Dead Poets'. Lets not forget Wes Anderson's gorgeous 'Moonrise Kindom'
ReplyDeleteAgree with these! I might add Father of the Bride (and maybe the Romantics although it’s a bit dramatic)
Delete-JM, VA
What about "Harold and Maude"?
ReplyDeleteThe Ice Storm
ReplyDeleteAng Lee's best movie.
DeleteThe Family Stone
ReplyDeleteExcellent thinking here
DeleteRepo Man
ReplyDeleteTo the above, I will add Death Be Not Proud, the 1975 film based on John Gunther's book about the life and death of his teenage son Johnny; The Prime of Miss Jean Brody; and two that register on Rocky Mountain radars, A River Runs Through It and Legends of the Fall.
ReplyDeleteInteresting choices. Why the fly fishing film “A River Runs Through It?” Fly fishing for Atlantic Salmon is undeniably old school, old money, often old Ivy. Fly fishing for trout, as depicted (and promoted) in the movie, is something else entirely. Aspects of fly fishing, yes, have some of the accoutrements of preppy; the tradition, the old reliable clothing and gear, the sometimes exclusive clubbiness, even the whimsical names of some of the flies. There is the Royal Coachman, the Mickey Finn, the Grey Ghost, and of course, the Irresistible. But, fly fishing also has become one can easily say “trendy.” This is due in no small part to the movie. Can a trendy pastime be preppy? Furthermore, with a focus on arcane insect life, it can be quite “nerdy.” Can a nerd be preppy? What does the community think?
DeleteWhy does it matter that something has become trendy ?
DeleteDoes that mean we should stop doing something because it is trendy? I think not. At least not for me.
In The Bedroom (dark but gorgeous - based on an Andre Dubus short story, about class tensions in Maine among other more lurid things), Ordinary People, the original Thomas Crown Affair, The Verdict. I'd argue all of these have a bit of a Prep patina for one reason or another!
ReplyDeletePeyton Place, Our Town, Picnic, All That Heaven Allows, When Strangers Meet,
ReplyDeleteA Summer Place, The Thin Man Series, My Man Godfrey, The Swimmer.
Parrish.
I forgot these Elizabeth Taylor classics in my list. Butterfield 8, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Place in the Sun, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Sandpiper. If SoCal can be preppy Big Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteWhit Stillman was a college friend and I'll add his 'Damsels in Distress' to those of his films mentioned above. Likewise "A Separate Peace" with Parker Stevenson another classmate (nee Richard Parker ) although I didn't think too much of the film. Anything by Woody Allen and a few by Terence Malik, 'The New World' in particular. Matt Damon and Michael Gambon (RIP last year) played off each other well in the 'Yalie-Skull-And Bones' dominated "The Good Shepherd".
ReplyDeleteWoody Allen is an interesting choice. I wouldn't call his movies "preppy", but the way he and a lot of the characters in his movies dress and talk definitely has a preppy/ivy league tone.
DeleteMentioned above but worth stressing — The Good Shepherd is the wasp Godfather.
ReplyDeleteGood description. More waspy than preppy, but the line is blurry.
DeleteJaws
ReplyDeleteA Man for all Seasons and The Whales of August
ReplyDeleteMovies depicting the prep experience for young women seem underrepresented to me, but there are The Trouble With Angels for the boarding experience and The World of Henry Orient for the day school experience. I find them charming. Henry Orient is a deceptively good movie. The cast has a fair number of great players including Peter Sellers, Angela Lansbury, Paula Prentiss, and Tom Bosley,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this … I’d never heard of either of these movies, and now have a nice mother/teen daughter evening planned!
DeleteMona Lisa Smiles at least gives one "young women-centric" movie to balance the others. I definitely agree with "On Golden Pond", "The Four Seasons" "D.P.S.".... many of the others mentioned. "School Ties" with Brendan Frasier is also good, but a difficult representation of prep schools (1960's). Has anyone mentioned "The Graduate"? "Gosford Park" is based in England but still fits the bill. On a similar note, for anyone who enjoys going down a rabbit hole on YouTube, there is an excellent series about the posh London school Harrow. You can search for it; it is from 2013. "Harrow; A Very British School" Very interesting. "Au Revoir, Les Enfants" puts a French/WWII twist on boarding school.
DeleteI really appreciate these suggestions...it's difficult for my wife and I to find modern cute movies to watch together, and many of these look lovely
ReplyDelete"The World of Henry Orient" is an absolute delight. I got the DVD from Netflix years ago and have tried to buy it, but haven't had any luck. You will enjoy it throughly.
ReplyDeleteMasquerade - 1988 film with a young Rob Lowe fits this category
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteTom Brown;s School Days
ReplyDeleteI read the book and did not know they made it into a movie. I will have to watch it.
DeleteAll the good ones have been listed but a few I liked that are borderline prep:
ReplyDeleteAgatha Christie's *Crooked House*
The Hotel New Hampshire
Maurice
School Ties
The Chocolate War
Jagged Edge
Reversal Of Fortune
White Squall (?)
If... (1968)
School Life
The Chariots of Fire.
ReplyDeleteOne of my all time favs!
DeleteThe Browning Version - 1951 Ralph Richardson
ReplyDeleteNorth by Northwest. Ad man Roger Thonhill (Cary Grant) meets clients at the Oak Bar in the Plaza, gets mistaken for a spy by guys who try to kill him by getting him drunk and putting him behind the wheel of a Mercedes. Of course he survives this, has many adventures, and end up climbing down Mount Rushmore in an OCBD and what looks like Alden cordovan tassel loafers. Classic.
ReplyDeleteHoliday (1938) with Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and a very young Lew Ayres. Also, A Stolen Life (1946) and The Great Lie (1941) both with Bette Davis.
ReplyDeleteThe Reluctant Debutante, although a Brit flick, captures the deb scene of the sixties and has both superb clothing and furnishings. Plus Kay Kendall was a comic genius.
ReplyDeleteRoadhouse
ReplyDeleteAdding to the list - The Fraternity A mystery set at a boys New England boarding prep school. Worth the watch!
ReplyDeleteDoor in the floor, Jaws, Mystic Pizza,
ReplyDeleteFerd only watches Mr. Chipps.
ReplyDeleteCaddyshack? The entire crew at Bushwood Country Club, including Dr. Beeper, Ty Webb, and Lacey Underall, but especially the stuffy Judge Smails, christening his "new sloop" and naming it The Flying Wasp. Classic.
ReplyDeleteThe Boys in The Boat
ReplyDelete