CANOE -- JAM! Movies: Bone up on back-to-school classics

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Attention, class. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the holiday is over. Time to trade in the beach towels and barbecues for some biology and band practice, the skateboard for a slide rule, and ... well you get the idea.

With all the homework that's going to be coming your way, you're going to want to make sure you get plenty of sleep. So instead of staying out until all hours of the night, why not hunker down with one of these high school-themed favorites, all of which will help you become contributing members of society?

Now keep your eyes on your own work and pay close attention. This will be on your final exam.

1. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

The miscreants behind the recent slew of teen movie missteps could learn a thing or two from this masterful genre zenith, which seamlessly blends lowbrow humour with authentic, insightful adolescent angst. Director Amy Heckerling and writer Cameron Crowe (who went undercover at a real high school to research the source material) give unexpected depth to characters that could easily have been cliches, then allow them to be fleshed out even further by ensemble players Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates (as the topless poolside hottie), and Sean Penn as stoned surfer/philosopher/all-round badass Jeff Spicoli.

See also: Valley Girl, My Bodyguard, American Pie

2. American Graffiti (1973)

Years before launching himself into the Star Wars stratosphere, George Lucas delivered this winsome coming-of-age tale, charting a night in the life of four teen boys stuck spinning their wheels on a car-obsessed California cruise night. The film was one of the first to sport a soundtrack of wall-to-wall oldies, ushering in the pop song-as-Greek-chorus concept used later in Goodfellas and Boogie Nights. And since Lucas has always been a bit clueless when it comes to actors, it's all the more impressive to see such rock-solid turns from Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, and a pre-Han Solo Harrison Ford.

See also: Grease, Animal House

3. Dazed and Confused (1993)

Another dream ensemble (courtesy of the same casting genius behind Fast Times) breathes life into the last day of school for a crew of Texas teens circa 1976. Over time, Dazed has developed something of an -- ahem -- cult following, thanks largely to drug references and highly-quotable types like Rory Cochrane's proto-slacker, Parker Posey's cheerleading harpie, and Matthew McConaughey's lecherous hanger-on. But beneath all the retro trappings lies a loving reminder that while high school may not have been the best time of your life, it probably wasn't the worst, either.

See also: Rock 'n' Roll High School, Freaks & Geeks

4. The Breakfast Club (1985)

If John Hughes is the Orson Welles of the teen angst set, then The Breakfast Club is his Citizen Kane. Surprisingly stage-like in its set-up and structure (five teens from disparate backgrounds spend a weekend detention together in a high school library), TBC embraces the inherent melodrama of being young, then spins a New Wave utopia where everyone, like, totally gets along. The Brat Packer cast is uniformly great (though we've always been partial to Ally Sheedy's mascaraed misfit), and by the time Judd Nelson hoists a triumphant fist in the air, you'll wish these five had shared locker space next to yours.

See also: Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off

5. Election (1999)

Director Alexander Payne has always worked best with lovable losers (think Sideways and About Schmidt), but the star of this razor-sharp political satire is Reese Witherspoon's Alpha-teen Tracy Flick. Going toe to toe with teacher Matthew Broderick -- whose bid to sabotage her campaign for school presidency eventually leads him to personal and professional ruin -- Witherspoon proves true the old adage about hell having no fury like a woman scorned. Even if that woman is a perky, overachieving 17-year-old with an arsenal of cupcakes.

See also: Mean Girls, The Faculty, Better Off Dead

6. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

On the surface, Rebel hasn't really aged all that well, what with its blazer-clad bad boys, choreographed knife fights, and midnight "chickie runs" -- do those things ever not end with someone driving off a cliff? But dig a little deeper and you'll find a dark and timeless meditation on the search for acceptance, family, and personal freedom. Natalie Wood tones down the histrionics, Sal Mineo provides the gay subtext, and James Dean turns in a gutwrenching performance as a tortured outsider whose societal influences are -- all together now -- tearing him apart.

See also: Splendor In the Grass, The Blackboard Jungle, River's Edge

7. Rushmore (1998)

Anyone who's ever been picked last in gym class (or been shot down by a crush, or tasted failure of any kind), will find a kindred spirit in Max Fischer, a serial underachiever whose only ambition in life is to continue attending his beloved prep school. Max isn't lazy -- his stageplays are epic and audacious, and when he finds himself competing for a woman with weary benefactor Bill Murray, his twisted genius is put to devilish good use. But far more rewarding are those moments when Max, Murray and Rushmore's entire roster of damaged souls find release and relief in contact of the real-world variety.

See also: Lucas, Welcome To the Dollhouse, Napoleon Dynamite

8. Clueless (1995)

Heckerling again, this time giving Jane Austen's Emma a Beverly Hills makeover, while vaulting former MTV cutie Alicia Silverstone to new heights. Smarter than it's given credit for, the movie manages to have its cake and eat it too, mostly by trotting out genre conventions (the shallow rich kids, the ridiculous fashions, the New Girl makeover), then skewering them with gleeful aplomb. And bonus points for keeping Silverstone's well-meaning meddler a virgin -- "You see how picky I am about my shoes," she says. "And they only go on my feet."

See also: Cruel Intentions, 10 Things I Hate About You

9. Over the Edge (1979)

More famous these days as Kurt Cobain's favorite flick, Over the Edge remains a way-underrated indictment of suburban subcultures that fail to factor in their youngest inhabitants. Starring Matt Dillon as a teen hothead whose friends keep running afoul of the law, and abetted by a killer soundtrack of '70s classic rock, this anti-authoritarian primer builds to an explosive, anarchic (and ultimately tragic) climax that's said to have inspired the similarly explosive, anarchic video treatment for Smells Like Teen Spirit.

See also: Pump Up the Volume, If ..., Elephant

10. Heathers (1989)

Rather than ask us to feel sorry for Winona Ryder's cynical teen princess, Heathers invites us to tag along as she systematically dispatches -- however inadvertently -- the titular In Crowd ruling the roost at her status-obsessed high school. After Columbine, there's no way Heathers would get past the screenplay stage these days, so it's nice to see that almost 20 years later, it hasn't lost any of its bite. Factor in pre-tabloid fodder performances from Ryder, Christian Slater, and even nasty ol' Shannen Doherty, and you've got a bitchin' black comedy that's truly to die for.