Class of 1984 (1982)

Sick Product of a Sick System

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Perry King is a music teacher in the kind of school found mostly in movies. Not that high school kids treat the physical plant or the teachers with any respect, but the kids here aren't just noisy, inattentive, and largely absent. They're demonic. There is a gang led by Timothy Van Patten. They dress in black leather adorned with chrome knobs and plates and they've spray painted every available surface with graffiti. On top of that, they're arrogant, use swear words in class, mock ordinary students, hang out in louche dives, and wear white after Labor Day. Perry King has a tough job ahead of him. He objects to their behavior, complains to the principle and the police. Even when he sees the naughty kids burn his car, there's nothing the authorities can do. He's helpless. They beat the crap out of King several times and frame him for assault, but it isn't until they gang bang and kidnap his wife that he gets really annoyed. What happens next shouldn't happen to the most impudent sophomore.

Class of 1984 (1982)** 1/2 (out of 4)Music teacher Andy Norris (Perry King) arrives at a new school where on the first day he notices fellow teacher Terry (Roddy McDowall) carrying a gun. Terry educates Andy that the school is a rather violent place where everyone is carrying some sort of weapon. Pretty soon gang leader Stegman (Timothy Van Pattern) targets Andy and the attacks keep getting more violent.CLASS OF 1984 pretty much came out of nowhere and turned into a profitable hit that managed to score quite a few good reviews even from critics like Roger Ebert. The film is pretty much a mix of TO SIR WITH LOVE, DEATH WISH and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. The movie is fairly well-made considering its budget and I'd argue that the performances are quite good but it falls just a tad bit short from becoming good in my book but more on that in a bit.I think director Mark Lester does a very good job at building up the atmosphere and setting. There's not a single moment where you feel as if you're watching something on a set. Everything feels quite authentic and you really do feel as if you're in a dump of a school where the trash rules. Another plus is that King is very good in the lead role and makes a believable character. McDowall is also good in his supporting role but it's Van Pattern who steals the film as the cold-blooded creep. You even get Michael J. Fox in an early role.What bothered me most about the film was a few issues I had with the screenplay. The biggest problem is some logical issues surrounding the Principle and the cops. Are they really that stupid? There's some pretty wild and violent stuff that happens yet it's never enough for this gang to be in trouble. I don't know, everyone knows they're a "problem" yet for some reason they keep going against the teacher. The film ends up in a rather violent revenge plot that plays out quite nicely.

I remember back in the fall of 1982 when this flick was released. I also vaguely remember the buzz, but do not recall anyone liking it in high school. So it must have bombed and failed to connect with its intended audience well. So Class of 1984 has many problems, namely the acting, poor script, corny dialogue and unrealistic nuances. However, to its advantage, these problems also help build the tension of the plot. Public education has been a pressing and real issue in the past several decades mainly concerning violence, drugs, misbehavior, impotent administration, frustrated faculty, etc. Many of them are unsafe both for meek students and hardworking teachers who are just trying to eek out a meager living. Having been a teacher in inner city Title 1 schools I can attest to this. The core of the problems stem from poor upbringing, demographic shifts and increased rights for students as teachers and good students absorb the havoc of these environments. Class of 1984 addresses the issues of teenage rebellion and anger, but doesn't allow us to connect with its troubling adolescents. Here we have your average rough inner city high school with metal detectors and video surveillance cameras in the hallways. The teachers and students are at the mercy of a sadistic gang run by Stegman and his four cronies. They dress punk with all of their Goth make-up, Mohawks and punk clothes. But they aren't your average angry rebels who are disrespectful to authority figures. They are literally portrayed as evil terrorists who will stop at nothing to control, dominate and terrorize their victims. This is the main problem of the film in that this is quite unusual. The gangs are not just delinquents with anger issues, but they also systematically run a Drug and Prostitution ring on the side. This conveys a maturity and business savvy far beyond their adolescent years. So this unrealistic portrayal is what causes us to suspend our belief. No, kids are not that crafty to formulate such an underground crime mecca. Besides, most of the students look as though they can be 30 years old. Stegman, played by Timothy Van Patten, is really misused here. It's a shame that such a capable young talent was given such lousy material to work with. Spewing lines like, "I am the future" and "I run this school" look too contrived and unnatural. It's like the movie is trying to incite fear to the public that teenage hoodlums will soon rule and transform the world into some nightmarish urban dystopia. Each kid in the gang is far too wicked and malicious to come off as believable. Sure, kids can be cruel, manipulative and will learn to use the system to their advantage, but here it transcends far too deeply into artistic hyperbole rather than realism.Another irritating aspect was the role of Andrew Norris (Perry King), as the idealistic Music teacher who thinks he can duel with Stegman and his malevolent gang members. King plays the role far too melodramatically. If he were being terrorized and harassed as much as he was, he would be an idiot to return to that class and school to face torment. And he does. He faces charges of false allegations, but calmly returns to teach class. This was one of many false and implausible moments in Class of 1984. I won't describe any more examples that are implausible in this plot, because there are too many to mention. I felt the film suffered due to the casting of King. Look out for Michael J. Fox in an early role as a pasty and small nerd who gets terrorized by the gang. His role is actually quite pivotal in the film. He faces the ordeal of keeping silent about the crimes of the gang in order to survive and not be their next target. This is true among rough high schools. Kids who snitch get beaten and abused. Duplicity and backbiting among youths is very common and can be ruthless in this type of environment. The best actor in the movie is Roddy Macdowell as a Biology teacher on the brink of a nervous breakdown. But even his presence seems out of place as his British demeanor and style jar with the urban American sprawl.The final 15 minutes of the movie is when everything falls apart. Instead of coming to a resolution which illustrates the problems and challenges we face in public high schools it degenerates into a teenage horror film with ludicrous violence. It becomes a full-blown war between Norris and Stegman as teacher and student struggle for dominance and life. All of this takes place in the school campus basement while the rest of the faculty and students attending the music recital are oblivious to what is happening. So if the film wanted to go into artistic hyperbole instead of the realism every viewer can relate to, then it failed. It balked at its own convictions and decided to waste this great idea and turn it into a schlocky thriller. What a shame that it resorted to such tawdry gimmicks. It's no wonder that Timothy Van Patten refuses to remark on this movie at all. He looked as if he was embarrassed throughout the movie.

A load of after school specials crammed into a half-assed exploitation film that somehow slipped into the mainstream. That would be 'Class of 1984' in a nutshell.There's loads of interesting aspects: the (main) bad guy at some moments displays sensitivity and genius (beside the usual nihilism and psychotic episodes), even to the point where the ending had to be changed in order to make it plausible for audiences to have him killed... Buddy teacher Terry steals the spotlight from 'main' teacher Andrew with some great scenes in which he goes violently cuckoo. The grotesque use of violence and gore were galore as advertised, but feel over the top nonetheless. Wáy over the top, but you'll have to do something if your story is too contrived and the acting, settings and outfits are more laughable than anything else.This is simply a weird one, and a wild one. But a good one? Hardly. It turns out that director Mark L. Lester was inspired by 'A Clockwork Orange' for the outfits and Stegman's character (I learned this from the somewhat hilarious 'making of' - a must see), but I only thought of that film in the scene where Andrew's wife is attacked and raped.A big 6 out of 10 for sheer entertainment and some great ideas (that didn't work out too well).