Sadly Over-hyped

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

As Good As It Gets

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

Exploitation films are my favorite genre. What's not to love? You got all the ingredients that make an entertaining movie, sex, Violence, drug use and sex. All of which are in full force with the cult classic, Class Of 1984. The generically named Lincoln High is the worst school in America, drug use, graffiti from head to toe and even prostitution. The sadistic, violence prone student, Peter Stegman, runs the school with his colorful gang of cronies that look like cast rejects from The Warriors. This school is run like a prison. Enter the naïve new music teacher, Mr. Norris. Norris believes he can reach out to these troublemakers by the power of teaching, something Stegman slowly points out that he doesn't want. When one of Norris prized students is prison shanked in the school cafeteria (a pre Family Ties, Michael J. Fox) and with no help from the facility or law, Norris takes matters into his own hands. Director Mark Lester (Commando) intentions were for this film to be a provocative think piece or "message" movie, now it's simply a fun, throw it on late at night with your friends while drunk… movie, and that's fine by me.

***SPOILERS*** Released in the summer of 1982 the movie "Class of 1984" is really a remake of the 1955 juvenile delinquency classic "Blackboard Jungle" but far more violent with high school as well as music prodigy Peter Stegman, Thimothy Van Patten, who used his gang of thugs to terrorize everyone including teachers and principles at Lincoln High. The previous music teacher had suffered a serious accident, he fell or was pushed down a flight of stairs, and being in traction has no plans of coming back. It's now the naive and sensitive Andrew Norris, Perry King, who has no idea in what he's up against who was to take his place.Andrew Norris who was the victim together with his fellow science teacher Terry Corrigan, Roddy Mcowall, of Stegman and his gang's violent abuses that included Andrew's pregnant wife Diane, Marrie Lynn Ross, who was kidnapped and brutalized by them soon turned into a Chuck Norris in him dealing with them. That's by the time he realized that the only language that Stegman & Co. could understand is the language or violence that they inflict on others. After breaking into Terry Corrigan's laboratory and slaughtering his prized lizards rabbits and snakes he completely flipped out causing him to lose his life, in a fiery car crash, by using his car as a battering-ram against an astonished, they didn't think he had the guts to do it, Stegman & his gang.***SPOILERS*** It's while he was conducting an in school concert of the Tchackousky's 1812 Symphony that Norris got the terrible news, with photos added on, about his wife's being kidnapped beaten raped and held hostage by the Stegman gang that he simply went bananas as well as after them with such fury in that they would soon wish they were never born! With Stegman and Co. doing everything they could to murder Norris and his wife he turned the tables on them finishing them off one at a time in the most brutal ways imaginable and saving the last for gang leader Stegman himself. Savagely beaten himself Norris still held up hope for the helpless, hanging on a string, Stegman when he pleaded for him to save his life. That's until Stegman showed his true colors, by pulling out a switchblade, as an outraged and almost insane with rage Norris let him drop.

(Plot) Andy (Perry King) arrives at an inner city high school to take over the music class. What he doesn't realize is that it's filled with violence and peculiar characters. A kid named Peter Stegman runs things and is more trouble than Andy could ever imagineAlong with Savage Streets (which is quite similar in its approach in ways) this is one of my favorite exploitation films of the 80's, and in all honesty. I'd have to rank it a notch above Savage Streets, even though I adore that film as well. Class of 1984 will never be considered classic cinema, but the people that trash this film? You guys are seriously moronic. This is much more than just an exploitation film. It has a message to it, and it's also based partially on a true story. I really don't think you'd see a movie like this made today. Its subject matter is far too controversial to warrant being remade, but you never know. I wouldn't be shocked to see this get remade and receive the dreaded P.G treatment. It helps that our hero Andy (Perry King) is a likable guy for the most part. Despite a couple of questionable deeds (commandeering a student's car unauthorized and driving it into a brick wall just to get some revenge isn't exactly rational behavior, but they made it work with proper logic) I was on his side the whole way. His relentless attitude to shape the school into something worthwhile was a hoot to watch. I dug him a lot, and felt for him. Timothy Van Patten gives a chilling performance as Peter Stagmen, and one you won't soon forget. His psychotic performance will be forever entrenched in my mind. It's one of my favorite performances for a villain. Roddy McDowall adds class and emotional vulnerability to a potentially throwaway part, but he made sure that wasn't the case. Michael J. Fox has an early role in this film and I dug him. He wasn't nearly as established as he would become, though. Final Thoughts: This is a powerful film, and one of the best exploitation films around. The people that trash this film simply don't get it. Or they are appalled by the violence. I say screw them, and check it out. It's a very good movie, and worth adding to your collection.7.5/10