Please don't spend money on this.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Just a really fun movie with a simple premise, but high energy directing and fun characters. Great 80s memories. The style could easily be Scorsese. Surprised it never got more praise and recognition.

Meek Jerry Mitchell (an excellent and engaging performance by Casey Siemaszko) gets challenged by scary and brutish bully Buddy Revell (a fearsome portrayal by the brawny Richard Tyson) to a big fight after school. Will Jerry come through when it counts most or try to find a way out of this nightmarish predicament? Director Phil Joanou keeps the absorbing story hurtling along at a breakneck pace, builds plenty of tension, offers a spot-on depiction of high school as a fascist prison-like hell on earth, pulls out the flashy stylistic stops with rip-snorting brio and breathtaking precision, and tops everything off with a wickedly sharp sense of fierce self-mocking humor. The smart and insightful script by Richard Christian Matheson and Tom Szolossi astutely presents a key male adolescent rite of passage in which a weak and passive boy learns how to become a much more strong and assertive man by standing up for himself and fighting his own battles instead of either running away from them or having someone else fight said battles for him.The fine acting from the ace cast keeps this movie humming: Annie Ryan as Jerry's kooky proto-Goth girlfriend Franny, Stacey Glick as Jerry's snarky sister Brei, Jonathan Wise as nerdy pal Vincent, Liza Morrow as sultry hot babe Karen, Jeffrey Tambor as amiable school store manager Mr. Rice, John P. Ryan as no-nonsense principal Mr. O'Rourke, Charles Macauley as stern disciplinarian Voytek Dolinski, Mitch Pileggi as overzealous security guard Duke Herman, Caitlin O'Heaney as prim English teacher Miss Farmer, and Philip Baker Hall as the hard-nosed Detective Mulvahill. Further energized by Tangerine Dream's vibrant pulsating score and bravura dynamic cinematography by Barry Sonnenfield, this baby rates highly as one of the best teen comedies from the 1980's.

There's something about teenage films in the 80'sthat really keep my attention and this film is one of the aces. Maybe it's the fact Tangerine Dream did the soundtrack or maybe it's the spectacular cinematography, but the sole reason that makes this film resonate is the heart that exudes. It captures the essence of the high school kid that gets involved in an unintentional situation-anyone can relate. All the elements come together in this movie- references to Lincoln (Fast Times ?), Tangerine Dream (Risky Business), and not to mention the stellar performances to provide a very unique look into a subject NeVeR displayed on film the way this one does, the high school fight.

There are a lot of movies from the 1980's that we grew up watching it. At the movies, at the afternoon screenings on TV, movies like 'Back to the Future' or 'The Goonies'. We all remember those movies with great enthusiasm and nostalgia. Who doesn't like 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' or 'License to Drive'? But there is one particular movie from this period that is easily overlooked because of all those classics. Well, it shouldn't, because 'Three O'clock High' is probably one of the best teen comedy of all time and one of the most beloved movies from the 80's.'Three O'clock High' is set on your regular high school. Rumor has it that the new student, Buddy Revell (Richard Tyson) is a very dangerous guy that doesn't like to be touched. And the rumors are proved to be true when one of the the school's nerds, Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemaszko), touches Buddy. Now, Buddy challenges Jerry to a fight at the school's parking lot when the classes are over - at three o'clock high. Then Jerry gets evolved in all kinds of strange situations to try to avoid the confrontation. The movie's script seems to have a rather silly and cliché argument like any other teen comedy. It may have, but the way the story develops is great. Near the end, the movie even gets to raise a few moral questions. The dialogs are surprisingly well- written, and you get lots of funny jokes that haven't lost its touch. And that's another great aspect from 'Three O'clock High'. Except for a few clothes and haircuts, the movie doesn't seem to have aged at all. This is mostly for the already-mentioned great dialog, but partly for the characters. Jerry Mitchell's growing during the movie is incredible, and Buddy Revell must be one of the best villains of all time. And that's mostly because of Richard Tyson's wonderful acting as Buddy. He is quiet, yet quite frightening. But Buddy is a character that even when you fear him, you don't dislike him. You're always there, trying to dislike him, but you can't. And aside from Tyson's performance, which was the best of the movie, the rest of the acting is also nice. All the supporting cast do their jobs very well, with Annie Ryan standing out as a girl who wants to be jerry Mitchell's girlfriend. You even get a cameo from Mitch Pillegi here (the Assistant Director Walter Skinner of the famous TV series 'The X-Files') Casey Siemaszko, just like Tyson, delivers a top-notch performance as Jerry Mitchell. He changes perfectly with the pace of his character, with really great body and facial expressions While watching 'Three O'clock High', the movie surprised me in many ways. But what mostly surprised me here was Phil Joanou's work as the director of the picture. Joanou is commonly known to get this directing job because he was Steven Spielberg's protégé at the time. and since Spielberg is one of the Executive Producers for the movie (even though, god-knows-why, Spielberg had his name removed from the credits)... -- Joanou directing started to surprise me right into the starting credits, with nice camera angles as Jerry was getting ready for school, and a great 80's-like song playing in the back. but Joanou caught me with my pants down in the end of the starting credits, with a really beautiful tracking shot as kids were getting into school and each group was talking different rumors about Buddy Revell. The passage of time is also perfectly portrayed here. The lots of shots showing a clock with the hours only served to increase the audience's anxiety and Jerry Mitchell's fear for the fight. In my opinion, Phil Joanou portrayed the passage of time as good as Fred Zinnemann did in the classic western 'High Noon'. It's also real pleasant to see that Joanou was able to apply every directing technique into a teen comedy (!).The movie's budget wasn't exactly big, and we can see this with lots of technical mistakes- in both sound and image. But this doesn't spoil the overall experience- it's incredibly fun to watch this movie. 'Three O'clock High' has an excellent script, that created unforgettable characters and haven't aged at all; the movie's acting is superb, specially because of the work of the two leads (Casey Siemaszko and Richard Tyson); and Phil Joanou's directing was a pleasant surprise, 'cause he was able to apply lots of directing techniques into a teen comedy. This proves why 'Three O'clock High' is one of the best of the 80's comedy classics. It's not a masterpiece, but it's really fun and it shouldn't be overlooked (but it is, unfortunately).9/10