Hacker Cinema
Rushmore
1998 · Film · 93 min
Directed by Wes Anderson
When a beautiful first-grade teacher arrives at a prep school, she soon attracts the attention of an ambitious teenager named Max, who quickly falls in love with her. Max turns to the father of two of his schoolmates for advice on how to woo the teacher. However, the situation soon gets complicated when Max's new friend becomes involved with her, setting the two pals against one another in a war for her attention.
12 positive2 negative4 neutralfrom 18 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
Videos commenters linked
From YouTube links in the comments below. Most are clips and trailers; “Full” means the uploader says so.
19 comments on Hacker News
With Tenenbaums, Rushmore and maybe the Darjeeling Limited we had enough of the classic Anderson visual style for the films to have lovely atmosphere, but with the actors still being warm, lively and human enough to create real sympathy.
After those, his own movies have almost become caricatures of an Anderson film and the characters have become so much like clockwork that they might as well be set pieces themselves.
The one later exception I can think of, off the top of my head was Ralph Fiennes in Hotel Budapest. His character, and the actor himself in how he plays him, are just too zesty to stay wooden.
Data point for you: Asteroid City is my favorite, I've watched it like eight times now? and I could barely get through Rushmore.
All the commenters in here complaining that new Wes doesn't have what old Wes had.. Maybe they're missing what new Wes is doing? The newer movies are full of emotion, they're not monotone at all.
Haven't read the article but saw the film.
If Wes made No Country For Old Men in this style it would suck.
The films look incredible but the monotone delivery and lack of soundtrack remove any drama and intrigue.
I say this as someone that loved Rushmore, Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic
Absolutely agree. My favorites,in order of how often I have watched them:
Fantastic Mr. Fox Rushmore Royal Tenenbaums Life Aquatic
The rest, I don't really care for, nothing new, just flash, no substance, and have stopped watching his new movies.
Rushmore is my favorite Wes Anderson film. I think you nailed it. It was a great film that was “enhanced” by Wes Anderson’s style. Newer films seem to be primarily delivery vehicles of his style, with a hint of story and plot to move it along.
Rushmore was my favorite of his films until the release of Moonrise Kingdom.
Fun fact: Rushmore was shot in an era without social media. All my film nerd pals were aware of Anderson after Bottle Rocket, and were tacitly awaiting his next film, but its ultimate arrival was a surprise. Even MORE surprising (at least for us) was that it was shot right here in Houston -- recognizably, obviously Houston. (I'm sure the St John's community was aware... )
Its release also solved a puzzle for my friend E. and I dating from the winter of 97-98. We'd stopped for sushi at a middling but reasonably priced joint between our rental house the bar we were headed to, and after posting up at the corner of the sushi counter and ordering a bit, we noticed the guy at the far end of the bar. He had a sort of admiring entourage with him of 2-3 younger folks.
The guy looked familiar, but we couldn't place him. Finally:
"Wow, that guy looks like Bill Murray."
"Yeah, he really does, doesn't he?"
"I think that might actually BE Bill Murray."
"What the hell is he doing in Houston?"
"No idea. Is there a tournament at the River Oaks club?"
We ate. We left. We forgot about seeing him -- until we saw Rushmore the following fall.
(In the unlikely event someone reading this knows Houston: this was at the Miyako that used to be just north of 59 on the west side of Kirby, so close to River Oaks.)
The genius of Rushmore is inseparable from the collaboration with Owen Wilson and the autobiographical inspiration of their school days. Wes Anderson can never make another movie like it. His oeuvre since then is without charm for me.
I like Wes Anderson movies in general, but I was unable to finish Asteroid City at home. It felt emotionally monotone. I probably need to go back and rewatch it.
Hope this one is a bit more exciting.
Rushmore is my favorite. The yearbook montage is awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMyh6ptegko
> children from generational wealth who play obscure sports from an early age to give them an edge in admissions This sounds like a cut scene from Wes Anderson's 1998 film Rushmore. Can you name some of the sports? This sounds like fun. In my mind, the #1 prestige sport is rowing. It makes golf look like a sport for poor people. Also: Dressage (show jumping with horses). To be clear: I still respect people who are very good at rowing or dressage, but they are almost always from uber wealthy families.
Right, one of the many great things about Rushmore is that it is a mix of these. It's amazingly polished for someone's second movie. Like, that aspect of it shocks me every time I watch it. But it also still has a lot of that raw soul that Bottle Rocket does.
I agree that could be a stretch but Rushmore does not only depict a nerd but one that is creative and iconoclast. Many times we have a bond with a movie for personal reasons that are not shared with the rest. I shared my ranking where there are movies which are classical top and others personal takes. That is the reason to create these (non algorithmic/AI) lists: share and help others to move from the average^average.
Rushmore, I think one of the greatest movies ever (and i don't like other Anderson's movies [1]).
Going back to the topic I think Jensen is right 99.9999 % of the time. An exception could be Bill Gates and I don't think that is because him was born in a priviledged family but because he has an unique drive [2].
[1] https://www.imdb.com/user/ur0601133/ratings
[2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41611.Hard_Drive
The Grand Budapest Hotel was also one of Wes Anderson's strongest collaborations at the story level. Hugo Guinness was awarded a story credit for it and the framing of the film acts like it is an adaptation of a book by Hugo Guinness (that at least so far, has not been published as such). Grand Budapest leaves me wondering how much Wes Anderson would serve to benefit from more collaborators at the story level and larger writer rooms rather than soloing most of it. The French Dispatch being about that but written solo, seemed ironic in a bad way to me.
But of course, it could just be that Wes Anderson's writing doesn't speak to me as it does to some. I think Life Aquatic is often under-rated as a capture of what I find to be the more fun parts of Anderson's voice and Rushmore quite often over-rated. (I've just never liked Rushmore. It has never worked for me.)
I think The Grand Budapest Hotel is definitely his best. For once, the retro bric-a-brac aesthetics isn't purely gratuitous but is used in a narrative framework where history (as a source of tragedy, melancholy and loss) has a real purpose beyond the faux-retro gloss. And the slapstick action-adventure mystery makes it a great Tintin story.
I like Rushmore as a coming-of-age movie.
It depends.
My experience is it gets "easier", but it doesn't get "better". Some parents really relate to their kids as they grow up, but it never happened for me. If you've ever seen the movie Rushmore, remember Bill Murray's character and kids? Just, no common interest and he's obviously defeated and burdened by them. That's about what it's like for some of us.
Yeah, it's not like he was critically acclaimed in Ed Wood in 94.
Or turned in an iconic - movie stealing - comic performance in Kingpin in 96
Or won a Golden Globe in 98 for Rushmore.
Clearly you're right and nothing major happened in his career for 10 years.
You literally know nothing about this topic and keep digging yourself into a hole. It's kind of pathetic.
Randomly, my wife and I watched it for the first time a couple of hours ago. Really enjoyable film - 35 years ago but he really owns the role.
Also watched Rushmore for the first time last week - brilliant film. I don't know how I'd never heard of it before.
This actually supports my theory that the 90s were the greatest decade in popular culture history. It jibes so well with the (arguable) Golden Age of Rap/Hip-Hop music as well as the Seattle Grunge and Hard Rock renaissance.
Rap in the 90s had Biggie, Tupac, Wu-Tang, NWA, Nas, Outkast, De La Soul, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and a Tribe Called Quest.
Rock in the 90s had Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Radiohead, the Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Weezer, Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, and Rage Against the Machine.
It also had some of the greatest movies of all time in the 90s as well: Goodfellas, Terminator 2, Trainspotting, Fight Club, the Matrix, Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, the Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights, Schindler's List, Rushmore, and Pulp Fiction.
Now, I may be looking through with rose-tinted glasses (and having my adolescence back then, how could I not?), but let's just make it official, and not only with just cartoons. It's almost empirical that the 90s were the greatest decade of American Popular Culture.
Rushmore
It Might Get Loud - documentary about Jimmy Page, Jack White and the Edge