School Daze (1988)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Spike Lee

Writer:

Spike Lee (written by)

Release Date:

12 February 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Musical

Plot:

A not so popular young man wants to pledge to a popular fraternity at his historically black college.

Plot Keywords:

College | Historically Black College | Feud | Interracial | Directed By Co Star

Cast

Laurence Fishburne	...	Dap
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Julian
Tisha Campbell-Martin	...	Jane Toussaint (as Tisha Campbell)
Kyme	...	Rachel Meadows
Joe Seneca	...	President McPherson
Ellen Holly	...	Odrie McPherson
Art Evans	...	Cedar Cloud
Ossie Davis	...	Coach Odom
Bill Nunn	...	Grady
James Bond III	...	Monroe
Branford Marsalis	...	Jordam
Kadeem Hardison	...	Edge
Eric Payne	...	Booker T. (as Eric A. Payne)
Spike Lee	...	Half-Pint
Anthony Thompkins	...	Doo-Doo Breath

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 (re-rating) (2006) | UK:18 (original rating) | Iceland:L | Australia:M | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Company:

40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Trivia:

Alton Brown, host of Food Network's "Good Eats", was the steadicam operator for School Daze, as well as the director of photography for REM's "The One I Love" video.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the Gamma Rays are singing I Don't Want to Be Alone Tonight, towards the end of the song, the audio and picture don't add up. The audio is slightly ahead.

Quotes:

Dap: [shouts] Wake up!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Birth of a Nation: The Making of 'School Daze' (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

I'm Buildin' Me A Home

A Breath of Fresh Air

I am only 18 years old and I just saw the movie School Daze. I do not attend a H.B.C.U., but I have friends that tell me what goes on there. To the older people out there, can you believe that that type of stuff is still going on?! My friends and I were just talking the other day about how this guy on her campus would only date lighter skinned girls. If that is his thing, than it is, however, he would not date them because of their personality. He said they just "looked better on his arm." My mother and I always discuss the future of African-Americans and I am going to tell the truth. I am scared. We hurt each other more than any other race and we have to stop. I am a dark-skinned female and I just learnd to love myself. I thank Spike Lee for not being ashamed to call us out when we needed it. No, I do not think that the movie was an Oscar winner, but I do know that it was a mind opener and should be a lesson to all of us on how we allowed the European standard of beauty to shape our self-worth.