Class of 1999 (1990)

Director:

Mark L. Lester

Writers:

Mark L. Lester (story)
C. Courtney Joyner (writer) ...

Release Date:

11 May 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The ultimate teaching machine... out of control.

Plot:

Robot teachers have been secretly placed in the schools where the students have run riot. The teachers...

Plot Keywords:

Teacher | School | Robot | High School | Hanging

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Bradley Gregg	...	Cody Culp
Traci Lind	...	Christie Longford (as Tracy Lin)
Malcolm McDowell	...	Doctor Miles Longford
Stacy Keach	...	Dr. Bob Forrest
Patrick Kilpatrick	...	Mr. Bryles
Pam Grier	...	Ms. Connors
John P. Ryan	...	Mr. Hardin
Darren E. Burrows	...	Sonny
Joshua John Miller	...	Angel (as Joshua Miller)
Sharon Wyatt	...	Janice Culp
James Medina	...	Hector (as Jimmy Medina Taggert)
Jason Oliver	...	Curt
Brent David Fraser	...	Flavio
Jill Gatsby	...	Dawn
Sean Hagerty	...	Reedy

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-18 (2004) | New Zealand:R18 | Australia:R | Germany:18 | Norway:18 | UK:18 (video rating) | USA:R | Iceland:(Banned) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Seattle, Washington, USA

Company:

Lightning Pictures

Quotes:

Cody: Reach down the back of my pants.
Christie: What?
Cody: Come on! Live dangerously.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Class of 1999 II: The Substitute (1994)

Soundtrack:

HEAD LIKE A HOLE

a misunderstood little sci-fi treasure

Recent teenage parolee Cody Culp returns to his anarchistic futuristic hood to find himself disgusted with his home life, alienated from his former gang(probably to his relief), and threatened by the school's newest bullies: three robotic teachers, implemented by the government to restore discipline, only consolation being his budding romance with the principal's daughter--perpetually gorgeous Tracy Lin. As always, whenever players take the material as seriously as these actors do, the potentially mediocre is propelled to a new level. The performance by vastly unappreciated and underused Bradley Gregg rivals that of the more experienced Ryan, Grier, and Kilpatrick(with McDowell typically good, but all too often idle).

I've always held that the reason there was and remains so much dissatisfaction with this movie is that too many people watched it with the wrong expectations. Preparing for some silliness and expecting some substandard effects is the starting point with one like this. Reason being: to get past the frequent implausibility is to put yourself in a position to recognize the uniqueness and innovation. Taking the deliberate cheese with a grain of salt, one can appreciate opportunities when it is earnest.

If anything truly hurts this movie, it's the boring pseudo-military battle scenes. They would have been wise to leave this stuff to the only films suited to do them properly--war films, but instead have introduced out-of-place time wasters in which neither side has evoked any sympathy anyway. That said, Class Of 1999 is still a shoulda-been camp classic not to be missed. Then again, should any movie featuring knockout Tracy Lin be missed?