MovieChat Forums > Oxford Blues (1984) Discussion > Just Saw It and.......

Just Saw It and.......

posted 11 years ago by ltoledo23
5 replies | jump to latest

Hated it. The protagonist was detestable. He is in a nutshell, the problem with American thinking that still plagues us today. The end should have him ending up a broke, ugly drunk lying in a gutter.

While I detested the fact that the Colin character took back Lady Victoria after she cheated on him, and he was arrogant in his anti-American debate speech, he was the example we should all strive to follow. He was not perfect, but at his core he always put his school and his group in front of his own selfish desires and beliefs.

[–] bfuente1 11 years ago

Loved it.

[–] richopp 11 years ago

Well, it clearly isn't the best teen film ever made, but in 1984 the Brat Pack was popular and this kind of simple film was more acceptable to their fans. Yes, The Ugly American was published in the late 1950's and came to symbolize the crude American psyche and behavior as international travel grew, although the book had really nothing to do with that aspect of American culture, but let's be a bit charitable and say that at the time, almost 30 years ago, this was probably an acceptable teen film with a passable plot and somewhat decent acting for the time. I suppose after James Dean all teen films were kind of light, but clearly this is a step up from 1982's Porky’s, right?

Today, we get somewhat better teen films, but we also get a lot of horror schlock and lots of blowing-up and violent films directed at teens. They would probably not sit still for this type of film today—people don’t even like witty teen films like Easy A these days, which is, in my opinion anyway, a much better teen film than this one, but times change and tastes change. John Hughes’ films are all better than this, but he couldn’t make ALL the teen films of the day, right?

Cheers!

Rich

[–] wendysamuelson 11 years ago

Hated it year ago...but watched it again recently and really enjoyed it....odd. has a flavour of its own....

[–] Jes' Sayin' (5955) 7 months ago

And that flavor is Brat Pack. There were a bunch of features that all their films had, the most interesting of which is the concept that "these are young people with bright futures". Later films wouldn't be nearly so idealistic.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (47421091) 10 years ago

The protagonist was detestable. He is in a nutshell, the problem with American thinking that still plagues us today. The end should have him ending up a broke, ugly drunk lying in a gutter.

He was over the top detestable, yes, but hardly representative of your average American. But isn't the reclamation of his character the point of not only this film, but an almost infinite number of others? Three things could have happened to Nick: he could have gone on in the same manner, he could have ended up a broke ugly drunk lying in a gutter, or he could have learned something in Oxford.

While I detested the fact that the Colin character took back Lady Victoria after she cheated on him, and he was arrogant in his anti-American debate speech, he was the example we should all strive to follow.

Of course, that was the point of the story. Colin wasn't perfect, but his unselfishness and dedication to his friends, team, and school was the lesson that Nick learned. And I agree: Colin shouldn't have taken Lady Victoria back...