High School U.S.A. (1983)

Michael J. Fox leads a cast of sitcom stars in this early ’80s high school comedy television movie…

In October 1983, NBC aired a TV movie called High School U.S.A. The movie, a comedy based around a California high school, was notable in that the cast was comprised of a host of sitcom stars, both past and present. The movie saw current sitcom stars of the early 1980s mixing with former stars of sitcoms from the 1950s and 1960s.

Representing sitcoms present was a pre-Back to the Future Michael J. Fox (Family Ties), Todd Bridges and Dana Plato from Diff’rent Strokes, Nancy McKeon from The Facts of Life, Cathy Silvers and Crystal Bernard from Happy Days, Anthony Edwards from It Takes Two, Tom Villard of We Got It Made and Lauri Hendler of Gimme a Break! Representing sitcoms previous was David Nelson of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-66), Elinor Donahue of Father Knows Best (1954-60), Angela Cartwright of The Danny Thomas Show (1957-64), Tony Dow, Ken Osmond and Frank Bank from Leave it to Beaver (1957-63), Dwayne Hickman of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-63), Barry Livingston of My Three Sons (1963-72), and Bob Denver and Dawn Wells of Gilligan’s Island (1964-67). Also, Crispin Glover has a significant role in this movie.

If you wonder why so many sitcom actors have been cast in this film, just look at the people behind High School U.S.A. The film would be directed by Rod Amateau, a TV comedy veteran who had previously worked on such series as The Bob Cummings Show (1955-59), The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-63), Mister Ed (1961-66), My Mother The Car (1965-66) and The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-85). The film’s writers were Alan Eisenstock and Larry Mintz, who had previously written for Sandford and Son (1972-77), What’s Happening! (1976-79) and Mork and Mindy (1978-82). Eisenstock and Mintz would also serve as producers on the film along with Leonard Hill, Philip Mandelker, Robin S. Clark, Wolfgang Glattes, Richard Freeman and Dori Weiss. Finally, the cinematography was overseen by Jack Whitman, who had previously done the same for The Dukes of Hazzard and Hawaii Five-O.

Would this all-star cast and crew manage to produce all-out fun? Not all-out fun, but they would provide an enjoyable time.

In this 95-minute TV movie, about five different plots are going on simultaneously. However, the main plot goes like this: Excelsior High School in California is run by a popular clique of preppy students led by wealthy class president Beau Middleton (Anthony Edwards). He calls the shots and is supported by his gang of friends and suck-ups. The teachers even kowtow to Beau, wanting to ensure that he gets what he wants. This level of servitude increases when Middleton’s father announces a competition with a $10,000 cash prize and a holiday for the teacher that Beau considers the best.

However, Excelsior High’s answer to Bart Simpson, JJ Manners (Michael J. Fox), stands out in this established structure. JJ doesn’t care about working hard, thinking about his future, or doing anything. He is generally a screw-up who is in detention enough times to be on favourable first-name terms with Principal Kinney (Tony Dow). However, JJ soon tries to date Beth Franklin (Nancy McKeon), the girlfriend of Beau Middleton. Beth takes an interest in JJ and soon becomes attracted to him. Beau and his cronies do not take kindly to JJ paying Beth attention and try to put him out of the picture. However, tired of the shabby treatment he receives at the hands of Beau, JJ challenges the jock to a motor race with $1000 on the line. However, shenanigans occur en route.

Alongside this main plot of JJ trying to woo Beth away from Beau, we have the teachers of Excelsior trying anything to win the Middleton prize. As part of this, teacher Mr Plaza (Dwayne Hickman) tries to continue his romantic relationship with fellow teacher Miss D’Angelo (Angela Cartwright) while keeping it secret enough from the students to win Beau’s $10,000 prize, annoying D’Angelo. In addition, we have the misadventures of friends Archie Feld (Crispin Glover), and Chuckie Dipple (Michael Zorek) as the pair awkwardly and unsuccessfully try to attract women. Finally, friends Peggy (Cathy Silvers) and Nadine (Lauri Hendler) try to set up opportunities to catch a photo of Beau with his trousers down as part of an assignment for their photography club.

Featuring the cast of actors that it does, it is no surprise that High School U.S.A. comes across as a series of episodes where hijinks eventually ensue. Every cast member needs fifteen minutes of promotion, after all. However, all of these plots make an enjoyable 95 minutes of entertainment. The main story, and sub-plots, make sense, are easy to follow and are not in any way simple or boring. The all-star cast of TV sitcom actors does not feel crammed into this production. The actors and their characters play off each other well enough that I would believe that High School U.S.A. was itself a TV sitcom, and this feature-length movie was just an episode of it. Each individual plot is given its time to shine, with the sub-plots sticking around long enough to either take away from the main story, become too annoying or slow down the movie’s pacing. Despite having a trio of central characters in JJ, Beth and Beau, High School U.S.A. works just as well when it becomes more of an ensemble piece.

Michael J. Fox is great in the lead role of JJ. If you like Michael J. Fox’s work, I recommend checking out High School U.S.A. He is a likeable troublemaker who provides plenty of funny one-liners. Fox improves every scene he is in, whether he is acting with Anthony Edwards (Beau), Nancy McKeon (Beth), Crispin Glover (Archie) or Todd Bridges (Otto). Despite being a directionless character at the film’s commencement, Fox’s performance in this role makes it easy for the audience to root for JJ in his bid to win over Beth. He is basically playing a version of Marty McFly before he was even cast in the role. Speaking of Beth, Nancy McKeon is also great in this special. Even though the character of Beth finds herself caught between two men, McKeon plays the character as someone who finds herself amongst the popular clique but clearly feels like she doesn’t belong. When JJ takes an interest in her, she feels she can be herself more with him but doesn’t want to give up being Beau’s girlfriend as she cares for Beau, despite how he sometimes treats her. Fox and McKeon make for a convincing on-screen couple, and the chemistry truly shines through in every scene they share.

As Beau, Anthony Edwards perfectly embodies the character of the preppy jock who feels that he rules the school and calls the shots for everything happening around him. At one point, Beau refers to himself as the ‘King’ of Excelsior and his group of friends as his ‘Royal Court’. Edwards’ performance makes the villainous Beau dislikeable enough that you are waiting for him to get his comeuppance. The same applies to Anne-Marie Conklin (Crystal Bernard), Beau’s ex-girlfriend, who still lusts after him and will do anything to get back with him, especially if it comes at the expense of Beth. Crispin Glover shows off his awkward comedic talents two years before playing George McFly in Back to the Future. It is funny to see Glover and Michael J. Fox act alongside each other, knowing that they would receive their career breakthroughs appearing as father and son on-screen. Even at this point, the rapport between the two is of a high level.

Todd Bridges serves as a good straight man and sounding board to Michael J. Fox in his role as Otto, the intelligent kid who has managed to build his own robot. Otto and the android even have the movie’s most emotional scene, which is not bad. Finally, Dwayne Hickman is hilarious as Mr Plaza, the science teacher who will do anything to be the recipient of Beau Middleton’s $10,000 prize and holiday abroad. Plaza gives Beau’s friends the answers to the upcoming biology tests. He takes his lunch to Beau when the boy says he is hungry. He will take his girlfriend, Miss D’Angelo, on a date to a cinema 60 miles out of town so that they will not be seen by any students, with the reveal of the relationship potentially ruining his chances of winning the Middleton prize. The relationship between Mr Plaza and Miss D’Angelo is equivalent to the one later seen between Principal Skinner and Mrs Krabappel on The Simpsons. Dwayne Hickman is perfect as a simpering fool, delivering all of his lines brilliantly and producing plenty of funny moments.

High School U.S.A. first aired on NBC on Sunday 16th October 1983 at 9:00pm as the latest entry in NBC’s Sunday Night at the Movies, directly after the Knight Rider episode ‘Merchants of Death’. High School U.S.A. was a rating success on its first airing, with 15.8 million people tuning in. The film registered an 18.9 Nielsen rating and a 29% audience share. However, it would lose out in its 9pm timeslot to The Jeffersons on CBS (16.1 million) and Game 5 of the 1983 World Series on ABC (19.6 million). The movie ultimately finished in 19th place in the national ratings in the week it was broadcast, finishing between Hill Street Blues (16 million) and the CBS Wednesday Night Movie ‘Sunset Limousine’, which starred Three’s Company’s John Ritter (15.5 million).

High School U.S.A. currently holds a 5.7/10 rating on IMDb, based on 1,172 user ratings, and a rating of 39% on Rotten Tomatoes from 1,298 reviews. However, I would disagree with these ratings. High School U.S.A. is an adequately satisfactory way to spend 95 minutes of your time. It is a hidden gem in Michael J. Fox’s career, an intriguing footnote that I recommend rediscovering. The film isn’t perfect. The movie does waste some of its sitcom veterans, with Ken Osmond, Dawn Wells, and Bob Denver only appearing in a handful of scenes each. It contains a German teacher character that would not fly today. You have seen all of the plots in this film before and perhaps done better in other teen and high-school comedies. High School U.S.A. does not bring anything significantly new to the table. It was clearly a way for NBC to attract viewers on a Sunday night by putting all of the stars of their current sitcoms into a throwaway TV movie that most viewers would quickly forget about after watching.

However, for what it is, I very much enjoyed my time watching High School U.S.A., and I would recommend it as a forgotten teen comedy, an early Michael J. Fox movie and as a 1980s TV time capsule brought to you by NBC. If you want to check it out for yourself, you can watch it in the YouTube link embedded below:

If you are wondering whether Michael J. Fox did any more obscure TV movies before Back to the Future, he most certainly did. Five months before his big-screen breakthrough, Mr Alex P. Keaton would re-team with High School USA co-star Nancy McKeon for the 1985 NBC romantic comedy Poison Ivy. However, that is a story for another day.