Slacker 1990
His first feature, made 30 years ago. Sean calls it one of the most important American independent movies ever made: non-linear, plotless, a tapestry of Austin voices that adds up to a thesis statement about form.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Top Five · Interview
‘Dazed and Confused’: Making a Modern Movie Classic, With Richard Linklater
November 6, 2020/ 99 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda each rank their five favorite Richard Linklater films, then Sean talks to the director and 'Alright, Alright, Alright' author Melissa Maerz about how Dazed and Confused got made.
23 films across 6 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The case for Richard LinklaterSean and Amanda on the filmography
The Newton Boys 1998
A late-'90s crime-comedy with McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, and Skeet Ulrich. Sean's example of Linklater trying something mainstream in his own style, off both hosts' lists.
School of Rock 2003
The more successful version of that mainstream swing. Neither host puts it in a top five; Amanda notes the Jack Black online fandom she'd rather not provoke.
Fast Food Nation 2006
The issues-oriented drama Sean says didn't land as well, cited as proof of how far Linklater will stretch tone and genre.
Waking Life 2001
The rotoscoped, openly philosophical film Sean holds up as Linklater building an elaborate form around emotionally direct material.
Sean's top five Linklater films
No. 1
Dazed and Confused 1993
No. 1. Sean calls it a perfect movie he never doesn't want to watch, ahead of even The Godfather or Jaws, and thinks that's down to when he first saw it.
No. 2
Before Sunset 2004
No. 2. He takes Sunset over Sunrise because it feels real: a broken Hawke at a crossroads, the car conversation, the final scene where Delpy sings and the baby's going to miss the plane.
No. 3
Everybody Wants Some!! 2016
No. 3 for Sean, No. 5 for Amanda. The spiritual sequel to Dazed; a movie about male chemistry and the pleasure of a good hang, bungled by the studio and now slowly finding its cult.
No. 4
A Scanner Darkly 2006
No. 4. The rotoscoped Philip K. Dick adaptation with Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr., Sean's stand-in for Linklater's willingness to take a hard left turn and not fear failing.
No. 5
Boyhood 2014
No. 5. Shot over 12 years with Ellar Coltrane and an Oscar-winning Patricia Arquette. Sean was crying on the rewatch; he's less sure it's a great film than a special accomplishment.
Amanda's top five Linklater films
No. 1
Before Sunrise 1995
No. 1. She's a Sunrise person: it stands on its own, the two leads are on the most even footing, and it captures the goofy, overly verbal hope of falling in love.
No. 2
Dazed and Confused 1993
No. 2. A perfect film that replaced history for her even without any nostalgia for the '70s or high school, which is why it lands at two instead of one.
No. 3
Before Sunset 2004
No. 3. Written with Hawke and Delpy, it carries their real lives into it; she calls the trilogy some of the best portrayals of falling in and out of love ever made.
No. 4
Before Midnight 2013
No. 4. The fight scene gets at how couples actually fight; she calls the film a horror movie. It's fourth only because she's aware of the writing, so it plays more like a play.
No. 5
Everybody Wants Some!! 2016
No. 5. His most honest and, for her, most pleasurable movie: charming athletes who just want to hang out. She wonders if it'd be a Netflix top 10 hit today.
Elsewhere in the filmographyhonorable mentions and near-misses
Bernie 2011
The Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey movie Sean rates among Linklater's best.
Last Flag Flying 2017
Underrated in Sean's view, a spiritual sequel to Hal Ashby's The Last Detail.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette 2019
Sean's honorable mention: a fascinating experiment that doesn't quite come together, with a Cate Blanchett performance he likes a lot. The Bernadette character shuts herself off from the world, which he thinks is finally at odds with Linklater's outward-reaching people.
SubUrbia 1996
The Eric Bogosian play he adapted, not a perfect movie, but a portrait of late-'90s indie cinema after Dazed and Before Sunrise.
Me and Orson Welles 2008
About Welles running the Mercury Theater, made well before Mank, and an early Zac Efron role.
‘Dazed and Confused’ in 2020Sean and Amanda on the centerpiece
Dazed and Confused 1993
Both hosts call it a perfect film. Sean says it worked as a field guide for how to be a young person; Amanda, with no nostalgia for the '70s or high school, argues its craft (every cue and every actor right) makes it feel lived-in anyway. Both flag how little attention the female characters get, and single out Parker Posey's performance.
In conversationRichard Linklater and Melissa Maerz on the oral history
Richard Linklater & Melissa Maerz on
Dazed and Confused 1993
Maerz's book 'Alright, Alright, Alright' started from Linklater calling it an intended anti-nostalgia movie that became the ultimate nostalgia movie. He walks through the early, much darker draft, the freshman hazing the town came out to watch, the studio treating it as an indie release after he'd gone through studio hell, and losing the Led Zeppelin song he wanted.
Richard Linklater & Melissa Maerz on
School of Rock 2003
Ten years later, Linklater finally landed a Led Zeppelin song here, his 'redemptive cycle' after the fight over Dazed's soundtrack.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Held up for comparison The GodfatherJawsJurassic ParkPsychoThe Last DetailKicking and ScreamingMankArgoThe Good SonThe IrishmanChinatown
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
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