Can we all agree that the golden era for high school films was the 1980s?
So what if the screens are smaller and the audiences are scattered?
Teens still want to see movies about their lives mall or not, this will never change.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Here’s EW’s list of the best teen movies, presented in chronological order.
The object of her lust?
sung by the inimitablePaul Lynde.
Everett Collection
If a movie could be marketed as an antidepressant, this might be it.
stepping away from the studio audience and into the real world.
Though the real Cooley High is no more, its memory remains in this gem of a movie.
Everett Collection
But her familial frustration is eternal.
If you’re in the mood for some seriously retro Troubled Teen entertainment, this is your movie.
Soles(playing Ramones super fan Riff) starring alongside evil-eyedClint Howard.
Anne-Margaret in the 1963 film Bye Bye Birdie.Everett
It’s jarring to see the freaking Ramones (!!)
(If “aging public school” is an aesthetic,Famenailed it.)
NOT awesome, dude.
Sidney Poitier in To Sir, With Love.Everett Collection
The whole thing is a meltingly perfect ode to forbidden love, and it’s all ridiculously fun.
StarringPatrick Swayze, Tom Cruise,Matt Dillon,Rob Lowe,Ralph Macchio,C.
Stay gold, Ponyboy.
Everett Collection
And while we’ll never know whatactuallyhappened Monday morning (did the princess and the criminal hold hands?
Did the basket case and the athlete go out?
), we can always hope they remained friends.
Everett Collection
and the death of a friend is pitch-perfect without a single false note.
But of course, this being aJoel Schumacherproduction means it’s also a massive guilty pleasure.
The movie may be best known for his uniquely intense (perhaps…toointense?)
Everett Collection
Icing on the cake.
Where to watchSay Anything: Amazon Prime Video
Dead Poets Society (1989)
‘‘O Captain!
This Ivy League Y.A.
Orion/Courtesy Everett Collection
(Alex Winter) and “Ted” Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) is undeniable.
Strange things afoot at the Circle K, indeed.
Where to watchBill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Showtime
Heathers (1989)
The voiceovers!
Everett Collection
TheWinona Ryder-Christian Slaterdream team!
Are we suprised that a teen suicide satire didn’t age well?
), seriousguilty pleasure, look no further thanHeathers.
Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in ‘Grease’.Paramount Pictures/Fotos International/Getty
The devil is in the delivery!
Remember, Cher wasn’t a mean girl she just looked like one.
Meanwhile, Rushmore Academy is a charmingly vintage-looking academic fantasia where it’s always raining.
MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection
Best of all, Max doesn’t have to continually lie about who he is.
But perhaps the thing we love most about10 Things I Hate About Youis… the school itself.
And the wildest thing of all?
Universal/Everett
It’s an REAL public school in Tacoma called Stadium High.
And it’s just as stylish, confident, and loaded with atmosphere as you might expect.
With Dewey Finn (Jack Black) as the teacher, could it be any other way?
Everett Collection
(And though it technically features tweens and not teens, we’ll let it slide.)
(The role was later claimed byKyle Chandlerin the television series that premiered two years later.)
Where to watchFriday Night Lights: Peacock
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
“How was school?”
‘The Outsiders’.Everett Collection
“The worst day of my life, what do you think?”
Dang, so many iconic lines… and were the lockersalwayspainted like a stick of Fruit Stripe gum?
This endlessly quotable, surprisingly deep exploration of the cruelties of modern adolescence is a forever favorite.
Kevin Bacon in ‘Footloose’.Everett Collection
It ain’t black and white, but it sure feels that way.
HowHigh School Musicalmanages to be both sincere and self-aware (We’re dancing!
On the basketball court!
Michael J. Fox in ‘Back to the Future’.Everett Collection
Where to watchJuno: Max
Hairspray (2007)
Good morning, Baltimore!
Yep,Dopeis a sunny, fizzy crowd-pleaser that’s perfect for summer viewing.
She’s a little drifty and confused and that’s alright.
Universal Pictures/Getty
We don’t know the answer, because we spent most ofEighth Gradewith our hands over our eyes.
The film looks at the teenage experience up close and personal, zits and all, unsanitized and unruly.
With one wild night left to make up for years of lost time, chaos (and adventures!)
Island Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Where to watchBooksmart: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
Related content:
Everett Collection
Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’.Orion/Courtesy Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Clueless Paul Rudd, Justin Walker, Elisa Donovan, Jeremy Sisto, Stacey Dash, Alicia Silverstone, Donald Faison, Brittany Murphy, Breckin Meyer, 1995.Paramount Pictures
Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman in ‘Rushmore’.Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Newmarket Releasing /Courtesy Everett Collection
Fox Searchlight/Courtesy Everett Collection
Jack Black in ‘School of Rock’.Andrew Schwartz/Paramount Pictures
Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, Rachel McAdams, and Lacey Chabert in ‘Mean Girls’.Everett Collection
Focus Features/Everett Collection
Everett Collection
Michael Cera and Jonah Hill in ‘Superbad’.Everett Collection
Doane Gregory/Fox Searchlight
New Line/Courtesy Everett Collection
Bonnie Osborne/CBS Films
Everett Collection
STX Entertainment /Courtesy Everett Collection
Merie Wallace/A24
Twentieth Century Fox
Linda Kallerus/A24
Francois Duhamel/Annapurna Pictures
