Private School (1983)

It was hard not give this movie an 8 or higher but I will explain why in a second why I couldn't. My ratings are usually higher than the average for people rating these movies. And the rating from IMDb is probably right on the money. I gave it a .5 higher due to this is my favorite generation of movies, and music. 1975 to 1985. The very first babies from the offspring of the baby boomers. These were the very first of that start of generation that came along of their children. And they made the most of it.As seen in this movie Private student. I just missed this generation. I was born in 77 so you can bet my parents were not letting me a 6 see any nudity of this kind. When people see this now they probably want to compare it to fast times at ridgemont high. Don't!!! You will see a lot more nudity in this film and its just not as funny. Jennifer Jason Leigh was given a lot of freedom in her role in fast times at ridgemont high and there is also nothing to compare to Sean Penns acting. Too many kids in 2016 wish they could live up to those standards he set in that movie. Jennifer Leigh just seemed like she naturally played that role. Phoebe Cates has the same natural talent in both movies. That generation surely found women that weren't afraid to be sexual, talk dirty and seriously just let it rip on their language and actions while adding sarcasm to it. Nowadays directors just control the actors so much you don't see these type of actors. Lindsay Lohan might have been the last version of it, and she was short lived.As some other reviewers have mentioned. To understand this you have to understand the early 80's. Yes they had porno's (the porno industry just started booming with VHS then), and sure they had playboy. But nothing online and you couldn't just see breast and porn at your finger tips. So this movie must have been a real treat in its day. About time I was old enough to watch this stuff in my generation (late 80's early 90's) you better have showtime, Cinemax or the movie channel. Another great thing about this movie is the girls are realistic. The guys well, thats another thing. But the girls are down to earth and pretty great looking but they don't fake like you get in todays movies. Most of things now would get you arrested. And even when the head mistress at the school was on the horn in the car, that would get her thrown out and all the front page today. Times are different and even then that was serious but people just figured ah well lets move on. All serious crimes so when you watch this movie you have to take today's standards out of the mix.But enough about what is different about the times when this movie was made and now. More about the movie and if you should watch it or not. Yes, I would say yes. If you can get past the nudity. This movie had an eye out for certain viewers. Not all people in America is going to want to see a teenage fantasy of girls horseback riding and having a hard time with guys in a private high school. I assume people had bigger problems even then. And yes the best part of the movie was that horseback seen when Jordan took her shirt off. Honestly speaking I still can't get that image out of my head. I liked that scene better compared to the Phoebe cates pool scene in fast times at Ridgemont high. But as said certain viewers can relate to this movie others cannot.The directors did a great job of just sticking to the script. They didn't go all over the place. Nudity, teenagers, pranks, and simply the 80's and music. Thats it. Even the love interest that it tries to sell in the story title is not there. Just a couple of teenagers lying to get a hotel room. Good job on their part, they left it alone. They probably could have taken that scene out and the movie still would have been fine. I seen animal house and I like this better. If you want a slap stick comedy with some young and upping comers just being natural this is it. Its a 7 maybe at the worst a 5. But its nice to watch and honestly once again besides a few love scenes that didn't need to be in there, it was great. But anything is going to be a 7 to me that includes, early 80's, alcohol, women, nudity and good acting. You can't go wrong with that. and yes fast times at Ridgemont high is a better movie. But this needs to be watched too.

Wish every t&a teen sex comedy could be as good as Private School! Rare combination of good humor,above average acting,good music,beautiful girls and LOTS of nudity.Phoebe Cates looks spectacular in this film,but sadly does not have a nude scene (although she comes close in an erotic beach scene).I wish she had become a bigger star,i never get tired of looking at her.Betsy Russell also looks awesome and has multiple nude scenes including full frontal.Her acting is much better,and she looks quite different than in Tomboy which came out 2 years later.The girls shower scene in Private School is even better than the famous one in Porky's...Full frontal paradise!Not only is the comedy good,but so is the music! A lot of these movies had terrible generic 80's sounding dance/new wave but not Private School! 80's bands like Stray Cats and Bow Wow Wow raise the quality of this already great movie and Phoebe Cates even has a good original song.If you like these kind of films,Private School is about as good as they get.In fact it may be the best of its kind from the 80's,its at least up there with Lunch Wagon,Hot Moves and The Beach Girls.

This was one I enjoyed in High School (and College) to see some T&A. Phoebe Cates plays Christine Ramsey, Matthew Modine plays Jim. He loves Chris, and Chris loves him. Enter Jordan Lee Jensen, played by Betsy Russell. She has the hots for Jim so she tries to break them up. In the meantime, you have plenty of T&A as Bubba tries to score and ends up in the girls shower. Sure, the plot is thin, the humor is thin, but Betsy Russell is so HOT! Probably the best scene is Russell riding topless on a horse. Even clothed this woman begs the male eye to revel and take in every inch of her skin. It's not Fast Times at Ridgemont High (also starring Cates) or The Breakfast Club--but Private School for Girls got me through those years when I wanted to see a lot of T&A. It is finally on DVD (much to the chagrin of Phoebe Cates), fully restored and in letterbox format to make the shower scene all the more pleasurable. It was about time, considering that lame movies like Night Patrol, Night of the Living Dead II and the Party Animal being put on DVD. In any case, I am truly sorry, Phoebe. However, the fans demanded it and Universal finally responded.

I'm giving it a seven, which I will admit would be high if my enjoyment had anything to do with just dialogue or story content. But honestly, I'm about to buy the DVD, because there is no CD of the soundtrack available, if there ever even was one, but it's why I used to watch the movie again and again whenever it came on the tube. I have seen something about some CD, but with only 5 of the movie's songs on it, and not available for sale!!! But, if everybody burned out on that Big Chill soundtrack, hopefully everybody by now if not ten years ago already, then this is it, the best movie soundtrack there is! Only, you can't buy the soundtrack, so, you have to just watch the movie! Not a great movie, nothing to study with the lights off or even make popcorn for, but if you like music, for that reason, you might enjoy watching this, perhaps just some weekend afternoon when you are just moping about the house and would have been flipping channels with the remote if you weren't watching the movie, under those conditions, if you like music, you might also like the movie, and perhaps wonder why they don't sell a complete soundtrack to the movie! (Okay, The Big Chill soundtrack album/CD didn't include The Rolling Stone's "You can't always get what you want," but it had the rest.) I've searched the web repeatedly, no soundtrack release for this movie ever seems to have existed. And yet, it's an absolutely great one! So, for the music, and the fact I'm even going to buy the DVD, just to hear all the music again, I'm giving it a 7. So there!