Great Movies While High: Dazed and Confused

You knew Weedist was gonna pay homage to this film; I am just glad I am the lucky Weedist that got to do it. Dazed and Confused fuckin’ rocks man. It is hands down one of my favorite flix of all time and I already know everybody agrees. So no worries: no boring synopsis, tired quote offs or soundtrack reviews (AMAZING) just a little bit of why Diablo dabs to Dazed and Confused. Today it was U Dub Wax with a side of hash.

Believe it or not, I missed this film as a teenage stoner. I actually stumbled across it later in life as a Richard Linklater fan. I then watched it four times more that week. Actually, I’ve seen it twice this week too, hehe. Encore is quite wise about showing it a lot at the start of summer and summer vacation is also a great place to start.

This film leaves me smiling 100% of the time because it really puts nostalgia on tap. I wasn’t even alive in ‘76, but I would testify with my hand on the good book that I’ve dabbed my way into Lee High. I was no QB, or stud for that matter, but I worked the hallways on the last day of junior year just like my man “Pink” Floyd. I too disliked authority infiltrating my personal life; Christian schooling and Texas high school football culture sure have a lot in common. This stoner lived (lives) to be the catalyst to hard partying and more importantly, everyone having a good time.

This 1993 flick had a deep cast and helped vault a lot of the actors, such as Parker Posey, Milla Jovovich, Jason London, Joey Lauren Adams and Rory Cochrane. There are simply too many memorable quotes from Dazed and Confused to even begin listing, but those who have seen the movie (umpteen times) you know you’ve rattled off countless quotes! Who doesn’t love history lessons like “Behind every good man there is a woman, and that woman was Martha Washington, man, and everyday George would come home, she would have a big fat bowl waiting for him, man, when he come in the door, man, she was a hip, hip, hip lady, man.”

Right from the beginning of the movie our resident stoner Ron is troubleshooting carburation on a bong being made in wood shop. HA! What an amazing scene. Ron has got to be a hall of famer on stoner bucket lists — I know he’s on mine. This whole movie is about people looking out for one another. That’s not a booze thing, that’s a dank thing if I’ve ever seen one. Squares will argue that it is all due to small town sense of community and of course that it’s Texas, but I am going with weed for all the good karma in this little high school.

It was very cool to learn later that this high school was in none other than Austin, TX. A guy like me typically has zero interest in “messin’ with Texas”, but Austin is a whole different kind of oasis. Austin’s well past powder keg and approaching H-Bomb in terms of culture. I sure hope that culture bomb eventually takes out all the close-mindedness in that big-ass state. Most everyone in Dazed and Confused is chill — I am convinced Austin is that same way today. They’ve got SXSW, they’re getting Google Giganet, and if they go MMJ they may unstoppable.

Linklater represents for his hometown masterfully; being a foundational figure in the Austin cultural movement is a fine pin in his cap.  Like I said, it felt like I could have gone to Lee High, but in the end it is just about going back to high school in general. I understand it wasn’t everyone’s high school experience but it was damn close to mine. Mind you, I was in high school twenty years later; same kinda young and dumb, driven by half baked ideals like getting high, drunk, laid, paid…”L-I-V-I-N” Couldn’t help it #lightersup

Check out other posts from Weedist’s Great Movies While High series!