Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: MURRAY,BILL
EAN: 9780788818790
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0788818791
Label: Walt Disney Video
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Walt Disney Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: January 18, 2000
Running Time: 93 minutes
Sales Rank: 23711
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Theatrical Release Date: February 05, 1999
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Wes Anderson's dazzling sophomore effort is equal parts coming-of-age story, French New Wave homage, and screwball comedy. Tenth grader Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is Rushmore Academy's most extracurricular student-and its least scholarly. He faces expulsion, and enters into unlikely friendships with both a lovely first-grade teacher (Olivia Williams) and a melancholy self-made millionaire (Bill Murray, in an award-winning performance). Set to a soundtrack of classic British Invasion tunes, Rushmore defies categorization even as it captures the pain and exuberance of adolescence with wit, emotional depth, and cinematic panache. Criterion is proud to present one of 1998's most acclaimed films in a Director Approved special edition.
Amazon.com essential video:
Wes Anderson's follow-up to the quirky Bottle Rocket is a wonderfully unorthodox coming-of-age story that ranks with Harold and Maude and The Graduate in the pantheon of timeless cult classics. Jason Schwartzman (son of Talia Shire and nephew of Francis Coppola) stars as Max Fischer, a 15-year-old attending the prestigious Rushmore Academy on scholarship, where he's failing all of his classes but is the superstar of the school's extracurricular activities (head of the drama club, the beekeeper club, the fencing club...). Possessing boundless confidence and chutzpah, as well as an aura of authority he seems to have been born with, Max finds two unlikely soulmates in his permutations at Rushmore: industrial magnate and Rushmore alumnus Herman Blume (Bill Murray) and first-grade teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). His alliance with Blume and crush on Miss Cross, however, are thrown out of kilter by his expulsion from Rushmore, and a budding romance between the two adults that threatens Max's own designs on the lovely schoolteacher.
Never stooping to sentimentality or schmaltz, Anderson and cowriter Owen Wilson have fashioned a wickedly intelligent and wildly funny tale of young adulthood that hits all the right notes in its mix of melancholy and optimism. As played by Schwartzman, Max is both immediately endearing and ferociously irritating: smarter than all the adults around him, with little sense of his shortcomings, he's an unstoppable dynamo who commands grudging respect despite his outlandish projects (including a school play about Vietnam). Murray, as the tycoon who determinedly wages war with Max for the affections of Miss Cross, is a revelation of middle-aged resignation. Disgusted with his family, his life, and himself, he's turned around by both Max's antagonism and Miss Cross's love. Williams is equally affecting as the teacher who still carries a torch for her dead husband, and the superb supporting cast also includes Seymour Cassel as Max's barber father, Brian Cox as the frustrated headmaster of Rushmore, and a hilarious Mason Gamble as Max's young charge. Put this one on your shelf of modern masterpieces. --Mark Englehart
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Long, but quirky & funny
This is really a funny and at times touching film. It's a bit overlong, but Bill Murray and the other actors are great. I really liked this movie. Definately not for those that don't like to think.
Rating:  - Good for a rainy day
Max Fischer( Jason Schwartzman) is the most industious 10th grader of all time. He has founded seemingly every club at Rushmore, a prestigious private school, where he has a full scholarship. The only problem: Max is a horrible student and is failing most of his classes. Add to the mix a pretty kindergarten teacher (Olivia Williams) that Max and one of his teachers (Bill Murray) fall in love with, and you have all the twists and turns of a high school soap opera.
I was not impressed with the ending, but at least it was realistic. Most teenagers would enjoy the goofy humor, but parents may be wary. Not a bad movie for a rainy day.
Mr.F
Rating: - Sadly, this film lacks a keen sense of direction...
I am a huge fan of `The Royal Tenenbaums', but I couldn't rally behind `Rushmore' the way I thought I would. The acting was superb across the board, and the humor, when it hit, was hilarious; but there was just something about this movie that didn't sit well with me. I found myself wondering where this movie was going; what point it was trying to make. There are many scenes where it feels like this movie doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be. Is it a comedy, is it a drama, is it an intellectual farce, is it a tearjerker; is it neither? I found the contemplation of the films intent to be tiresome and draining and thus I found my feelings for the film in general to be rather indifferent.
I wanted to like this movie, but I didn't.
The film tells the story of Max Fisher (an outstanding Jason Schwartzman), a young fifteen-year-old who is just making it at Rushmore. He is failing everything yet his indulgence in extracurricular activities keeps him active in the school. He's fallen for the young widowed teacher Rosemary Cross and become friends with Rushmore alumnus and industrial tycoon Herman Blume. When those two friendships cross paths though, Max's world comes crashing down on him.
`Rushmore' is heralded by many as a near masterpiece and is placed alongside classics like `The Graduate' as one of the best coming-of-age stories out there, but I sorely disagree. What `The Graduate' has that `Rushmore' lacks is a common strain of thought. Instead ... Read More
Rating:  - My Experience with Rushmore
Rushmore is a great film and ultimately one of the best examples of Indie Auteur Wes Anderson's work. This copy of the DVD is a great value for the $10 but isn't really enough for the true fan which I suggest the Criterion Edition.
The film is a great coming-of-age story as any of the other reviewers will tell you. Some of the other reviewers report Anderson defining the rules of film making which is highly debatable, as I haven't seen anything that strikes me as vividly as films by other film makers like Jim Jarmusch. This film is Anderson's first break out and perhaps his most original and interesting as if you've seen this one you'll easily recognize the style and humor in the rest of his films as he does not deviate much from his success but I do feel this film is important in the cannon of American independent film.
The performance by Bill Murray is my favorite, other viewers report this showing his largest range of emotion but I find it sticks to sarcastic quips and subtle humor but doesn't develop as much as his later films. This was his first real turn to the actor we see him as today lining him up for Broken Flowers, Lost in Translation and Life Aquatic. I do love his role and think he holds some amazing lines in the film. Jason Schwartzman is great and seeing him early in his career gives the audience a chance to see his development into the actor he's now known as.
The film itself is a comedy about a 15 year old in prep school, based largely on ... Read More
Rating:  - Coming of Age, and All of its Pain and Glory
Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson wrote and created a film that is profoundly rich in its portrayal of multifaceted characters, three lonely and wounded people. I have seen many coming of age films, from comedies to dramas, from "Welcome to the Dollhouse" to "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". "Rushmore" is one of my favorites, a total standout with its own unique flavor and style. It is at times dark, quirky, funny, joyful, heartbreaking, and triumphant.
I can't imagine this film without Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray. They are both so good here. You can't help liking them, loathing them, pitying them, laughing at them, cheering for them, and hoping for them to find some thread of happiness. They start out friends, then enemies, then friends again but stronger. This film really is about friendships.
Max Fischer is easily one of the most fascinating and interesting characters I have encountered in the movies. He is a creative dynamo and yet he is flawed and vulnerable. Max is (pardon all the adjectives) witty, cruel, clever, resilient, funny, dangerous, foolish, brilliant, lonely, formidable, and damaged. This is not a character you've seen before in a film.
I was particularly impressed with one friendship in "Rushmore", which was that of Dirk and Max. I felt their history together; you just know they've been buddies for a long time, and have had many schemes and fun times... and when there was a big rift between them, I actually was hoping that their bond would not be broken ... Read More
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