Line #34 Film/Rushmore


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7	->'''Herman Blume:''' What's the secret, Max?\
8	'''Max Fischer:''' The secret?\
9	'''Herman Blume:''' Yeah, you seem to have it pretty figured out.\
10	'''Max Fischer:''' The secret, I don't know... I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and then... do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Rushmore.
11
12	''Rushmore'' is a 1998 [[{{Dramedy}} comedy-drama]] film co-written and directed by Creator/WesAnderson, starring Creator/JasonSchwartzman (in his film debut), Creator/BillMurray, and Creator/OliviaWilliams.
13
14	It follows the exploits of Max Fischer (Schwartzman), 15-year-old student at the eponymous academy. He is incredibly bright but scatterbrained, preferring to do extracurricular activities instead of actual schoolwork. He becomes unlikely friends with Herman Blume (Murray), a local businessman who is unhappy with his life and becomes inspired by Max's energy.
15
16	When a new teacher arrives at Rushmore Academy, Rosemary Cross (Williams), an odd LoveTriangle develops, with Max hopelessly lusting after Rosemary while she and Herman begin having an affair. The two friends soon become bitter enemies, working to ruin each other's lives. However, since this is a comedy, and not a particularly dark one, [[LighterAndSofter the tone remains lighthearted and whimsical throughout]].
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18	The film's success allowed Murray [[TomHanksSyndrome to establish himself as a dramatic actor]], and he would [[ProductionPosse become a recurring collaborator of Anderson's]] following its release.
19
20	----
21	!!This work contains examples of:
22
23	* BittersweetEnding:
24	-->'''Max:''' At least nobody got hurt.\
25	'''Rosemary:''' Except for you.\
26	'''Max:''' Nah. I didn't get hurt that bad.
27	* BrilliantButLazy: Max has boundless energy for his many hobbies and projects, but is flunking his actual classes.
28	* ChekhovsGun: Max's bicycle [[spoiler:after Herman runs it over with his car. Max uses it as part of a WoundedGazelleGambit to talk to Rosemary.]]
29	* ChekhovsSkill: Several of Max's extracurricular activities come into play over the course of the film:
30	** Director of the Max Fischer Players - The two plays that we see him stage mark important points in the story.
31	** Rushmore Beekeepers President - [[spoiler:During his EscalatingWar with Herman, he sets a large number of bees loose in Herman's hotel room.]]
32	** Trap & Skeet Club Founder - [[spoiler:He uses a non-lethal rifle to shoot Magnus in the ear.]]
33	%%* CockFight
34	* DancePartyEnding: The movie closes on a dance held after Max's play is performed.
35	* DarkestHour: "November"- [[spoiler:Max is no longer in school after being arrested for cutting Herman's brakes, and is working at his father's barber shop, Herman is living in a hotel after his wife discovered his affair, and Rosemary has resigned from her job at Rushmore.]]
36	* DeathGlare: Max gets a collective one from several students after he gets Latin made a compulsory subject.
37	* DisproportionateRetribution: During their EscalatingWar, Herman [[spoiler:runs over Max's bicycle]]. Max's response is [[spoiler:to cut the brakes on Herman's car.]] Luckily, nobody gets hurt.
38	* DoggedNiceGuy: It's clear pretty soon after she’s introduced that Margaret Yang is harboring an attraction for Max, but he gives her the cold shoulder in favor of his own infatuation with Ms. Cross. [[spoiler:Things get better by the end, though, when he warms up to and eventually begins dating her after getting over Ms. Cross ([[AmbiguousEnding maybe]]).]]
39	* ElaborateUniversityHigh: Actually filmed at two real schools in Houston. Rushmore is St. John's in real life, Wes Anderson's alma mater.
40	* ElevatorSchool
41	* EnterStageWindow: After [[spoiler:learning Blume and Ms. Cross have split up,]] Max comes to the latter’s second-story window at night and makes up a story about having been hit by a car and needing to use her phone. When she wises up, he leaves the same way he came in.
42	* EscalatingWar: Max and Herman's battle gets hilariously out of hand.
43	* ExtracurricularEnthusiast: Max Fischer's extracurricular activities at Rushmore Academy include: Yankee Review editor-in-chief, French Club president, representing Russia ([[ArtisticLicenseGeography with a Soviet flag]]) in the model UN, Stamp & Coin Club vice-president, debate team captain, Lacrosse team manager, Calligraphy Club president, Astronomy Society founder, fencing team captain, track & field J. V. decathlon, 2nd Chorale choirmaster, bombardment society founder, Kung Fu Club yellow belt, Trap & Skeet Club founder, Rushmore Beekeepers president, Yankee Racers founder, Max Fischer Players director, Backgammon Society founder, a member of the wrestling team, and has 4.5 hours logged with the Piper Cub Club. Yeah, and he saved Latin - what did you ever do?
44	* HighSchoolHustler
45	* HotForTeacher: Max towards Rosemary, who is very clear in rebuffing his advances.
46	* IntergenerationalFriendship: Between Max and Herman, until Max finds out about Rosemary and Herman seeing each other. By the end of the film, their friendship is repaired.
47	* {{Jerkass}}: Max at times. It gets ''really'' bad when Rosemary brings a date to ''Serpico'' and Max gets a bit of liquor in him.
48	* KidSidekick: Dirk Calloway is this to Max. [[spoiler:He briefly stops being this after he hears the rumor Magnus spreads about Max getting a hand job from Dirk's mother, but ends up befriending Max again in December.]]
49	* LaserGuidedKarma: Pretty much every negative thing that happens to Max ultimately stems from his own actions. While some of it is down to his crush on Rosemary [[LoveMakesYouDumb overriding his better judgement]], a lot more is because he's an egocentric jackass.
50	** Max decides to press on with the plans to build an aquarium on school grounds despite a lack of permission from the school, and even holds a groundbreaking ceremony where he has several trees cut down. [[spoiler:We SmashCut to him getting expelled.]]
51	** As part of his EscalatingWar with Herman, Max [[spoiler:cuts the brakes on his car.]] Max is reported to the Police and arrested incredibly quickly. Though this is equally subverted by [[spoiler:the car hurting no one and doing no damage when Herman can't stop. Instead, it rolls to a gentle stop on one of the lawns outside Rushmore.]]
52	* TheLostLenore: Ms. Cross has her deceased husband, Edward Appleby.
53	* ModernMajorGeneral: Max is the president of numerous extracurricular activities, and very driven when creating plays, but so terrible at schoolwork that he's at risk of being expelled if he flunks another class [[spoiler:(At least, before he gets expelled before trying to build an aquarium on school grounds)]].
54	* NeverTrustATrailer: Trailers make the film look like a comedy rather than a {{dramedy}}. They also focus on the EscalatingWar, which is just a brief point in the plot. This was before people knew what to expect from Wes Anderson's films.
55	* OpinionFlipFlop: When Max finds out that Latin is being cancelled, his only disappointment is that it didn't happen earlier when he suggested it. When he meets Rosemary, he tactically changes his opinion with such force that it becomes a required course from the 7th to 12th grades.
56	%%* ParodySue
57	* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: At least two. One between Max and Dirk when [[spoiler:the latter learns from Magnus that Max has been claiming to have gotten a handjob from Dirk's mother.]] This, in turn, kicks off the falling out between Max and Blume when Dirk writes him a letter revealing (and grossly exagerating) the affair Blume is having with Ms. Cross.
58	* PretentiousLatinMotto: "Sic transit gloria," as opposed to "Sic transit gloria mundi."
59	%%* {{Retraux}}
60	* RomanticFalseLead: Creator/LukeWilson as Dr. Peter Flynn.
61	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Max's whole attitude while at Rushmore. When he finds out he'll be expelled if he fails one more class, his immediate reaction (after trying to bargain with his teacher) is "I'll pull some strings with the administration".
62	* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Max's initial approach to building an aquarium on school grounds. [[spoiler:Predictably, he gets expelled for it.]]
63	* ShoutOut:
64	** Among the plays that the Max Fischer Players perform are ''Film/{{Serpico}}'', and Creator/OliverStone's ''Heaven And Hell''. The film also contains many references to ''Film/TheGraduate'', ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', Jacques Cousteau and the photography of Jacque Henri Lartigue.
65	** The Max Fischer Players also produced a number of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jra8HD-VTv0 specially commissioned pieces for the 1999 MTV Awards]] adapting the biggest films of that year in their own unique, ingenious style. These included ''Film/Armageddon1998'', ''Film/OutOfSight'' and ''Film/TheTrumanShow''.
66	** The whole scene in which Max is [[UnstoppableRage slightly annoyed]] that Rosemary brought Dr. Flynn to his dinner might be a shout out to a certain scene in ''Film/MyLeftFoot''.
67	* SmallNameBigEgo: Max.
68	* SnowballLie: Max starts a few, like how his father is a neurosurgeon or that he got a handjob from Dirk's mom.
69	* SoundtrackDissonance: The "you are forgiven" portion of Music/TheWho's "A Quick One, While He's Away" plays while Max pulls a series of pranks on Herman, who he believes has betrayed him.
70	* TransferStudentUniforms: Max, [[spoiler:after he's expelled from Rushmore Academy.]]
71	* ViolentGlaswegian: Magnus Buchan.
72	* WithFriendsLikeThese: Max and Herman.
73	* WoundedGazelleGambit: [[spoiler:Max pulls one, claiming to have been hit by a car, to get a chance to talk to Rosemary. Eventually she susses out the blood on his head is fake.]]

Context Film / Rushmore