Back to School Classics

The leaves may not be falling yet, but the school bells are definitely calling, "Get back here!" Let these movies make the transition back indoors easier.

In Back to School, Rodney Dangerfield plays Thornton Melon, a wealthy entrepreneur who decides to follow his eldest son (Keith Gordon) into higher education. Uninterested in roughing it like a true freshman in ugly dorms with nasty meal plans, Melon throws around his cash earning a Masters in Party 101.

In 1985, John Hughes wrote and directed The Breakfast Club, the quintessential high school movie that defines how teens accept, rebel and succumb to the social strata. It made teen icons of Ringwald, Hall, Sheedy, Estevez and Nelson, who defined high school sexy/scary with his John Bender.

The T-Birds, the Pink Ladies, Sandy and her sweet virginal smile, and Danny, the sentimental tough guy. 'Grease 'has a little bit of something for everyone, be it classic songs, Frankie Valli or unplanned pregnancy scares.

Alexander Payne’s deliciously dark satire about suburban high school mediocrity and the overachieving terror known as Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is a terrific way to get back into the mindset of hallway hell. 

What happens if you’ve graduated from high school and don’t get into college at all? Just create your own like Justin Long and Jonah Hill in 'Accepted.' Just slap the name South Harmon Institute of Technology on some letterhead, hand it to your parents with pride and suddenly you’ve got somewhere to matriculate in September.

"Aloha, Mr. Hand." With that quote, a high school legend was born in Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn). The ultimate surfer dude stoner became the symbol of cool in Amy Heckerling’s warts-and-all comedy about being a high school teen in the ‘80s.

Drew Barrymore’s former uncool, high school pariah, Josie "Grossie" Geller, gets to live the fantasy of going back to high school as an adult without the ridicule. As a journalist undercover, Josie almost repeats the same mistakes again but gets mentored on the ways of popular by her older brother, Rob (David Arquette).

You think starting a new year is tough, try being Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret), a 15-year-old genius in college. Luckily, he’s got a smart-ass roommate (Val Kilmer) to show him the fun of higher education including dorm ice ramps, beauty college pool parties and space laser popcorn explosions.

What’s high school without cheerleaders? Some would say paradise, unless you’re talking about the Rancho Carne High School “Toros” cheer team. Led by Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) and Missy Pantone (Eliza Dushku), these pom-pom gals make high school competition catfighting a delight.

The classic coming-of-age drama based on the Stephen King novella, 'Stand by Me' takes place on Labor Day weekend as four best friends embark on a hike to find the dead body of Ray Brower. As impending change and the loss of innocence haunt the young boys, they get one last life-changing adventure together before school begins.

As if starting high school wasn’t hard enough, what if your superhero power hadn’t manifested yet? Such is life for Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano), the only progency of two superheroes (Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston), who has to fit in with other super kids when he’s lagging behind.

Jason Schwartzman’s Max Fischer is maybe the oddest 15-year-old ever to attend the prestigious Rushmore Academy and we’re all better people to witness it. Wes Anderson’s quirky look at the politics of education, love and obsession is a back-to-school movie for those that enjoy a warped perspective.

For those of us tortured by the popular girls, Lindsay Lohan’s Cady Heron lets us live our revenge fantasies vicariously. Penned by Tina Fey, Mean Girls shows what happens when a new girl gets to sample life in the high school cliques, including the all-powerful "Plastics," and lives to tell about it.

Adam Sandler is the irresponsible Billy Madison, who must go back to grammar school and pass each year in order to inherit his father’s company. There’s something kind of perfect about watching Sandler squashed into a tiny school desk being schooled by little kids half his age.

Sixteen years before Mean Girls, Heathers gave high school popular girls their bite. Deadly and wickedly black, Winona Ryder and Christian Slater were the poster couple for disenfranchised teens trying to navigate the toxic social politics of high school.

We still don’t know how to explain exactly what is going on with mentally unstable Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) as he wrestles with visions of evil looking bunnies, but the high school scenes (and the matching soundtrack selections) are haunting looks into Darko’s strange world.

While most kids are kicking and screaming about going back to class, Old School makes a case for holding onto your college career until your fingernails need to be pried off the building. Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell are two college buddies who can’t get their adult lives right, so they create their own frat house. 

Once you’ve had enough of celebrating the joys of school, let Ferris Bueller teach you that school is not where you truly learn: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Slideshow is over. Go do your homework!