In 1983 NBC featured a movie of the week called “High School, U.S.A.”. Apparently it was a pilot for a TV series that never came to fruition. The movie featured every “teen star” of the era, with every former “teen star” from the 50s or 60s as a teacher or other adult role. Here’s a cut and paste from IMDB:
| Michael J. Fox | … | Jay-Jay Manners (as Michael Fox) |
| Nancy McKeon | … | Beth Franklin |
| Todd Bridges | … | Otto Lipton |
| Angela Cartwright | … | Miss D’Angelo |
| Bob Denver | … | Milton Feld |
| Dwayne Hickman | … | Mr. Plaza |
| Lauri Hendler | … | Nadine |
| Dana Plato | … | Cara Ames |
| Crystal Bernard | … | Anne-Marie Conklin |
| Anthony Edwards | … | Beau Middleton |
| Frank Bank | … | Mr. Gerardi |
| Elinor Donahue | … | Mrs. Franklin |
| Tony Dow | … | Principal Pete Kinney |
| Steve Franken | … | Dr. Fritz Hauptmann |
| David Nelson | … | Mr. Krinsky, Janitor |
I have absolutely no idea why this movie crossed my mind the other day but with the wonders of the Internet, I was able to watch this thing via YouTube. It’s as uneven in the 21st century as I remember it being back when I was a sophomore in high school.
Honestly, one of the things I remember from the movie is one of the high school seniors looked way too old for his role and he shaved with a straight razor. In 1983. That was very cool to me, though I had no idea why at the time. I could barely master my Dad’s Gillette Atra. It would be a couple of decades before I mastered the straight razor.
If you want to watch the full movie on YouTube, the best I can do is a Spanish dub.
