Note: the following review was originally written in February 1999 for my now-defunct AOL site.
In second grade, I would put on plays in my class. They weren't much, to be sure. They usually entailed checking a book out of the library, then having the teacher read them aloud while me and my classmates would act out the various parts. Doesn't sound like a lot, but back then I remember thinking that this was something really cool. I don't know how I ever convinced my teacher to let me do this, but I must have made a pretty persuasive argument. Or perhaps she just did it to humor me... but more than once? Even today I like to think that she thought it was a pretty good idea.
I dredge this anecdote from my past because, in a way, it's my connection to Max Fischer, the protagonist of Wes Anderson's positively inspired film RUSHMORE. Fischer, played by Jason Schwartzman, wrote a one-act play about Watergate when he was seven years old (in second grade, no doubt), and on the basis of this play was given a scholarship to attend the elite Rushmore Academy. Now a sophomore in high school, he finds himself surrounded by rich boys, while his father is a barber (he sometimes lies about his father's profession, telling people he's a neurosurgeon). At an age where people often feel the need to prove themselves to others, Max becomes involved in a plethora of activities, which we are shown in an wonderful early montage. All of this extracurricular involvement causes his grades to suffer, and Max is put on "sudden death academic probation."
Max, telling his father about his troubles at school, says that perhaps he shouldn't be so involved in activities and "should be trying harder to score chicks." Soon after, he finds an intriguing quotation in a book in the school library, gets a list of people who have checked out the book, and traces the book to a pretty first-grade teacher at the school, Miss Cross (Olivia Williams). Max is enchanted.
Although he's not a particularly popular student, he does have a few kindred spirits. His chapel partner Dirk Calloway (Mason Gamble), who seems to be all of 10 years old, accompanies Max to all his activities. He also discovers another new friend while listening to a speech by Mr. Blume (Bill Murray), a successful Rushmore grad who tells the poorer students to "take aim at the rich kids." Max insinuates his way into Blume's life, and the older man, who in spite of his wealth has a wife who's cheating on him and a pair of meathead sons, takes a shine to the kid. He offers Max a job at his factory, and becomes close friends with Max. Eventually Max introduces Mr. Blume to Miss Cross, and they become somewhat close themselves, something which doesn't make Max the least bit happy.
I won't spoil the rest of the film from here, other than to quote Max, who comments on the events saying, "war does funny things to a man." What makes this film such a pleasure are the smaller touches contained within. For example, there is the character of Magnus, a Scottish bully who wears a cast on his arm and hurls darts at passing kids. While for the great majority of the film Magnus doesn't seem to get along very well with Max, late in the film Max finds a way to soothe the savage beast. Likewise, following an event which may or may not have to do with his "sudden-death academic probation," Max finds himself at Grover Cleveland High School, and even when he attends this public school, he continues to wear his Rushmore blazer to class, because Rushmore Academy was such a part of his life, and he can't simply turn his back on it now. As he tells Blume, "sometimes you just have to find something you love and do it the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Rushmore."
The performances in this film are all first-rate. Jason Schwartzman was allegedly one of hundreds of young actors who auditioned to play Max Fischer, but got the role in part because he was the only one to make a Rushmore patch. To say that he is perfect for the role is underestimating him, because Schwartzman, a newcomer, IS Max Fischer. Bushy-browed, with glasses and braces, he seems un-self-conscious, and also projects the self-assuredness that Max possesses. In order for the audience to be convinced that Max will go to the lengths to which he does, we must get the impression that Max is convinced that he can do anything. Schwartzman succeeds wonderfully in conveying this.
Olivia Williams is very good as Miss Cross, who has suffered a loss in her past, and is tickled, intimidated, and simply befuddled by all the attention she is getting now. Young Mason Gamble is fun as Dirk, never seeming like an overcoached "movie kid," but playing his role with a small amount of sass and some degree of hero-worship for Max. Sarah Tanaka projects a sweetness in a smaller role as a girl who has a crush on Max, but to whom Max doesn't pay much attention. Above all, Bill Murray gives a serio-comic gem of a performance as Blume, as a man whose life seems to be happy, but is in fact quite empty. Murray skirts the line between pathos and hilarity so adeptly that this performance is a wonder.
RUSHMORE is a wonderfully written, acted, and executed film, a sheer delight to watch. I’ve seen it a least half a dozen times now, and I find new reasons to love it on every viewing. However, for now I think I'll get back to work on that screenplay I've been putting off. After all, I'd hate to see all that early play-writing talent go to waste!
An offbeat comedy about one quirky student s obsessive pursuit to win over a teacher s heart. Director and co-writer Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket) tell...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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