Themes: Class Differences, High School Life, Assumed Identities
Main Cast: Judd Nelson, Jonna Lee, Gordon Jump, Walter Olkewicz, Ronald Lacey, Dana Olsen
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
The time-worn clash between the rich and poor, brought out by switched identities, is the ploy used here to put a streetwise kid into an upper-crust prep school. Palmer (Dana Olsen) does not want to stay at school for his final year, but he needs to graduate in order to receive his mega-buck trust fund. Eddie (Judd Nelson) is a New Jersey native, used to the streets and handling trouble when it comes -- except Eddie's bookie is after him for a bad debt, and when Eddie jumps the prep school's fence to escape his creditor, he almost knocks down Palmer. From that serendipitous meeting, the two decide to swap identities -- or partly so. Eddie will become Palmer and get good grades in the last year of school, for the sum of $10,000 at graduation. And Palmer will go off on his own planned vacation. Eddie soon learns the ways of the rich and famous, but he is quickly back to crap games and porno movies, this time initiating his new schoolmates into that lifestyle and gaining popularity along the way. What follows is a series of misadventures as the bookie shows up at the school to demand his due from Eddie, Eddie falls in love with the daughter of the school's patron, and Palmer comes back. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Carey Scott - Rand; Scott McGinnis - Bif; Andrew Dice Clay - Dice; John Dye - Skip; Lucille Ewing - Mrs. Hoover; Mattie Grayson - Maid; Ray Hill - Dr. Mueller; Robert Meltzer - Mr. Townsend; Moses Peace - Regis; Chris Williams - Thomas; Emilio Estevez - Mike; Steve Wilkerson - Passing Senior; Jack Ray - Chauffeur; Dan Schneider - Blimp; John Stevens - Mr. Hoover
Credit
Joseph T. Garrity - Art Director, Dorian Walker - Director, Basil Poledouris - Composer (Music Score), Jerry Lee - Songwriter, Joseph T. Garrity - Production Designer, Jacques Haitkin - Cinematographer, Yoram Globus - Producer, Menahem Golan - Producer, Gene Quintano - Producer, Leslie Morales - Set Designer, Charles Gale - Screen Story, Gene Quintano - Screen Story, Gene Quintano - Screenwriter
Palmer Woodrow (Olsen) is a rich, prep school kid who rarely attends class and has been expelled from numerous prep schools. His parents are traveling internationally and inform him that he has been enrolled at Hoover Academy and he has one last chance to graduate or he will be cut off financially. Meanwhile, Eddie Keaton (Nelson) is a small-time con artist who has run afoul of a local loanshark named "Dice." Via a chance meeting, Woodrow hires Keaton for $10,000 and a Porsche to attend his prep school and graduate, freeing Woodrow to travel to Europe for skiing.
Production notes
This film marks the first appearance of the Andrew Clay's "Dice" persona.
At the end of the film's final credits, the characters Palmer and Eddie are touted as returning in the upcoming movie, Tourista. However, after low theatrical interest in the duo and repeated missed deadlines (of which Olsen tried to contribute as a writer), the script for Tourista was never completed. The pair never teamed up in filmmaking again.
