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Heathers
Template:Infobox Film Heathers is a 1989 black comedy film starring Winona Ryder, Shannen Doherty, and Christian Slater. It is widely viewed as a classic teen film of the 1980s and a black comedy masterpiece considered revolutionary at the time because of its high levels of violence, cruelty, and absurdity in a high school setting. [unverified] It was written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann. On its release, the film was seen as a rejoinder to the gentler and more romanticized view of high school and teenage culture put forth in the movies of John Hughes. [unverified]
In the film, three of the four girls in a trend-setting clique at a suburban Midwestern high school are named Heather. They play croquet with each other and rule the school through intimidation, contempt, and sex appeal.
Heathers brought Lehmann and producer Denise Di Novi the 1990 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Daniel Waters also gained recognition for his screenplay, which won a 1990 Edgar Award[1]. The film was a US box office failure[2], but has since become a cult classic thanks to high sales and rentals on DVD and VHS. In 2006, it was ranked #5 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
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Plot description[edit]
- !—WARNING—!
Article below this line is likely to contain spoilers.
The protagonist of Heathers is high school student Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder). Veronica is part of the most popular clique in Westerburg High School (named for singer Paul Westerburg)[unverified] in Sherwood, a fictional suburb of Columbus, Ohio. In addition to Veronica, the clique is composed of three pretty and wealthy girls with the same first name: Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty) and Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk). The mean-spirited and even tyrannical girls play croquet with each other, use their own unique slang, and play cruel pranks on people. Even though they are worshiped and adored, the Heathers despise everyone outside their clique and continuously bully socially awkward classmates such as the overweight Martha "Dumptruck" Dunnstock. Veronica finds "friendship" with the Heathers both attractive and repulsive since it is mostly based on vanity, peer pressure, and a desire to dominate instead of being dominated. She even says that they're not really her friends, just people she hangs out with because being popular is her "job".
Veronica wasn't always in the Heathers clique. Although it is never fully explained how she ascended to popularity, it is made clear that she used to be good friends with one of the school's biggest nerds, Betty Finn. She is also clearly smarter and far more compassionate than any of her Heather cohorts. When a new student, a rebellious boy named Jason Dean (Christian Slater), or J.D. for short, pulls a gun on school bullies Kurt (Lance Fenton) and Ram (Patrick Labyorteaux) and fires blanks at them, Veronica is intrigued.
Soon Veronica and J.D. are dating, and he accompanies her on an early morning visit to Heather Chandler's home. Veronica is furious with Heather Chandler's treatment of her at a fraternity party the night before and the two of them jokingly prepare a cup full of drain cleaner to bring her as a morning wake-up drink. Veronica vetoes the drain cleaner plan, and decides on milk and orange juice as a vomit-inducing prank, but J.D. distracts her with a kiss and gives her the wrong glass. As a result, Heather Chandler downs the drain cleaner and promptly dies in front of them.
Realizing that she is the unintentional perpetrator of her best friend's murder, Veronica succumbs to J.D.'s urging and forges a suicide note in Heather Chandler's handwriting to deflect any investigation. The entire school and community look on Heather Chandler's death as a hip, if dramatic, decision in the life of a popular but troubled teenager, and everyone accepts the suicide note as authentic. Soon Heather's death becomes yesterday's news, and Heather Duke steps into her role as clique leader.
Weeks later, J.D. concocts a plan to punish Kurt and Ram for spreading an untrue story about Veronica having sex with both of them. He proposes that Veronica lure them into the woods behind the school with the promise to "make the rumors true." Once the bullies have undressed, J.D. tells her they will shoot the two bullies with special "Ich Lüge" bullets that won't kill them, but will knock them unconscious long enough for Veronica and J.D. to flee. They will leave behind "gay" materials including a male porn magazine and bottled mineral water, as well as a fake suicide note saying the two were lovers in a suicide pact. When they awaken, they will be humiliated, J.D. promises, and Veronica agrees, thinking the plan is hilarious.
The plot goes according to plan until her gunshot misses one of the boys and he tries to escape. J.D. runs after him desperately, and Veronica instantly realizes that the bullets are real ("Ich lüge" means "I'm lying" in German) and that J.D. had intended to kill the two boys all along. J.D. manages to chase the surviving boy back to where they started, and Veronica, in a panic, shoots him dead. The boys' bodies are soon discovered along with the planted evidence of their "affair," and in one of the more memorable moments of the film, one boy's father is seen at their funeral wailing, "I love my dead gay son!"
Veronica realizes that she has become involved in something that she never intended to be a part of. Although the people they are killing were not particularly good or nice (in fact they could be downright awful and nasty), she feels guilt for their murders. And ironically, the tragic backstories Veronica and J.D. contrive to cover up their murders only burnish their victims' reputations, giving them depth of character they never had in life and causing the other students to sympathize and love them even more. This infuriates J.D., whose aim is to denigrate, not elevate, his victims.
Additionally, because the murdered students were popular, other students are mimicking their behavior and attempting suicides. Most notably, Martha "Dumptruck" Dunnstock (Carrie Lynn) pins a suicide note to her chest and walks into traffic. She survives but is badly injured, and because only the popular kids are killing themselves, the other students ridicule her actions as an ill-advised attempt to act "popular."
Veronica tells J.D. that she won't participate in any more killings, but he goes nuts. He reveals his plan to kill Heather Duke next, and subtly threatens to do the same to Veronica if she doesn't cooperate. Instead she tricks J.D., using a harness to make it look like she has hanged herself. Heartbroken, he reveals his plan to blow up the entire school during a pep rally. A petition he has been circulating to get the fictional band Big Fun (whose anti-suicide pop song is all the rage at school) to play was actually a disguised suicide note that almost the entire school has signed.
Veronica confronts J.D. in the boiler room where he is rigging timed explosives. He refuses to stop the bomb, and she apparently kills him. As he collapses he accidentally stops the timer. She then walks out through the pep rally with everyone cheering, unaware of their narrowly-missed demise. The severely injured J.D. follows her outside and detonates a bomb that is strapped to his chest. The final scene of the film is of Veronica, ash-covered and bleeding slightly, walking through the school halls. She confronts Heather Duke and, telling her "There's a new sheriff in town," removes the red hair bow Heather Duke had inherited from Heather Chandler. Putting it in her own hair, Veronica then walks over to Martha Dunnstock to start a friendly conversation.
Croquet Game[edit]
The croquet games have a large significance in the movie, as the characters mostly dress in clothes and inhabit surroundings of their ball color. When the three Heathers and Veronica play, red, yellow, green, and blue are played by Heathers Chandler, McNamara, and Duke, and Veronica Sawyer, respectively. When J.D. and Veronica play "strip croquet" you can see that Veronica was, as always, playing blue, and J.D. was playing black. During her brief croquet stint, Betty Finn plays orange, though she never wore orange in the film. Significantly, after Heather Chandler's death, Heather Duke starts wearing and playing red. There is even something to be said of their affinity for these colors: Heather Chandler is vibrant and powerful (red), Heather McNamara is cowardly (yellow), Veronica is depressed and introspective (blue), Heather Duke is envious of Heather Chandler (green), and J.D. is dark and mysterious (black).
Production history[edit]
Daniel Waters wanted his screenplay to go to director Stanley Kubrick, not only out of profound admiration for Kubrick but also from a perception that "Kubrick was the only person that could get away with a three-hour film". (The cafeteria scene opening Heathers was written as an homage to the barracks scene opening Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.) After a number of failed attempts to get the script to Kubrick made Waters realize the apparent futility of the enterprise, he decided to give the script to Michael Lehmann, who then took it on with Denise Di Novi. Many actors and actresses turned down the project because of its dark subject matter. Early choices for JD and Veronica were Brad Pitt and Jennifer Connelly. Although Pitt auditioned for JD, the filmmakers rejected him because they thought he came across as "too nice" and therefore would not be credible. Connelly simply declined. Winona Ryder—who was 16 at the time of filming and badly wanted the part—begged Waters to cast her. She was eventually given the role; Christian Slater was signed on after. Filming began and ended in 1988 after 32 days.
Two stars of the movie died at an early age: Jeremy Applegate (Peter Dawson) committed suicide with a shotgun on March 23, 2000, and Kim Walker (Heather Chandler) died of a brain tumor on March 6, 2001.
Soundtrack[edit]
The film uses two versions of the song "Que Sera, Sera," the first by singer Syd Straw and another over the end credits by Sly & the Family Stone. On the film's DVD commentary, Di Novi mentions that the filmmakers wanted to use the original Doris Day version of the song, but Day would not lend her name to any project using profanity. Di Novi also notes that, when her father was a session musician for Day, he and the other musicians had to put money in a "swear jar" when they cursed.
The song "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)" by the fictional band Big Fun was written, performed, and produced for the film by musician Don Dixon. The song is included on his 1992 album (If) I'm A Ham, Well You're A Sausage.
DVD, Laserdisc and VHS releases[edit]
Heathers was first released onto VHS in the late 1980s, where it received strong sales and rentals, and is where it first became well known after failing at the box office, and on laserdisc on September 16, 1996 with restored stereo sound. This widescreen edition was digitally transferred from Trans Atlantic Pictures interpositive print under the supervision of cinematographer Francis Kenny. The sound was mastered from the magnetic sound elements. The film was first released onto DVD on March 30, 1999, in a barebones edition.
However, in 2001, a multi-region special edition DVD was released from Anchor Bay in Dolby Digital 5.1., the DVD was released in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe to high sales. In 2004 a limited edition DVD set was released, and only 15,000 were produced. The set contained an audio commentary with director Michael Lehmann, producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters, a 30-minute documentary titled Swatch Dogs And Diet Cokeheads, featuring interviews with Stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Director Michael Lehmann, Writer Daniel Waters, Producer Denise Di Novi, Director of Photography Francis Kenny and Editor Norman Hollyn. It also includes a theatrical trailer, screenplay excerpt, original ending, biographies, 10 Page full-color fold-out with photos and liner notes, a 8cm "Heathers Rules!" ruler, and a 48-page full-color "yearbook style" booklet with rare photos.
Alternate Ending[edit]
On the DVD edition of Heathers, the "special features" section contains the script for a different ending which was considered too dark for teen audiences and nixed by New World Pictures, the distributor. It reflects back on a comment by J.D. earlier in the film, saying to Veronica, in defense of his actions, that "the only place different social types can genuinely get along is in heaven."
In this version, J.D. dies in the boiler room, and Veronica is shown walking through the school, though only from the back. This is interrupted by shots of the bomb counting down, showing that Veronica had not shut it off. When she reaches the front of the school, Veronica turns around, allowing the viewer to see that the bomb was strapped to her chest. It hits zero, the screen turns black, and Veronica says "Boom."
The next scene is the school prom. A banner says "WHAT A WASTE, OH THE HUMANITY". The students begin to dance, at first sticking with those of the same or similar social cliques. But when it is time for prom pictures, people from different cliques are couples. A geek and a stoner pose together, then "hippy" teacher Pauline Fleming (Penelope Milford) and stern Principal Gowan (John Ingle). Kurt (previously killed) has his picture taken with the cow he had tipped. Mismatched couples continue to appear, and other dead characters make appearances: J.D. plays a "smoking hot" guitar solo, then rushes to the dance floor to dance with Heather Duke, Kurt, and finally Heather Chandler. The Heathers do a ring-around-the-rosey. The camera is moved up to reveal Martha Dunnstock, wailing beautifully. The viewpoint is then lifted even higher to show a smiling Veronica in a "striking pose".
Despite the change of the endings, the movie failed at the box-office when released. (The Swatch Dogs And Diet Cokeheads documentary blames the box-office failure on poor marketing due to the studio's financial problems.) However, since then it has developed into a very strong and prominent cult classic and has made a significant impact on teenage films. Template:endspoiler
Trivia[edit]
- Nancy Marchand, best known as Livia on The Sopranos, appears as a teacher but is uncredited. She has the line "I was impressed to see her use of the word myriad in her suicide note."
- In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Heathers the 32nd greatest comedy film of all time.
- Westerburg High in reality is John Adams Middle School.
- There are two actual Sherwood, Ohios; one is outside Cincinnati, Ohio and the other outside Defiance, Ohio
- Heather Duke's copy of Moby Dick was originally intended to be The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. The producers made the change because they were unable to secure legal permission to refer to J.D. Salinger's novel.
Spoofs, Influences and References[edit]
The status of Heathers as a classic black comedy has inspired various spoofs, references and influences:
- The obscure 1976 film Massacre at Central High has a similar plot, and almost certainly influenced Heathers, although the oppressive clique in that film consists of four boys rather than four girls.
- Veronica and her not-so-popular friend have combination first and last names that go together (Betty and Veronica, from Archie Comics, and Sawyer and Finn, from Tom Sawyer)
- Tina Fey, the writer of Mean Girls, considers Heathers "the hardcore version of Mean Girls."
- Jawbreaker has similar plot elements, including a mean popular girl clique involved in murder.
- Post-hardcore band From First to Last took the title of their album Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count from a quote by Veronica in Heathers ("Dear diary, my teen-angst bullshit has a body count.").
- The concept of cliques of popular adolescent girls who share the same name appears in the Casper Saturday morning cartoon and in The Oblongs (The "Debbies") and the ABC cartoon Recess with 'The Ashleys' (although The Ashleys are supposed to be pre-adolescents).
- In the season 4 finale of Gilmore Girls, Lorelai Gilmore shoves Rory Gilmore down some steps, prompting her to say "What's your damage, Heather?", a line uttered numerous times in the film.
- In an episode of Will & Grace, Will says, "what’s your damage, Heather?" to Grace.
- In 1998, Shannen Doherty became one of the three leads on the WB series Charmed, and Jennifer Rhodes (who played Veronica's mother in Heathers) had a recurring role as her grandmother.
- In an episode of Will & Grace, Will says, “OK, I’ll let you two Heather girls get back to your Heatheringâ€, after Jack and Karen start complaining about Will.
- In the novel Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Norah wiggles her index finger at Nick and sing-songs, "A True friend's work is never done," only to be shocked by Nick's knowledge of the film when he responds "Bulimia is so '87, Heather"
- The song "Death Toll Confirmed" by Index for a Potential Suicide features an audio clip from Heathers ("We students of Westerburg High will die. Today, our burning bodies will be the ultimate protest to a society that degrades us. Fuck you all.")
- In an episode of Veronica Mars, while investigating a series of bomb threats, Veronica poses a "lunchtime poll" to two potential suspects.
- In an episode of Will & Grace, Karen says, "I love my big, gay horse!" Obviously a reference to - "I love my dead, gay son!"
- In an episode of Frasier (Juvenilia), the lines "Why don't we discuss it over a cheeseburger or some such," followed by "I'd like that very much" are uttered twice referencing the final lines in Heathers.
References[edit]
External links[edit]
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