Rushmore is a 1998 film directed by Wes Anderson and scripted by Wes Anderson and the current Hollywood heartthrob Owen Wilson. Some critics also claim that the film is the director’s follow up of his earlier film named Bottle- Rocket, released in the year 1996 which was also written by them. The film can be categorized as comedy-drama genre in modern urban America and is well loved by both critics and audiences. The performance of Bill Murray in the picture as Herman Blume won accolades and he was nominated in Golden Globe awards. The movie deals with a teenager called Mark Fischer and his friendship with Herman Blume and their love for Rosemary Cross, a teacher in the elementary school. Mr. Blume is a multimillionaire. This odd triangular love story forms the crux of the story. Set in the general times it tells the story of common people from the angle of the common man.
Rushmore is a private school and Max Fischer is a student in the school. He is an eccentric 15 year old boy and is very good in extra-curricular activities. On the other hand he is poor in the studies. Herman Blume is the father of two boys, who are nothing but brats studying in the school. Mr. Blume has his own set of problems and his marriage is falling apart at the beginning of the story. The last point of the triangle is Rosemary Cross, who is a widower, and a first grade teacher in the same school.
Basically Max is a scholarship student in the school, and his life involves around the extracurricular activities of the school. These things go on affect his grades thoroughly but he does not bother about it at all. Dr. Guggenheim, the principal of the school is thoroughly unimpressed with Max, and in a point both of them engage in a verbal feud too. On the other hand Mr. Blume is not satisfied with his Multimillion dollar industry and problems in his home front make him restless. Max and Mr. Blume become friends. They both like each other in unique ways.
As a young boys Max likes his possessions, money and power, and as a very successful yet very sad person, Mr. Blume envies Max’s life, he is attracted by Max’s “cocksure” attitude towards life. In the meantime, in a period of her personal crisis, Rosemary comes to the school as a teacher. Her husband, who was a reputed student of the school, had passed away recently. With the stroke of luck Max develops an attraction towards her and tries to court her. She also understands the obsession of him, and Mr. Blume tries to convince the futility of the relationship. Rosemary finds comfort in the company of Mr. Blume and he also gets attracted to her.
Due to his misbehaviors and destroying school property, Max is thrown out of the school. He then enlists himself in a public school called Grover Cleveland High. Both Rosemary and Mr. Blume try to help him with his new school and in the new school a girl called Margaret tries to get his attention.
At this point of time Max gets to know that an affair is going on between Rosemary and Mr.Blume from his friend Dirk. Max becomes enraged and makes Blume his mortal enemy. Both of them try to destroy each other in different ways and on the way Max gets arrested for the crime of damaging Blume’s car. But eventually he gives up and confesses that Rosemary will always love Blume and he takes a self imposed exile. Before that Blume’s unhappy marriage had been broken. After a long time Max goes to the hospital to meet his old principal only to meet Blume there too. He learns that Rosemary had broken up with Blume.
At this point of time Max begins to gather himself and again starts to go to school. He also writes a play and casts Margaret in that. He makes it a personal mission to reconcile Blume and Ms. Cross. He than invites both in a performance of his play and makes sure that both of them stays until the end of it. At the end of the movie Blume and Rosemary reconcile and on a happy note Max and Margaret also becomes a couple.
The movie released among a time where school romance movies stuffed Hollywood and stood on its own merit. Apart from the brilliant script one of the most important was the casting and the cast delivered too. For the very beginning, Bill Murray, who is often mentioned as “one of the National Treasures of America” was mind-blowing in the role of Mr. Blume. May be it was the best portrayal of the mid-life crisis by an actor in recent times. Other than him Jason Schwartzman and Olivia Williams as Max and Rosemary excelled in their roles. In their small roles Mason Gamble is loveable along with Stephen McCole as Magnus Buchan.
Actually Rushmore is something very special and deals with a subject may not be handled after The Graduate in Hollywood, it is an observation about what happens when the two different worlds, the adults and the children’s collide. The beauty of Wes Anderson’s films lies in the moments he creates in the films and the beautiful moments in the film make it watching again and again. The film is still a home-video and rental favorite. The underlying fact of the film is that it is seriously funny and real both at the same time. And it is one of the all time greatest films? It has a great script, brilliant acting and most of all it is loveable, so we can say it that it is one of the best of the last decade of the 20th century.
I personally find interesting camera angels in the film and do believe that they are done just to suit the characters. The two main characters in the film are romantic, good in their lives but both are selfish in their stand which works as the catalyst of the story. In a few words we can term the film as a faithful depiction of an adolescent boy’s mind and life. The script is not conventional, and that becomes the strength of the film, and the movie is at the same time funny and sad because it is true in general. Actually there are a lot of underlying facts going on the movie, love, social class, conventional relationships, questions of morality and other things can be seen in the script.
The problems of the dragging of the script that had been discussed in some cases never occurred to me, and I do not believe that a movie has to be high on drama for every single minute it goes on. Actually it is a simple story of a common boy growing up, who has his own set of problems, friends and also infatuations, and in the end of the story we found that for an extent the main character had find his redemption. It has all the qualities of cult classics like Goodwill Hunting and Rocky which all deal with the journey of a singular individual who searches for his identity in the world. The film is one of the most perfect examples of subjective humor in all the senses. The stunning power and resonance present in the film are immensely catchy for viewers.
In the final analysis the movie Rushmore is a gem. The script of the film is nothing but brilliant and as all the brilliant scripts do it also develops the characters wonderfully and along with top-notch acting efforts from all the actors, it creates magic on celluloid. From the tens to the persons who have crossed the teen age and faced similar problems, that is everyone can watch the film and appreciate it. That is one of the causes that the film is so widely accepted. It is highly recommendable and extremely enjoyable. This movie can make one think and make one happy at the same time. This is a rare quality for a movie script. Thus, it can be safely stated that the movie will always get a place in the hall of fame of the greatest movies ever made.