Rushmore

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Cast & Crew

Jason Schwartzman
Max J. Fisher

Bill Murray
Mr. Herman J. Blume

Olivia Williams
Miss Rosemary Cross

Seymour Cassel
Bert Fischer

Brian Cox
Dr. Nelson Guggenheim

Mason Gamble
Dirk Calloway

Sara Tanaka
Margaret Yang

Stephen McCole
Magnus Buchan

Ronnie McCawley
Ronny Blume

Keith McCawley
Donny Blume

Wes Anderson
Director

Owen Wilson
Writer

Wes Anderson
Writer

Wes Anderson
Executive Producer

John Cameron
Co-Producer

Barry Mendel
Producer

Paul Schiff
Producer

Owen Wilson
Executive Producer

Mark Mothersbaugh
Original Music

Robert D. Yeoman
Cinematographer

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Critic Reviews for Rushmore

Audience Reviews for Rushmore

• Sep 20, 2018

  Quirky, offbeat, and clever; everything we like about director Wes Anderson. We really don't know what's going to happen as the story plays out, in part because of how unique the characters are, and in part because the film plays as fantasy. Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), a teenage boy at Rushmore Academy, acts as though he's a worldly middle-aged man, pursuing an improbably large number of extracurricular activities, writing plays, and not caring all that much about his studies. Herman Blume (Bill Murray), a wealthy businessman dissatisfied with his wife's adultery and his two boorish sons, is drawn to Max, and befriends him. However, when the two of them begin vying for the same woman (Olivia Williams), a rivalry develops. What's fascinating about the film is the interplay of these two characters. Blume begins acting in all sorts of juvenile ways, which is an interesting mirror to how precocious Max is. The disillusionment Blume is going through, hammered home with a scene at his dingy, suburban pool where he does a cannonball after downing his whiskey and then stays underwater as it to escape from it all, is similar to the angst we might associate with an adolescent. The breadth of Max's interests, his higher-level thinking about the important things in life, his audacious schemes, and the confidence he exudes pursuing a romance with a teacher or breezing down the hallway in his blazer, is like a powerful movie mogul (or adolescent dream). Anderson gives us a humanizing bridge here between people at the age of 15 and 50. Mixed in to all of this are lots of little moments that are funny or touching. I loved the message that's delivered in a subtle way amidst the fun of the film. Dream big, it seems to tell us; be brave, and don't be afraid to be different. Following the conventional path may lead to outward success, but unhappiness. It's telling to me that Max's father, a humble barber, is the most content character of all. I think the love triangle went on a little longer than it should have, and it would have been nice to see more of Margaret Yang (Sara Tanaka), but it was nice that the film never fell into predictability. Very entertaining.
  Antonius B Super Reviewer
• May 05, 2016

  Wes Anderson films are some of the most beautiful, enjoyable ever put on camera. It's undeniable when you see an Anderson film. "Rushmore" opened the doors for Anderson with the critics, and it is a great film. The only problems are that it's a bit uneven. It tells the coming of age story of Max Fischer through roughly four to five months. His loves, his triumphs, his failures. The film opens with the math teacher being asked about a math question so impossible that if any one of his students were to solve it, they will never have to open another math book for the rest of their lives. The teacher asks Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) to take a crack at it, he puts down his newspaper and walks up to the board and gets it right to tremendous applause by his classmates only to wake up. This sets the audience up to believe he is one of the most intelligent kids at the prep school Rushmore only to find out that he is one of the worst students at the school. He is at risk of being expelled. Max may be one of the worst students but he finds a lot of time for extracurricular studies as either presidents or founder. His ambition far exceeds his actual intelligence. He is only fifteen and comes from a modest background. His father is a barber and his mother is dead. He got a academic scholarship to the school for writing a play when he was 7. He impresses everyone he meets, including the father of his classmates named Herman Bluthe (Bill Murray). Blume and Max become friends. Max also meets new teacher Rosemary Cross, a widower whose husband went to Rushmore years ago before meeting her. Max develops a crush on her and soon, so does Bluthe. The two then fight for her affection before Max is kicked out of school and she dumps Bluthe. The rest of the film involves Max making up with Bluthe and trying to win her back for him while trying to make public school a little more like Rushmore. Seymour Cassel plays Bert Fischer, Max's loving father who is such an absolutely wonderful man that it's a shame he wasn't in the film more. He supports his son through every endeavor and imagines huge things for him. Even when Max drops out of school and starts to apprentice with his Dad, Bert still wants the best, but on Max's terms. He may be overwhelmed raising a kid on his own, but he is such a great guy. This film works not only as a great introduction to Anderson's style, but the starting point for the Bill Murray/indie relationship that would eventually land him his only Oscar nomination to date.
  

  Joseph B Super Reviewer
• Jan 17, 2014

  I simply had to see this 1998 comedy-drama directed by Wes Anderson about an eccentric teenager named Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman in his first film), his friendship with rich industrialist Herman Blume (Bill Murray), and their mutual love for elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). Somehow I missed it at the time (my life was crazy while I lived in Canberra) but after watching it today, I think that if I watched it at the time, I would love this piece co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson. And I loved the music - the soundtrack was scored by regular Anderson collaborator Mark Mothersbaugh and features several songs by bands associated with the British Invasion of the 1960s. With this movie the careers of Anderson and Schwartzman were launched, while Bill Murray established a "second career" - as a respected actor of independent cinema. I liked his acting in this movie but I like Wes Anderson work even better. They both won Best Director and Best Supporting Male awards at the 1999 Independent Spirit Awards while Murray earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. Anderson and Wilson wrote the role of Mr. Blume with Bill Murray in mind, but doubted they could get the script to him. Luckily, Murray's agent was a fan of Anderson's first film, Bottle Rocket, and urged the actor to read the script for Rushmore. Murray liked it so much that he agreed to work for scale, which Anderson estimated to be around $9,000. Murray liked the neat and precise writing and felt that a lot of the film was about the struggle to retain civility and kindness in the face of extraordinary pain. And he stated that he felt a lot of that in his life. Anderson created detailed storyboards for each scene but was open to Murray's knack for improvisation, and that is how the winning formula worked. According to ShortList, it is one of the 30 coolest films ever... but, I really had a problem with the unconvincing make up and costumes through the first two thirds of the movie, especially for the main character. Well, nothing is perfect... it is important that Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson successfully created their own slightly heightened reality... Like Max Fischer, Wilson was expelled from his prep school, St. Mark's School of Texas, in the tenth grade, while Anderson shared Max's ambition, lack of academic ability, and had a crush on an older woman ( just for record - Anderson and Wilson began writing the screenplay for Rushmore years before they made Bottle Rocket). For both of them the thing that was most appealing was the initial idea of a 15-year-old kid and a 50-year-old man becoming friends and equals. Maybe it's time for you, like it was for me, to check out this artwork with deep-focus widescreen compositions possessing an unusual clarity that adds details enhancing plenty of the action constantly developing and adding vividness to be remembered. Enjoy the humour as well!
  Panta O Super Reviewer
• Nov 01, 2013

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