School Daze (1988) on Netflix
Vaughn "Dap" Dunlap leads an anti-apartheid protest at Mission College during homecoming week. Julian Eaves, who heads Gamma Phi Gamma, objects, and Dap's cousin Darrell is pledging.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.1/108,787 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes56%
Trailer
Plot summary
Dap is a politically active senior at Mission College in Atlanta, and during homecoming week he leads a protest over the school's investments in South Africa. The brothers of Gamma Phi Gamma and their pledges interrupt it, and Julian Eaves, who presides over the fraternity chapter and once was Dap's friend, tells him he opposes the demonstration. Dap's younger cousin Darrell, a pledge the fraternity calls Half-Pint, has to find a girl to bring to the house that night and asks Dap for advice. Dap's friends back his cause but will not join him, wanting their degrees and jobs. The Gamma Rays, the fraternity's women's auxiliary, and their non-Greek classmates argue over skin color and hair, and Dap and his girlfriend Rachel Meadows fall out over her plan to rush a sorority.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about School Daze (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was meant to be set on the campus of Morehouse College, but the Atlanta University Center objected to its portrayal of historically black colleges and barred filming at Morehouse, Clark Atlanta University, Morris Brown College and Spelman College. Production moved to Atlanta University, with more shooting in Brooklyn.
- Spike Lee put the two groups of actors in separate hotels during the shoot and gave the ones playing the "wannabes" better accommodation than those playing the "jigaboos". The favoritism bred real tension on set, and it shows in the animosity between the two camps on camera.
- The brawl at the step show between Dap's crew and the Gammas was never in the script. On the day the scene was shot the fight simply broke out between the two sides, and Lee ordered the cameras to keep rolling.
- Tisha Campbell took over the role of Jane Toussaint from Vanessa Williams, who had originally been cast. In June 1988 Campbell sued Lee for $550,000, saying she had not been paid for her contribution to the soundtrack and had gone uncredited for the song "Be Alone Tonight".
- Twenty years on, Alicia Keys rebuilt the film in her 2008 music video for "Teenage Love Affair", imitating the rally in front of the school building, the pajama party and the scene in which Tisha Campbell and her court perform at the coronation.
