Election (1999)

Director:

Alexander Payne

Writers (WGA):

Tom Perrotta (novel)
Alexander Payne (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

7 May 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Reading, Writing, Revenge.

Plot:

A high school teacher's personal life becomes complicated as he works with students during the school elections.

Plot Keywords:

Election | School | Lesbian | High School | Jock

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 16 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Matthew Broderick	...	Jim McAllister
Reese Witherspoon	...	Tracy Flick
Chris Klein	...	Paul Metzler
Jessica Campbell	...	Tammy Metzler
Phil Reeves	...	Walt Hendricks
Molly Hagan	...	Diane McAllister
Delaney Driscoll	...	Linda Novotny
Mark Harelik	...	Dave Novotny
Colleen Camp	...	Judith R. Flick
Frankie Ingrassia	...	Lisa Flanagan
Joel Parks	...	Jerry Slavin
Matt Malloy	...	Vice-Principal Ron Bell
Holmes Osborne	...	Dick Metzler
Jeanine Jackson	...	Jo Metzler
Loren Nelson	...	Custodian

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexuality, sex-related dialogue and language, and a scene of drug use.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #36129) | Finland:K-12 | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:14 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Norway:15 (TV rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | France:U | Germany:12 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:R16 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere)

Filming Locations:

Adelphi University, Garden City, Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

Bona Fide Productions

Trivia:

Reese Witherspoon's portrayal of Tracy Flick was voted as the 45th Greatest Movie Performances of All Time by Premiere Magazine.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: In the last scene Jim McAllister is in Washington, DC. He says in the voice-over he was on his way to the Holocaust Museum when the scene occurred. That scene was shot outside the Hays-Adams Hotel, just north of Lafayette Square and the White House. The Holocaust Museum is about a mile south of the White House.

Quotes:

Tammy Metzler: [narrating] Being suspended is like getting a paid vacation. Why do they think it's a punishment? It's like your dog pees on the carpet and you give him a treat. Then you get in trouble for skipping school, it's sooo stupid! Hendricks told me, "One more time" and I'd be expelled. Sounded good to me.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Best! Movies! Ever!: Hot for Teacher (#1.21)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Foxey Lady

One of the most pleasurable aspects of the film is its total lack of sentimentality…

High-school comedies became popular because the milieu was familiar to a large proportion of the film-going audience… But the best examples of the genre in the 1980s and 1990s satirized not only the constant battle of the sexes, but other elements in American life… The frequent struggles between jocks and nerds were a kind of microcosm of the class difference which is supposed not to exist in the United States…

In "Election," one of the best examples of this popular genre, much of the humor is at the expense of the 'democratic' process… The film's guiding insight is that in practice democracy reduces to a popularity contest, in which dirty tricks are the norm…

Tracy is a Nebraskan high-school blonde who is brilliant and hard-working… She is standing for election as student president… Played by Reese Witherspoon, Tracy is bright and intolerant, eaten up by ambition and her ruthless determination to win… She is regarded with disgust by a career teacher and student adviser, Jim McAllister, for her self-righteousness, and also for her role in the dismissal of his fellow teacher Dave after a sex scandal… Jim encourages student football star Paul to stand against Tracy…