The Paper Chase (1973)
Directed by James Bridges
A first-year law student struggles with balancing his coursework and his relationship with the daughter of a stern professor.
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What critics compared The Paper Chase to
A toxic (but mordantly hilarious) combination of The Paper Chase ’s loftily condescending law professor and a trash-talking sports coach, Fletcher is the kind of unconventional pedagogue who thinks nothing of winging a chair at his pupil’s head when the tempo drags by a fraction of a beat, or punctuating tips on musical timekeeping with a series of brisk slaps to the face.
Think John Houseman in “The Paper Chase’’ with a touch of Jack Webb’s Marine drill sergeant in “The D.I.,’’ and you’ll get an idea of the extreme hazing and mind games from Simmons that push Teller toward the breaking point.
Chazelle pulls together disparate material we know — Fame, The Paper Chase, even Full Metal Jacket — and offers a fresh take on the familiar, rousing as Rocky was in its time.
Neither is it “The Paper Chase,” in which young and old come to an uneasy peace.
You can find echoes of “The Paper Chase” and even “Animal House” but in the final analysis it is uniquely Indian.