This is one of those horny teenager films that came out in the 1980's and it's easily just as dumb as most of them but looking at the young cast today this could be interpreted as a curio for this genre. Story is about horny teenagers from two prep schools where the boys and girls engage in raucous behavior from peering into windows to sneaking into showers. The girls side is Cherryvale and the boys Freemount and we see Jim Green (Matthew Modine) who dates Christine Ramsey (Phoebe Cates) and she has decided to give her virginity up and books a room in a cheap Mexican hotel.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Jim's friend Bubba (Michael Zorek) takes bets on the event but he also wants to try and score with the sexy Jordan (Betsy Russell) who is jealous of the fact that Christine and Jim have a solid relationship going on although he and Bubba dress up as woman and sneak into Cherryvale. The Dean is Miss Dutchbok (Fran Ryan) who tries to keep the shenanigans down to a limit but she gets caught in the back of a limo with a chauffeur (Ray Walston) with their lovemaking broadcast over an intercom system!

This film is directed by Noel Black who in 1968 made the terrific "Pretty Poison" but since then he has worked primarily in television and his feature film efforts were regulated to low budget sex romps like this. It would be easy to just unload one bad remark after another for a film like this but that would be too easy and instead I look back at this as something that was a trend and if you compare them with the few horny teen films that are made today you'll see how different they are. The abundance of nudity was actually the norm during this period and actress Betsy Russell has three nude scenes in the first 30 minutes and the scene of her riding the horse topless has gone on to be infamous. The familiar cast is also another reason to check this out and along with Modine, Cates, and Russell is Kathleen Wilhoite, Sylvia Kristel and Brinke Stevens in the shower scene. For trivia there are two things to point out like the fact that Cates sings two songs on the soundtrack and is actually pretty good and the other is that Paula Abdul was the choreographer for the outdoor calisthenics/dance sequence. I'm not really recommending this to anyone because this is one of those films that audiences can make up their minds about on their own but maybe my comments point out a few things to help others decide if they want to venture out and view this.

In a genre that gave us many enjoyable films, Private School may well be the best of the bunch. There is something truly irresistible about a film that sets out only to entertain its audience. There is no hidden agenda or deeper meaning or political motives here. The people who created this gem intended only to make us smile and show us some skin and make a little money in the process. Some days, isn't that all a guy really needs? It's about time this one came out on DVD! The film deals with the social interactions between girls from Cherryvale and the young men from the nearby Freemount Academy. Of course when I say "social interaction" I mean sex. Simply put, the guys are trying to either score with the ladies, or at least get a good Polaroid of them coming out of the shower. The film has a serious undercurrent in how it deals with the relationship between Christine Ramsey (Phoebe Cates) and Jim Green (Matthew Modine). They are trying to lose their virginity under the best possible circumstances, but there are of course complications and misunderstandings. Christine's next door neighbor, the lovely and talented Betsy Russell, is out to steal Jim for herself using methods that would certainly grab any young man's attention. The resulting action plays out in the most satisfactory of ways.

Private School scores on many fronts. The cast which contains many recognizable faces puts as much into their roles as they've done in any other films. The soundtrack featuring Phoebe Cates singing on two different tracks is much better than you would expect, as well. There is tons of random nudity so you will get your money worth in that department.

Curiously enough, there is no DVD commentary by any of the actors in this film. Wouldn't it be fun to hear what Matthew Modine would think today about this early role in his distinguished career? And Martin Mull may have been hiding behind a beard for his little three minute cameo, but the appearance was well-appreciated! He must have snuck this little bit part in between takes of Mr. Mom that year.

For those who may question the logic of the Hound giving all ten stars to this film: Heck, that scene with Betsy Russell topless on the horse was worth eight stars by itself!!! 10 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

And I mean butts. Three of the best rears to grace the movies are shown in this one. Betsy Russell, Brinke Stevens, and Phoebe Cates (hers may have been a body double--but it looked like I had always imagined Phoebe's would look like) show us the goods, and they are good!

There are also some funny gags that not only the boys play on the girls, but also the girls play on each other and on the school faculty.

All the "established" actors are doing their best to drag this movie out of the muck and they just barely do it. (If you want to see how bad teen sex movies can get, just watch "ScrewBalls" and you will see that this movie is really a cut above)

Overall a pretty good "Animal House" rip-off that works much better.