Dazed and Confused is a 1993 American film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The movie's large ensemble cast featured a number of future stars.

The film took in no more than $8 million at the U.S. box office, but in recent years has achieved cult film status. Quentin Tarantino included it on his list of the twelve greatest films of all time in voting in the 2002 Sight and Sound. It also ranked third on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.

The title of the film is derived from a song of the same name by English rock group Led Zeppelin, off their first album. Linklater approached members of the band for permission to use some of their songs in the movie but, although Jimmy Page agreed, Robert Plant refused.

The film takes place on May 28, 1976, the last day of school at Lee High School in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. The seniors are preparing for the annual hazing of incoming freshmen by building paddles and buying cooking supplies; meanwhile, Randall "Pink" Floyd, the school's star football player, is asked to sign a school pledge, promising not to take drugs or do anything else that could "jeopordize the goal of a championship season in '76". When classes end, the freshman boys are hunted down by the senior boys for paddling while the freshman girls are rounded up in a parking lot, covered in condiments, forced to propose to senior boys, and taken through a carwash. During this time, freshman Sabrina strikes a chord with senior Tony.

A major evening plan is ruined when Pickford's parents discover that he is planning to host a keg party that night. Meanwhile, freshman Mitch is violently paddled by the seniors, most of all by O'Bannion, the nastiest and dumbest of the class. Mitch gets a ride home with Pink, who is shown to be sympathetic and offers to take Mitch riding with the others that night. Meanwhile, Tony drives around with his friends Cynthia and Mike, who is uncertain about what to do after high school. Mitch rides with Pink and Wooderson, who graduated years ago but still hangs out with highschoolers.

The three of them stop at the Emporium, a popular pool hall. Mitch is introduced to sophomore Julie, and they seem to be mutually attracted to each other. Mitch goes driving again with some of the seniors. They play mailbox baseball and pretend to steal beer, but an owner of one of the mailboxes catches them and threatens them with a gun before they escape. They return to the Emporium, where Mitch meets up with his freshmen friends. They come up with a plan to get revenge on O'Bannion and dump paint on him in front of everybody else.

A new keg party is planned at one of the Austin Moontowers, which attracts essentially the entire senior class and several of the freshmen. Mike has a confrontation with toughguy Clint while Tony meets up with Sabrina again and Cynthia exchanges phone numbers with Wooderson. Ben confronts Pink about his refusal to sign the pledge but he is still unsure, believing it violates students' privacy and lifestyles. Mike picks a fight with Clint but ends up getting beaten-up and humiliated. Mitch runs into Julie and they hit it off again, and are later shown making out. Tony offers Sabrina a ride home, and kisses her when he drops her off at her house.

As night turns to dawn, Pink, Wooderson, Don, Slater and Simone smoke on the school football field, which the police soon notice. The school football coach is called and tells Pink that his friends are part of a bad crowd. Pink throws the pledge at the coach and leaves with his friends to get tickets to an Aerosmith concert. Meanwhile, Mitch arrives home at sunrise but his mother decides to go easy on him. The film ends with Pink and his friends driving on a highway.

The film's overarching themes involve angst-ridden teenagers bristling at authority, coming of age stories and anomie. These themes are played out in various ways across the film's major characters.

Mitch and Sabrina are both transitioning from middle school to high school, and transitioning away from their younger groups of friends to an older, more sophisticated group. Both characters also make their first romantic connections, and both with older characters.

Pink resists the pressure from his peers, authority figures and citizens in town and refuses to sign the pledge.

Cynthia, Tony and Mike have several conversations about where they see themselves going in life.

Cynthia transitions from a platonic relationship with her male friends to a potential sexual relationship with Wooderson.

O'Bannion is accused of failing his senior year of high school specifically so he can prey on and continue to haze younger high school students.

Wooderson and Don both have monologues that outline the characters' rejection of the ordinary, adult culture that surrounds them. Wooderson disparages the idea of pursuing higher education, prefering instead to work a steady job with the city that provides him the means to continue hanging out with high-schoolers, while Don proclaims that his only goal is to have as much fun as possible while he is stuck in high school.

Wooderson also advises Pink that the pledge he is being asked to sign is merely the first of similar accommodations to authority he will be asked to make throughout his life.

It's notable that the film's release coincided with the rising popularity of grunge music, which was significantly influenced by late 70s rock featured in the film, and the popular notion of Generation X as a "lost generation." The film offered up comparisons and contrasts between slacker culture in the early 90s and late 70s culture.

When the film was first released on September 24th, 1993, it was not the most prominent or talked-about film of the year, and not many critics were bothered to review it. Indeed, in the years since the film's release, only thirty-seven reviews have been counted on website Rotten Tomatoes. Still, of those reviews, only one is negative, and the film has achieved the status of a cult classic over the years. Roger Ebert awarded the film three stars out of four, praising the film as "art crossed with anthropology" with a "painful underside."

Dazed and Confused Soundtrack (1993):
Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo - Rick Derringer
Slow Ride - Foghat
School's Out - Alice Cooper
Jim Dandy - Black Oak Arkansas
Tush - ZZ Top
Love Hurts - Nazareth
Stranglehold - Ted Nugent
Cherry Bomb - The Runaways
Fox on the Run - Sweet
Low Rider - War
Tuesday's Gone - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Highway Star - Deep Purple
Rock and Roll All Nite - KISS
Paranoid - Black Sabbath

Even More Dazed and Confused Soundtrack (1994):
Free Ride - Edgar Winter Group
No More Mr. Nice Guy - Alice Cooper
Livin' In The USA - The Steve Miller Band
Never Been Any Reason - Head East
Why Can't We Be Friends? - War
Summer Breeze - Seals and Crofts
Right Place, Wrong Time - Dr. John
Balinese - ZZ Top
Lord Have Mercy On My Soul - Black Oak Arkansas
I Just Want To Make Love to You - Foghat
Show Me The Way - Peter Frampton
Do You Feel Like We Do? - Peter Frampton

In September of 1993, St. Martin's Press published a 127-page, softcover book (ISBN #0-312-09466-3) that was inspired by the screenplay by Richard Linklater and compiled by Richard Linklater, Denise Montgomery and others. It was presented as a kind of yearbook that contained essays written by characters from the film as well as profiles on the characters, a timeline focusing on the years 1973 to 1977 and various 1970s pop culture charts and quizzes. It also featured dozens of black-and-white photos from the film. It is said to be based on the happenings at Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas.

Some of the material contained in the original 1993 book was reprinted in the 72-page book included with the Criterion DVD release in 2006.

A two-disc Criterion Collection boxed-set edition was released on June 6, 2006, in the USA and Canada only. The set features an audio commentary by Richard Linklater, deleted scenes, the original trailer, the 50 minute "Making Dazed" documentary that aired on the American Movie Classics channel on September 18, 2005, on-set interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, cast auditions and footage from the ten-year anniversary celebration. Also included is a 72-page book featuring new essays by Kent Jones, Jim DeRogatis, and Chuck Klosterman as well as memories from the cast and crew, character profiles (as seen in the original 1993 book) and a mini reproduction of the original film poster designed by Frank Kozik.

The film has also been released on HD DVD.

In the movie Empire Records, a Dazed and Confused sticker can be seen on the cash register. Rory Cochrane and Renée Zellweger, who had an uncredited appearance in this movie, appeared in both films.

Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams would reunite on screen a number of times in Kevin Smith's movies, including Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Chasing Amy, in the latter of which they both had lead roles. Coincidentally, the first movie they had roles in, Mallrats, starred Jeremy London, Jason London's twin brother. Affleck would also reunite with Nicky Katt in the films Phantoms and Boiler Room, and with Cole Hauser in Good Will Hunting, which was written by Affleck.

Adam Goldberg and Anthony Rapp are once again cast together in the Academy award winning film, A Beautiful Mind, as colleagues of the main character, John Nash, played by Russell Crowe.

The pinball machine in the Emporium can also be seen in Richard Linklater's film Waking Life, which stars Wiley Wiggins; Nicky Katt and Adam Goldberg also appear in the film.

Nicky Katt and Parker Posey appear in Linklater's film SubUrbia.

Family Guy has re-enacted various scenes of this movie. Chris Griffin gets smacked by Adam West, while cartoon versions of Benny, Melvin, and Don react in the same manner as the original scene when Mitch Kramer is given his hazing, complete with the background music (“No More Mr. Nice Guy” by Alice Cooper).

In the Family Guy episode “8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter”, Brian Griffin is portrayed as Matthew McConaughey's character and repeats his line about high school girls, and after the Griffin family drives off, the Evil Monkey sits on his bed, puts on headphones playing "Slow Ride" by Foghat, and rolls a joint.

The Simpsons episode Homerpalooza contains a flashback to the 1970s, in which Homer recalls being snubbed by a group of classmates who look and speak like Wooderson, Floyd and Slater.

The movie Grind parodies Matthew McConaughey's character, complete with the line about high school girls. Jason London and Sasha Jenson also have roles in the movie.

In the film Can't Hardly Wait (1998), which also takes place on the night of the last day of school, a stoned guy at the party says "She was a hip, hip, hip lady," a line spoken by Rory Cochrane in Dazed and Confused.

In the television series The Office, while playing the "desert island game" Pam Beesly cites the movie as her third favorite of all time and Jim Halpert says it's in his "top five."

McConaughey reprised his role as Wooderson while guest-hosting Saturday Night Live, in one of the "Jared's Room" sketches with Jimmy Fallon.

In October 2004, three of Linklater's former classmates, whose surnames are Wooderson, Slater, and Floyd, filed a defamation lawsuit against Linklater, claiming to be the basis for the similarly named characters on the film. The lawsuit was filed in New Mexico rather than Texas because New Mexico has a longer statute of limitations.

In June 2007, the incoming freshmen (class of 2011) at Severna Park High School (Severna Park, MD) were whipped by lacrosse stick-wielding upperclassmen, similar to a situation depicted in the film. Parents of the prospective freshmen were asked to ride in the schoolbuses with their children to prevent any more harm done by the upperclassmen. (June 16, 2007 The Maryland Gazette).