Review of The Chocolate War (1988) by Allan C — 01 Jul 2014

I remember really liking this movie when it first came out. The story about non-conformity, power, influence and control still holds up, but I will say there is a level of pretension to the film (obvious symbolism, closeups full of portent, etc.

) that bugged me more this viewing that drags it down some. However, I still like this film quite a bit despite it's sometimes annoying self importance. "The Chocolate War" was the directorial debt of actor Keith Gordon, who's best remembered from "Back to School" as Rodney Dangerfield's son and and from "Dressed to Kill" as Angie Dickinson's son.

From a Robert Cormier novel, the film tells a story set at a private boys school, where a freshman refuses to participate in the school's annual chocolate sale. Ilan Mitchell-Smith plays the freshman rebel who clashes with the the headmaster, a deliciously pompous John Glover, and a the powerful secret student society run by Wallace Langham and Adam Baldwin.

All four leads give excellent performances and it's this aspect that really carries the movie over the rest of the film's self importance. However, writer/director Gordon does do a commendable job, that although quite self serious, there are some very memorable moments that Gorden get's credit for, such as boxing sequence at the end or the build up to when Mitchell-Smith initially declines to participate in the chocolate sale.

Gordon went on to write and/or direct some other fine films, including "A Midnight Clear" and "Mother Night", so it's somewhat disappointing he hasn't directed a feature film for so long and seems to instead be focusing on episodic TV.

I really like this film and think of it as something of a flawed masterpiece, filled with some very memorable characters and performances. It's also interesting to remember that this was the waining days of the 80s teen comedies, so this film offers a quite different offering to those rather played out films.