These Are the 60 Best High School Movies of All Time

Even if it's been years since you were last in school, the high school experience is forever preserved on-screen. Remember the good old days of passing notes in class, dealing with mean girls and bullies, ditching class with your friends and getting detention? Even if you don't, the genre of teen high school movies is here for your comfort-viewing pleasure. Enjoy our list of the best high school movies of all time.

The Best High School Movies

1. Clueless (1995)

Writer/director Amy Heckerling’s mid-1990s take on Jane Austen’s novel Emma turned Alicia Silverstone into a star—and introduced viewers to a whole new teenage vernacular. Rich, privileged Beverly Hills high schooler Cher match-makes her friends and teachers, sometimes with hilarious results—but can she get her own love life right? As if! Clueless also featured awesome fashion and focused on strong, if flawed, young women in the sea of movies about teen boys that had come before.

Related: Clueless Quotes

2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Charming Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) has a knack for getting out of trouble, so he hatches an ingenious plan for a fake sick day from school. His best friend and his girlfriend come along for an epic ditch day in Chicago, but his snarling principal and his jealous sister (Dirty Dancing’s Jennifer Grey) are hot on his tail. This classic 1986 movie has surprisingly good character development and meditations on life. We should all live by Ferris’s motto: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

3. Mean Girls (2004)

New girl Cady (Lindsay Lohan) had been educated with her zoologist parents in Africa, so when she starts at an all-American high school, she can’t help noticing similarities between her classmates and primates in the wild. As she joins in the social behavior of normal teenagers, she has to decide whether to hang out with her new down-to-earth buds, or join popular mean girls the “Plastics” led by Regina George (Rachel McAdams). Screenwriter Tina Fey takes a hilarious and searing look at high school cliques and the mean girls that inhabit them. This 2004 flick is so fetch!

Related: Mean Girls Quotes

4. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

It’s hard to believe this 1982 teen classic starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold and Phoebe Cates is over 40 years old—it’s just as real, raw and raunchy as it was back then. While it certainly has funny moments, it also tackles tough subjects like losing your virginity, abortion—and getting caught in a compromising position by your crush. The movie also features Sean Penn’s legendary performance as stoner surfer dude Jeff Spicoli.

5. American Graffiti (1973)

Before they starred on 1950s-set Happy Days and spinoff Laverne and Shirley, Ron Howard and Cindy Williams were Steve and Laurie in this 1973 film about the last night of summer before back-to-school in 1962 California. Former class president Steve is headed to college, but head cheerleader Laurie is still in high school. From a sock hop in the school gym to cruising in cars, this movie was the first of “one night in the teen life” movies. Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford also star in writer/director George Lucas’s pre-Star Wars classic.

6. Dazed and Confused (1993)

This 1993 “night in the life” film was no doubt inspired by American Graffiti. Set over the course of the last day of school in 1976 Texas, it also features high school teens riding around in cars and coming to terms with their futures—plus throwing a kegger in the woods and smoking a lot of pot. The large ensemble cast includes Jason London, Parker Posey, Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey, uttering his now trademark line, “Alright, alright, alright!” The flick also boasts a groovy soundtrack of ’70s tunes.

7. Sixteen Candles (1984)

The first of many classic ’80s teen comedies from writer/director John Hughes, this 1984 movie features Molly Ringwald as a teen who feels like she’s invisible, even on her 16th birthday, and especially to her crush, Jake Ryan. In light of #MeToo and the takedown of rape culture, some scenes in this movie are totally dated by today’s standards of consent—which Ringwald has talked about herself. But for many children of the ’80s, the movie still holds a certain nostalgia.

8. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

The late, great Heath Ledger stars with Julia Stiles in this 1999 retelling of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Popular girl Bianca can’t date until her older sister—smart, angry feminist Kat (Stiles)—does, so ne’er-do-well Patrick (Ledger) takes a bribe to romance her. But, surprise, it doesn’t go so well, until the couple end up genuinely falling for each other. The film remains fresh and witty as it undercuts misogyny; yet viewers can’t help but thrill as Ledger sings “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” to Stiles in the school’s Greek amphitheater-like stadium. Stay for the stunning end-credits scene featuring Letters to Cleo covering “I Want You to Want Me” from the roof of the castle-like high school overlooking Tacoma, Washington’s Puget Sound.

Related: 10 Things I Hate You You: Where Are They Now?

9. High School Musical (2006)

If you’re looking for a fun flick to watch with your kids, go for this 2006 Disney movie with then-teen heartthrob Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens as a star-crossed couple from different high school cliques. She’s the new girl challenging the reigning drama queen—er, queen of the dramatic arts, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), and he’s the school basketball star. With catchy songs and decidedly Disney-esque feel-good messaging, the flick reminds us, as its show-stopping number says, that “We’re All in This Together.”

10. She’s All That (1999)

In the sub-genre of “teen boy takes stupid bet that he can transform girl into prom queen,” this 1999 tale has popular guy Zack (Freddie Prinze Jr.) pretend-falling for, and then real-falling for, artsy geek Laney (Rachel Leigh Cook). A twist on the age-old Pygmalion story about a man who falls in love with his creation, this sweet movie costars familiar faces including Gabrielle Union, Kieran Culkin, Anna Paquin, Usher and the late Paul Walker.

11. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

The OG teen angst flick, starring James Dean in his famous red jacket, former child star Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, made its mark in 1955 as one of the first of the genre. Its exploration of a generation gap between parents and teenagers was groundbreaking—and heartbreaking for viewers. The new kid in school (Dean) runs afoul of a knife-wielding, chicken-running gang while falling for wild child Judy (Wood). The ending, which involves a shooting at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, is teen melodrama at its finest.

12. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)

Imagine if the whole school read your diary. This hit Netflix film with a similar theme burst onto the teen rom-com scene in 2018. Based on the YA book series by Jenny Han, it spawned two sequels. High school junior Lara Jean (Lana Condor) wrote secret letters to five past crushes that she never meant to send, but when they are mysteriously mailed, she has to confront the boys about her true feelings. With a female writer and a female director, the film also broke ground in diversity with a female Asian-American lead character; however, the film did face some criticism for not including any Asian-American boys among her crushes.

13. The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

This 2016 film actually does feature an Asian boy (Canadian Hayden Szeto) as a potential love interest. Your best friend and your older brother aren’t supposed to date—but that’s exactly what happens to high school junior Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld), putting a strain on both her family and her relationship with her bestie. Instead, she turns to her friendship with a geeky classmate (Szeto) and sympathetic teacher (Woody Harrelson). The film handles some tough topics with grace, including Nadine’s father’s death several years ago, her insecurities and thoughts of suicide, mistreatment from boys and feeling like an outcast. The edgy teen dramedy is also notable for being written and directed by a woman (Kelly Fremon Craig).

14. Carrie (1976)

High school can be hell—literally, as this classic 1976 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel shows. Outcast Carrie (Sissy Spacek) has telekinetic abilities, and when the verbal and emotional abuse of her mother and the kids at school become too much, she enacts her bloody revenge at the school prom. It’s a chilling reminder of the trauma that classmates can inflict on each other through bullying, as well as the lasting damage parents can impose on their children.

15. Grease (1978)

Although there’s been talk lately about how the musical Grease is so not appropriate for a high school theater production, for adults the 1978 film version is a classic. In the 1950s, good girl high schooler Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) is taken in by wild girl gang the Pink Ladies, who hang with the greaser T-Birds, led by Sandy’s love interest Danny (John Travolta). Should she give up her strait-laced ways (and, some critics would say, her own identity and self-worth) for Danny? Even with its faults, fans are “hopelessly devoted” to the fun tunes and nostalgia of this high-school musical.

16. Bring It On (2000)

“They’re sexy! They’re cute! They’re popular to boot!” This peppy cheerleading flick from 2000 has depth beyond the catchy cheers: When Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) becomes the captain of her elite high school squad, she learns their routines have actually been stolen from an East Compton high school team, the Clovers. She struggles to come up with their own original routine in time for Nationals, as well as make things right with the Clovers.