FILM · 1983 · USA
Class
30 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (30)
- #001
John Cusack was only 15 years old during filming, making him the youngest member of the cast.
- #002
After the film's release, actress Jacqueline Bisset publicly voiced her dissatisfaction with the film's editing, saying it was damaging to her character's "subtext."
- #003
Three members of the Cusack family appeared in acting roles in the film: father Dick Cusack, daughter Joan Cusack and son John Cusack.
- #004
In the scene where Skip Burroughs (Rob Lowe) is questioned by Balaban, Balaban asks him whether he is related to the Burroughs on the AT&T board of directors. Skip confirms that his father (played by veteran actor Cliff Robertson) really was on AT&T's board… which incidentally has a real-life connection as well… Cliff Robertson was a spokesman for AT&T in television commercials for several years in the 1980s and was known at the time as "Mr. AT&T."
- #005
The film is part of a mini-cycle of early-to-mid-1980s Hollywood films about a young man's relationship with a more mature woman. It began after the box-office success of the late-1970s Canadian film In Praise of Older Women (1978). The films include: Class (1983), My Tutor (1983), Private Lessons (1981), In the Mood (1987), Playing with Fire (1984) and Risky Business.
- #006
The film marked the screen debut of actors Andrew McCarthy, John Cusack and Virginia Madsen. For actors Alan Ruck and Rob Lowe, this 1983 film was the second feature in which audiences saw them; both of their first films had been released earlier in the same year, 1983. The film was the first cinema film of actress Lolita Davidovich, who had previously appeared on television. The DVD's liner notes incorrectly state that the film was Rob Lowe's first film; Lowe had previously appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders (1983).
- #007
The famous elevator love scene took place at Water Tower Place in Chicago, Illinois.
- #008
This was actress Jacqueline Bisset's second consecutive film in which she has romantic relationships with a young man. The previous film was George Cukor's Rich and Famous (1981), in which Bisset actually has passionate encounters with two young men.
- #009
September Farm, Burroughs's house, is in real life the Duchossois Estate in Barrington Hills, IL.
- #010
According to the website '80s Rewind, apparently "at one point during filming, [actor] Rob Lowe allegedly threatened to quit the film unless he was allowed to appear in a fully nude scene in a bathtub full of baked beans. Director [Lewis John Carlino] refused, but eventually managed to get Lowe back on set."
- #011
The show-business trade paper Variety said the film "…looks like an unofficial remake of 1969's The First Time (1969), one of [actress Jacqueline] Bisset's first Hollywood jobs."
- #012
Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe auditioned for the role of Jonathan Ogner. Lowe ultimately took the role of Skip Burroughs instead.
- #013
The birth date on Jonathan's (Andrew McCarthy) student card is November 29, 1964. The day and month, November 29, is McCarthy's real-life birthday. Only the years differ; Jonathan was born in 1964 and McCarthy in 1962.
- #014
Actors Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy and Anna Maria Horsford ("Maggie") also appeared together about two years later in St. Elmo's Fire (1985).
- #015
This was the first role Virginia Madsen played in her career and the first of her many nude scenes.
- #016
The film was often compared and likened to The Graduate (1967). The following comments were made about Class (1983) in relation to The Graduate (1967): 'Filmleri Derecelendirme' said the film was a quotation from 'The Graduate (1967)'; 'Halliwells' said the film was 'an imitation of The Graduate' (1967); film critic 'Roger Ebert said the film was the prep-school version of 'The Graduate (1967)'; the trade paper 'Variety' said the film was "striking in terms of The Graduate (1967)"; and 'Movie '83' magazine (Australia) said the film was "the '80s version of The Graduate" (1967).
- #017
Andrew McCarthy attended an open call held at New York University and landed the lead role in the film.
- #018
This was Lolita Davidovich's debut.
- #019
This was the third and final film directed by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Lewis John Carlino, who later returned to screenwriting.
- #020
Class marked Suzanne Snyder's debut, in the role of "Second Girl - Motel."
- #021
Principal photography took place between September and November 1982 in and around Chicago. Suffield House, a private mansion at 65 Spring Creek Road in Lake Forest, stood in for part of Skip Burroughs's family estate, given the fictional address of Barrington Hills. Lake Forest College was used for numerous scenes, including the hockey scenes, the dormitory scenes and, most notably, the dining room scenes.
- #022
Jacqueline Bisset replaced Lesley Ann Warren in the role of Ellen Burroughs. Bisset was frustrated that scenes fleshing out her character's background were cut, among them the final scene in which her son visits her in a mental hospital. "In a comedy… It's always difficult to develop a character because they're always cut for comedy, for comic effect. I lost several scenes that would have explained my character better. In the original script she was more interesting. Why does she do what she does? She's a very unhappy woman. She has no relationship at home. Cliff tells her in the bedroom that she is a Burroughs and that as long as she is a Burroughs she has to behave. That's not much of a relationship. So she's a little unbalanced and she needs a childish element in her life too much. There's absolutely no fantasy aspect to her life. Condemned to be an adult… The director sees it more as a rite-of-passage film," she said.
- #023
Andrew McCarthy shares scenes in this film with at least 6 models.
- #024
Early in the film there is a mannequin bearing the words "toys in the attic," which may be a reference to a 1963 film, to an idiom meaning madness, or, under its better-known name, to an album Aerosmith released in 1975.
- #025
The instrumental piece Stuart Margolin sings in the shower, which then plays as the boys get off drugs, is called Sabre Dance and would become famous with Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985).
- #026
In this film "Skip" (Rob Lowe) plays ice hockey. He also plays the lead in the ice hockey film Youngblood (1986).
- #027
Class marked Maria Ricossa's debut, in the role of "Table Friend."
- #028
Alan Ruck wears almost the same burglar outfit he wore with Sean Penn in Bad Boys (1983), with his partly blackened face and ski mask hat. Both are set in or near Chicago, Illinois.
- #029
The film was released in the US about eight months after the similarly titled Class Reunion (1982).
- #030
Class (1983) is an American comedy-drama film directed by Lewis John Carlino and starring Rob Lowe, Jacqueline Bisset, Andrew McCarthy and Cliff Robertson. Besides being Lowe's second film (it came out four months after The Outsiders (1983)), it marked the film debuts of McCarthy, John Cusack, Virginia Madsen, Casey Siemaszko and Lolita Davidovich.
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