Long Before Making a Mark on ‘Yellowstone,’ Cole Hauser Made His Movie Debut in This Star-Studded ‘9…

Every decade of cinema has that one standout film that launches the next generation of stars. The ‘80s had The Outsiders and St. Elmo’s Fire. The 2010s had Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. In the early ‘90s, a little prep school drama with sports elements called School Ties set the stage for Hollywood’s next critically acclaimed leading men.

School Ties was more than just a career launch pad for stars such as Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck. It also starred Cole Hauser, who is widely known today for his role in Yellowstone, among others. Director Robert Mandel’s teen drama was inspired by future Law & Order creator Dick Wolf’s formative years as a young Jewish boy in the ‘50s struggling to conceal his heritage from an otherwise Anglo student body. At the time of its release, the anti-Semitic subject was a hot-button topic audiences stayed away from, making School Ties a box-office loser. But its heavy themes and the future stars who embodied the collective of prep school students made it an unforgettable ’90s gem.

What Is ‘School Ties’ About?

Image via Paramount Pictures

Set in the fall of 1955, working-class Scranton teen David Greene (Fraser) earns a football scholarship to the prestigious St. Matthew’s Academy in Massachusetts. Having faced race-related violence over his Jewish background back home, Greene hides his ethnicity from the privileged St. Matthew’s students, including his roommate Chris Reese (Chris O’Donnell) and football teammate Charlie Dillon (Damon), as many of these students share repugnant views about the Jewish community.

Over the school year, David earns the trust and respect of his classmates due to his success on the football field and for standing up for some of the marginalized students. However, a budding romance with a girl from a nearby boarding school named Sally (Amy Locane) causes friction between the new kid and Dillon. Once Dillon overhears a drunk teacher revealing David’s secret ethnicity, it sets the stage for social division and a scandal that puts David’s future in jeopardy.

Cole Hauser Gives an Underrated Performance Alongside Brendan Fraser in ‘School Ties’

Image via Paramount Pictures

Coming out of the feel-good ’80s, School Ties offered something fresh but socially relevant for a teen drama. It’s not about getting ahead in class, being the most popular, and becoming the best girl. It exemplifies how easy it is to lift someone as a hero only to tear them down just as fast. The exceptionally handsome Fraser shines as the rising football star who eventually finds himself ostracized by his classmates, led by Damon. In stark contrast to his comedic turn in his motion picture debut Encino Man, Fraser expresses the inner pain of racism just through his eyes and his defiance of standing on his own against it.

However, one of the most underrated performances in School Ties comes from Cole Hauser as the slacker student Jack. In contrast to his antihero presence as Rip on Yellowstone, Hauser’s Jack is the laid-back type of loyal friend to Fraser’s David who goes silent when the other classmates’ racial prejudice comes out. Yet, he finds himself not only ostracized for not measuring up to the rest of the class but is also accused of cheating on a major exam. Though Hauser’s role is not as deep as the leads, his presence is enough to establish how quickly the mob can devour its own, making him more empathetic to Fraser’s plight.

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The Cast of ‘School Ties’ Went on to Define a New Generation of Leading Men

Donnell, Affleck, and Anthony Rapp are some of the rising stars who completed the ensemble, much like the Brat Pack did a decade earlier. But their presence in the School Ties pales in comparison to Damon as Dillon. Long before he played America’s heartstrings in Good Will Hunting and went globe-trotting in The Bourne Identity franchise, Damon embodies the jealous perfectionist desperate for attention to please his parents back home. His character is initially sympathetic due to this pressure, which he confides in David about. Then the sharp sudden transformation into a scheming bigot saw the actor perfectly capture the dark side of America’s privileged looking down at the working class struggling for a break.

School Ties only scratched the surface of what its stars would deliver as talented performers, writers, and directors in the years ahead. It is never easy to forget this picture when it ends, because this form of anti-Semitism remains as relevant today as it did in the ’50s.

Source : collider.com