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Senior Trip (1995)

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While on detention, a group of misfits and slackers have to write a letter to the President explaining what is wrong with the education system. There is only one problem, the President loves it! Hence, the group must travel to Washington to meet the Main Man.

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National Lampoon's Senior Trip

1995, Comedy/Adventure, 1h 31m

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National lampoon's senior trip   photos.

To embarrass his rival, a scheming senator (Lawrence Dane) uses nitwit Ohio teens who are invited to a Washington gathering on educational failure.

Genre: Comedy, Adventure

Original Language: English

Director: Kelly Makin

Producer: Wendy Grean

Writer: Roger Kumble , I. Marlene King

Release Date (Theaters): Sep 8, 1995  limited

Release Date (Streaming): Nov 21, 2016

Box Office (Gross USA): $4.7M

Runtime: 1h 31m

Production Co: New Line Cinema, 1992 Number Four Limited Partnership, National Lampoon Productions, Alliance Communications Corporation

Sound Mix: Surround

Cast & Crew

Matt Frewer

Principal Todd Moss

Valerie Mahaffey

Miss Tracy Milford

Lawrence Dane

Sen. John Lerman

Tommy Chong

Jeremy Renner

Mark "Dags" D'Agastino

Reggie Barry

Eric Edwards

Kevin McDonald

Travis Lindsey

Kelly Makin

Roger Kumble

Screenwriter

I. Marlene King

Wendy Grean

Peter Morgan

Executive Producer

Neil Stearns

François Protat

Cinematographer

Stephen Lawrence

Film Editing

Steve Bartek

Original Music

Gregory P. Keen

Production Design

John Dondertman

Art Director

Jeff Fruitman

Set Decoration

Sharon Purdy

Costume Design

Ross Clydesdale

Valerie McCaffrey

Critic Reviews for National Lampoon's Senior Trip

Audience reviews for national lampoon's senior trip.

had a few funny scenes but was ultimately really stupid

A high school principle made me laugh alot while he was stinky from being stuck in men's toilet room planned by hell-raising group of high school seniors.

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National Lampoon's Senior Trip

Film details, brief synopsis, cast & crew, kelly makin, matt frewer, jeremy renner, valerie mahaffey, eric edwards, technical specs.

When the hapless Principal Moss catches a group of senior students vandalizing his house, he orders them to write a letter to the President of the United States suggesting ways to improve the educational system. The Commander in Chief responds by inviting the misfits to Washington. The bus departs with an aging ex-hippie at the wheel, Miss Tracy Milford, the new teacher, and the seniors, who as a group represent a unique student body. Once they've arrived in the nation's capital, this pack of maniacal high school slackers unwittingly expose a plot to unseat the President.

Lawrence Dane

Thomas chong, kevin mcdonald, john dondertman, jeff fruitman, wendy grean, ann henhoeffer, gregory keen, marlene king, roger kumble, stephen lawrence, peter morgan, francis protat, sharon purdy, stephane reichel, andrew shea, neil stearns, michael swerdlick, miscellaneous notes.

Released in United States Fall September 8, 1995

Released in United States on Video January 30, 1996

Feature directorial debut for Kelly Makin who previously helmed a total of 28 episodes of the hugely popular TV series "The Kids in the Hall."

Began shooting August 22, 1994.

Completed shooting October 22, 1994.

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National Lampoon's Senior Trip

Cast & crew.

Matt Frewer

Principal Todd Moss

Valerie Mahaffey

Miss Tracy Milford

Lawrence Dane

Sen. John Lerman

Tommy Chong

Jeremy Renner

Mark "Dags" D'Agastino

• Average 2.6

Information

© TM & 1995 New Line Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Watch National Lampoon's Senior Trip

• 1 hr 31 min
• 5.6   (6,284)

National Lampoon's Senior Trip is a 1995 comedy film that follows a group of high school seniors from Ohio who embark on a wild road trip to Washington, D.C. The movie stars Matt Frewer as the principal who chaperones the trip, Valerie Mahaffey as the first lady of the United States, and Lawrence Dane as the director of the FBI. The film begins at Booker T. Washington High School in Ohio, where a group of seniors are eagerly awaiting their upcoming graduation. However, in order to graduate, they must pass a mandatory history exam. The school principal, Mr. Todd Moss (Frewer), announces that he will be chaperoning the annual senior trip to Washington, D.C. as a last hurrah before graduation.

The students, who are all a bit off-kilter, are excited for the trip and determined to make the most of it. Among the students is Vern (Jeremy Renner), a slacker who is constantly getting in trouble, and his girlfriend Suzy (Tara Strong), who is determined to keep him out of trouble. There is also Carla (Nicole de Boer), a drama queen who constantly overshadows her friend Lisa (Eleanor O'Brien), a quiet girl with a crush on Vern. Rounding out the group is Dags (Kevin McDonald), a conspiracy theorist who is convinced that the trip is a government conspiracy.

The trip gets off to a rocky start when the principal's car breaks down and they are forced to use a school bus for transportation. On the way to D.C., they encounter various obstacles, including a run-in with a truck full of pigs and a detour to a top-secret government facility that Dags is convinced is part of a grand conspiracy.

Once they finally arrive in D.C., the students are immediately taken with the sights and sounds of the city. They visit famous landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, and even sneak into the White House where Suzy has a chance encounter with the first lady (Mahaffey).

As the trip progresses, the group's antics escalate, culminating in a wild party on the steps of the Capitol Building. However, their behavior does not go unnoticed, and the FBI begins to investigate the group, suspecting them of being terrorists.

The final act of the movie follows the group as they try to clear their names and make it back home, all while avoiding the FBI's watchful eye. Along the way, they face various challenges and confrontations, but ultimately manage to make it back to Ohio in one piece.

National Lampoon's Senior Trip is a classic coming-of-age comedy that captures the spirit of youthful exuberance and rebellion. With its over-the-top antics and zany characters, it is a fun and entertaining movie that will have you laughing out loud from beginning to end.

Overall, National Lampoon's Senior Trip is a lighthearted, fun-filled movie that is perfect for anyone who loves a good comedy. With its quirky characters and crazy hijinks, it is sure to leave you feeling entertained and uplifted. Whether you are a fan of the National Lampoon franchise or just looking for a good laugh, this movie is definitely worth checking out!

National Lampoon's Senior Trip is a 1995 comedy with a runtime of 1 hour and 31 minutes. It has received moderate reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 5.6.

• Genres Comedy
• Cast Matt Frewer Valerie Mahaffey Lawrence Dane
• Director Kelly Makin
• Release Date 1995
• MPAA Rating R
• Runtime 1 hr 31 min
• Language English
• IMDB Rating 5.6   (6,284)

National Lampoon’s Senior Trip

There was a time when the "National Lampoon" name on a movie meant something, back in the days of "Animal House" and "Vacation." Now it means something else. In the case of "National Lampoon's Senior Trip," it means a witless item that is hurried through its theatrical window on its way to cable and homevid.

There was a time when the “National Lampoon” name on a movie meant something, back in the days of “Animal House” and “Vacation.” Now it means something else. In the case of “National Lampoon’s Senior Trip,” it means a witless item that is hurried through its theatrical window on its way to cable and homevid. New Line didn’t bother to press-screen the pic, presumably figuring it would be dead once word got out.

Story involves a bunch of seniors at an Ohio high school (actually shot in Canada), whose detention assignment is to write a letter to the president of the United States about why the education system has failed. The president is impressed and invites the kids to Washington.

There, a manipulative senator (Lawrence Dane) sees their arrival as an opportunity to use the moronic teens to embarrass his political rival.

This is an excuse for an unending string of jokes involving bodily functions including sex, flatulence, urination and regurgitation. If this is what teenagers are demanding to see, we’re in more trouble than the film acknowledges.

To his credit, Matt Frewer, as the principal, manages to flesh out his character to two dimensions; most of the rest of the cast are simply playing one-joke stick figures. Tommy Chong is the burnt-out bus driver known as “Red” because of his fondness for horse tranquilizers, while Valerie Mahaffey is the mousy teacher who really is a tigress. Kevin McDonald does add some life as a crazed crossing guard obsessed with “Star Trek” who, for unknown reasons, follows the students to Washington.

Otherwise, humor is subpar, as is the plotting, which imagines a senator being able to order every school in the country to use one food service and that the president would sit on a Senate committee panel. New Line’s best hope for a return here is that audiences will be attracted to its fall lineup, advertised by the string of trailers tacked on to the front of the film.

• Production: A New Line Cinema release of an Alliance production. Produced by Wendy Grean. Executive producers, Peter Morgan, Michel Roy, Neil Stearns. Co-executive producer, Stephane Reichel. Directed by Kelly Makin. Screenplay, Roger Kumble, I. Marlene King.
• Crew: Camera (color), Francois Protat; editor, Stephen Lawrence; music, Steve Bartek; production design, Gregory Keen; art direction, John Dondertman; costume design, Sharon Purdy; sound (Dolby), Tom Hidderley; casting, Ross Clydesdale. Reviewed at Cleveland Circle Cinemas, Boston, Sept. 8, 1995. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 91 min.
• With: Principal Todd Moss - Matt Frewer Miss Tracy Milford - Valerie Mahaffey Sen. John Lerman - Lawrence Dane Red - Tommy Chong Dags - Jeremy Renner Reggie- Rob Moore Milosky - Eric (Sparky) Edwards Travis Lindsey - Kevin McDonald

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National Lampoon's Senior Trip - Full Cast & Crew

• 1 hr 31 mins
• Watchlist Where to Watch

Ohio high-schoolers travel to Washington, D.C., to address a council on education reform.

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Executive producer, production designer, cinematographer, production company, art director.

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Senior Trip

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Product Description

A busload of fun-loving high school seniors on it's way to New York City - so watch out New York! The venerable Mickey Rooney and teenage heartthrob Scott Baio star in this freewheeling adventure that this senior class - and Manhattan - will not soon forget.

Product details

• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Kenneth Johnson
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 36 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ June 5, 2007
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Jason Alexander, Scott Baio, Bernard Barrow, Randy Brooks, Peter Coffield
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Telavista
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000PKG8XI
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #12,123 in Comedy (Movies & TV)

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The murder of Natalee Holloway finally has a resolution. Sort of.

It took six countries, 18 years, and a litany of lies, but Natalee Holloway and Stephany Ramirez both have justice.

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Throughout the tabloid frenzy, the international headlines, the years of rumors and myths of stranger danger and child trafficking, there was only ever one real main suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

The Alabama teen, who vanished from a beach in Aruba while on her senior high school trip in 2005, became one of the most famous missing persons cases of the decade. But despite the relentless media attention focused on her abduction, the likely perpetrator seemed to evade all consequences.

And five years later, when he murdered another woman, Stephany Flores Ramírez, on the fifth anniversary of Holloway’s disappearance, the victim’s family could only react in horror when they realized their daughter’s killer was the same man suspected in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway: Joren van der Sloot.

On October 18, 2023, while still under a 28-year Peruvian prison sentence for Flores’s murder, van der Sloot finally confessed to authorities that he murdered Holloway. He did so as part of a plea deal in which he was sentenced to 20 years in US prison — not for murder, but for extortion and wire fraud. Those charges resulted from a 2010 scheme in which he extorted $25,000 from Holloway’s mother while providing her with false information about Holloway’s murder. This time, however, van der Sloot’s confession included grim details of the crime that satisfied the court.

The process of obtaining van der Sloot’s confession and sentencing him at last was part of a long, complicated fight for justice that started in Aruba and ended with his extradition from Peru to Alabama, where the charges were filed. The saga is a stark reminder of how difficult and how long the fight for justice can be, how hollow it can often feel, and how many lives can change because of one crime. This story is also one of a sensationalized media full of true crime stereotypes, and of a second victim, Ramírez, whose story is often completely left out, even as Natalee Holloway’s death continues to make her a household name.

The circus to end all media circuses

Natalee Holloway’s senior class trip should have been a tropical breeze. It was the end of May 2005, and the 18-year-old had just graduated from high school in the wealthy Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, then one of the richest communities in the US. Friends described her graduating class of 124 students as “ close ,” and Holloway was popular, smart, and beautiful. Her senior creds were stacked with honors and extracurriculars, and she intended to study pre-med courses at the University of Alabama.

Their class trip destination would be Oranjestad, Aruba, a tiny island country and popular Caribbean tourist destination located just 18 miles north of Venezuela. Always reliable and an experienced traveler, Holloway should have been prompt for the return flight home. Yet when the students and their seven chaperones assembled in the lobby of the SunSpree Resort in Oranjestad on May 30, Holloway was missing — and alarm bells instantly sounded.

The resulting investigation into Holloway’s disappearance became an international media sensation, prompting weeks of nonstop coverage in the breathless 24-hour news cycle that had come to dominate the media of the aughts. Millions of Americans tuned in daily for coverage from media pundits who’d made reporting on Natalee Holloway part of their brand — including Nancy Grace, who first came to national prominence through her coverage of the case.

“The Holloway case is now one of the most popular reality shows in America,” Vanity Fair observed in 2006. When Lifetime aired a movie based on the disappearance in 2009, it became the highest-rated movie in the network’s history. Holloway’s senior photograph, showing her smiling with long blonde hair, became iconic, an indelible fixture of the media landscape. The media frenzy became one of the major moments that fueled public consciousness of Missing White Woman Syndrome (MWWS), the now well-known phenomenon in which young, pretty white women receive significantly more media attention than people of other demographics. Vanity Fair described Holloway as the syndrome’s “reigning princess.”

The attention missing white women get often means significantly more law enforcement efforts and resources are devoted to those cases than others. In this instance, however, the complexities of an international case, and the murky circumstances under which Holloway went missing, meant that Aruban authorities had their work cut out for them. Holloway had last been seen hanging out at a bar a few miles from her hotel the night before the students were due to fly back, and several people had seen her with van der Sloot, a local 17-year-old Dutch teen who allegedly had a reputation for slipping date-rape drugs into the drinks of tourists. From there, however, tracking her movements proved difficult.

Aruban authorities immediately launched an intense investigation that included offering a $20,000 reward for information, allowing FBI divers to survey the beach and ocean where Holloway could have gone missing, and arresting multiple suspects multiple times, including van der Sloot and several alleged accomplices. But the case quickly turned thorny, with Aruban authorities forced to release their suspects due to a lack of evidence, while Holloway’s parents, including her mother and stepfather, began to accuse the local authorities of corruption and cover-ups. Meanwhile, van der Sloot’s father, a wealthy and influential local attorney , had allegedly been pulling his own weight to protect his son from legal consequences — possibly even for years before Holloway’s disappearance.

For his part, van der Sloot gave multiple completely different stories to authorities and other people over the years, ranging from claiming complete innocence to implicating his father to saying he sold Holloway to a sex trafficking ring to saying she fell from a balcony or died of a seizure . In 2007, Aruban authorities arrested van der Sloot and two alleged accomplices on manslaughter charges, but then were ordered by a court to release them, due once again to lack of evidence. (Making a complicated case even more complicated, Aruba is a Dutch constituent and so adheres to the Dutch federal court system and legal standards.) Afterward, two different courts failed to grant arrest warrants in a subsequent investigation, and the case effectively went cold.

A messy investigation gets messier and darker

Then, in May 2010, van der Sloot received $25,000 from Holloway’s mother in exchange for details he provided about her murder — details that, according to van der Sloot himself, were “ worthless. ” He then attempted to extort another $225,000 from the family in exchange for leading them to Holloway’s remains. This never happened.

Instead, on May 30, 2010, just 20 days after the exchange between van der Sloot and Beth Holloway, and on the fifth anniversary of Natalee’s death, van der Sloot attacked and murdered Stephany Flores Ramírez. Ramírez, a bubbly 21-year-old who loved soccer and poker, had been majoring in business administration at the University of Lima when she met van der Sloot, who was in Lima for a poker tournament.

According to van der Sloot — whose confession should be taken with a grain of salt, given his propensity for lying on the record — the two of them were in his hotel room playing online poker when he told Ramirez that he was the prime suspect in Holloway’s murder, at which point she attacked him, hitting him. He then struck her in the head with his elbow and “strangled her for a minute.” Then he wrapped his shirt around her head and smothered her. “In this way I think I caused her death,” he said. He fled to Chile but was arrested shortly after.

Initially, according to an interview Ramirez’s brother Enrique Flores gave to CNN, the family thought the friendly man who’d been caught on hotel security footage with Stephany was a positive sign. “The people at the hotel told us, ‘Yeah, she was with this guy. He seemed nice,’” Flores said. “‘He looked like Brad Pitt.’” Authorities left Ramirez’s stricken family to learn for themselves who van der Sloot was.

“We came back home and searched his name on the Internet,” Flores told CNN. “I cannot tell you the shock we felt.”

“My wife typed ‘Joran van der Sloot’ into Google and started screaming,” he recounted. “I couldn’t believe it. How could it be that guy?”

Van der Sloot was sentenced in 2012 after pleading guilty to Ramirez’s murder and given 28 years in prison in Peru. That same year, Holloway was legally declared dead . A long effort then commenced by the US to extradite van der Sloot from Peru on the charges of extortion and wire fraud that he’d been facing in Alabama since 2010 over his exchange with Beth Holloway. Initially, Peruvian authorities wanted van der Sloot to complete his sentence for Ramirez’s murder before he could be extradited to the States. But finally in 2023, they allowed van der Sloot to appear stateside to face the charges. He arrived in the US in June and initially pleaded not guilty, but ultimately changed his plea and delivered a full confession.

In this graphic and hopefully final confession , van der Sloot claimed that he and Natalee were kissing on the beach when he pushed her down into the sand. When Natalee attempted to push him off, he began to attempt a sexual assault, at which point she kneed him in the groin. At that point, he said, he kicked her and then picked up a nearby cinder block and bludgeoned her with it, before pulling her body into the ocean and pushing it out to sea.

Although this confession satisfied the courts, it has several troubling and inconclusive aspects. For one thing, as websleuths have noted , if Holloway’s body had been pushed into the sea from the shore, the currents likely would have pushed it back onto the shore within a few days. (Van der Sloot has previously claimed he and his father together disposed of her body by transporting it by boat out to sea.) It’s impossible to know whether these details are true at this point, but given van der Sloot’s long history of fabricating details about Holloway’s death, it’s unlikely he could ever present a fully convincing narrative.

Even if Aruban authorities could find enough evidence in this confession to finally obtain an arrest warrant, the statute of limitations in Aruba for Holloway’s murder expired in 2017 . That makes the bar to prosecute van der Sloot even higher than it was in the years following her disappearance. And apart from his latest confession, which is, after all, just one of many, police so far have no new compelling evidence that could elicit an arrest warrant.

Still, the Natalee Holloway case remains open in Aruba — and something like an open wound for the community. The country’s mythos as a place for wild beach parties and illicit lifestyles became even more entrenched due to the constant media attention Holloway’s disappearance received, even though in reality the country has a low crime rate .

Culture clashes also impeded the investigation’s progress, as detectives accused the family of trying to steamroll a delicate process; in Aruba, Natalee’s family became brash , swaggering American stereotypes, and the media blitz surrounding her disappearance still smarts today. “It is essential to separate these critiques of the investigative process from perceptions of the Aruban people or the country as a whole,” one Aruban blog wrote earlier this year , summarizing the impact the case still has on the community today.

There are other open questions, as well. In 2010, Thai authorities were reportedly investigating van der Sloot for his alleged involvement in a local sex trafficking ring that resulted in the disappearances of two Thai women. It’s unclear what became of those allegations. What does seem clear is that van der Sloot’s predatory history likely predates Holloway and continued without stopping up until Ramírez’s death. In all that time, he evaded legal consequences again and again.

The invisibility of these two missing Thai women, and the utter lack of information we have about them, is a bleak reminder that even in one of the most highly publicized true crime cases in history, women of color can still be all but completely erased. Because of the dominance of Natalee Holloway’s name in every headline, Stephany Flores Ramírez continues to be a side note in her own murder; often, press write-ups of the developments in Holloway’s case mention her simply as an unnamed second victim.

As for Natalee Holloway, her still-technically-unsolved murder will forever be a question mark over the annals of criminal justice and the small island in the south of the Caribbean. Instead, what will last is her image as the smiling, vivacious teenager who captivated the nation in an outpouring of shock and support.

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