15 Best Teen Movies Ever Made, Ranked

Hollywood didn't always cater to the whims of young people. Kids, teens, and college students weren't seen as potential customers with money to spend. That idea has shifted over the years as studios came to realize that kids convince parents to pony up at the box-office, teens go to the movies to be with friends, and young twenty-somethings just want a break from the world.

Those teens are far from a monolith when it comes to the kinds of films they like (as evidenced by our list of the best high school movies). One constant, though, is that they — like most people, honestly — tend to like seeing themselves on the screen. Movies focused on teenagers, in response, have gifted viewers with stories about teens finding romance, facing challenges, being with friends, rising to meet their future, and more.

Here, we're looking at 15 of the best teen movies ever made, and we've ranked them too.

Cher (Alicia Silverstone) has it all. She's popular, rich (via her family), and filled with purpose as a matchmaker for her friends and acquaintances. The only person not under her spell is her stepbrother (Paul Rudd)... who might be her own love match?

Writer/director Amy Heckerling crafts something special with "Clueless" as a film that's both timeless and very much of its time. The dialogue is a mix of valley girl lingo, familiar jibes, and smart observations. The supporting cast (which includes Brittany Murphy, Donald Faison, Jeremy Sisto, and eternal teen Wallace Shawn) is pitch perfect. And the romance between Cher and Josh (Rudd), while unconventional on its face, is fueled by fun and genuine chemistry.

As mentioned above, teens like to see themselves on screen, but they also like to see their aspirational selves. Cher may not seem like a realistic teenage girl given her exaggerated outfits and vocabulary, but those things are mere set dressing for someone who thinks they have their life together only to realize that some things are well beyond our control. Plus, if you like "Clueless," be sure to check out these movies.

The small Colorado town of New Granada has a problem. Its endless efforts to grow and attract new businesses are neglecting their own growing demographic — teenagers whose efforts to occupy their time are growing restless, dangerous, and violent.

Most movies centered on teens seem to focus on the happier times. The fun, the parties, the romance, and the kinds of challenges that are surmountable on any given day. Jonathan Kaplan's "Over the Edge" takes a different tact and instead delivers a cautionary story about the dangers of dismissing these teens as mere children. The result is a raw, affecting story that probably shocked more than a few parents back in 1979 (and inspired Richard Linklater).

The film's writers were inspired by true events unfolding in a small California town with rising juvenile crime, and their script balances the exploitative nature of it all with observations on the causes. Some teens are miscreants, sure, but the adults depicted are actively taking away the young people's outlets for fun and social interaction. They're giving the teens nowhere to go except, you guessed it, over the edge.

Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemaszko) is a focused highschooler who wants only to get good grades, enjoy his teen years, and move on to adulthood. Today throws a wrench into those plans, though, when he accidentally crosses a new bully and is challenged to a fight in the parking lot after school.

Bullies and the picked upon are a constant presence in teen movies with some of the greats like "My Bodyguard" and "The Chocolate War" just missing the cut here. Where "Three O'Clock High" gets the edge is in its wit and presentation, both of which combine to craft a more poppy and palatable piece of entertainment that still retains a beating heart at its core.

Jerry is that beating heart, and Siemaszko's performance does a great job playing up both the silliness of it all and the sincerity of a teen who's legitimately worried for his safety. Bullies tend to be bigger, and Buddy (Richard Tyson) is a clear threat, but friendship, determination, and a litle bit of luck go a long way.

An all-girl Japanese teenaged pop band lose their lead vocalist just days before an important gig, and their desperation leads them to try and recruit the first girl who passes by. They luck out as Son (Bae Doona) says yes, despite being Korean.

There's often an unchecked energy in movies about people forming a band (like those found in our list of the best movie bands). From "School of Rock" to "We Are the Best," they're films fusing art forms and focusing on creativity and expression. Nobuhiro Yamashita's "Linda Linda Linda" confirms that trend applies to Japanese cinema as well with a film that captures the magic of our teenaged years with warmth, humor, and catchy songs.

The film bounces between hectic times and the lazy dreams of characters whose whole lives are ahead of them. It's about their now and their future and how each is as important as the other, and more than all of that, it's about the music — creating, listening, and loving music that speaks to the joys of life. It's a beautiful thing.

Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) is feeling overwhelmed by life. His parents are always riding him, his health is always failing him, and his teen years aren't exactly thrilling him. He could use a wakeup call, and his best friend Ferris (Matthew Broderick) might be just the jolt he needs.

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" really belongs to Cameron. Ferris is the eternal cool kid, the one beloved by teens and adults alike as he glides through life unaffected and untouched. Cameron, though, is us (or most of us, anyway) as we deal with doubts, fears, and everyday concerns.

Does that essentially make Ferris into a modern-day Mary Poppins? Kind of, and that's the joy of it all, even if most people think this is Ferris' story. Writer/director John Hughes was a powerhouse of teen cinema in the 1980s, and while cases can be made for the likes of "Pretty in Pink" or "The Breakfast Club," it's this film that remains endlessly quotable, relatable, and rewatchable so many years later (no matter what Jack Nicholson thinks).

It's Chicago in the mid 1960s, and high school is coming to an end for a group of friends. None of them know what their future holds, but all of them are hoping to make today count through a series of choices ranging from the warm and wise to the terribly misguided.

Director Michael Schultz's "Cooley High" is often highlighted and praised for being an important work in Black cinema, an inspiration for filmmakers like Spike Lee and Robert Townsend, and the source material for what would become the television hit "What's Happening!!" All of that is true, but the film is equally worthy of discussion and celebration as a fantastic teen movie, period.

A loose plot runs though the film in the form of relationships and future dreams, but this is a hangout movie like "American Graffiti" and "Dazed and Confused." Friends and acquaintances cross paths, have fun, find love, have adventures, and all of them look to a future that's far from guaranteed. The film delivers cool and casual vibes punctuated by reminders of reality (and scored to a terrific Motown soundtrack), and all of it hits home.

High school in southern California just hits different. The sun, the beach, the feeling that anything and everything is possible and just hanging in the air for you to grab. A handful of students at Ridgemont High finds different results trying to do just that.

Amy Heckerling's second film on this list, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," is the raunchier, funnier, and far more honest look at the teenage experience and marked a turning point in teen cinema. Writer Cameron Crowe actually went undercover at a SoCal high school to understand the students, the vibe, and the overall reality of teens of the time. The result is a film that balances big laughs and goofy beats with some hard truths and observations.

Love and sex are a twin focus for many of the teens here, and the film doesn't sugarcoat the experience that is heartbreak, betrayal, and shady sexual encounters. Some of it is explored via sad, sexy, exploitative exchanges, while other moments just let reality come crashing in. Woven throughout it all, though, is an abundance of great characters, funny dialogue, and a monster cast of future stars.

The economy is in freefall and violence reigns, so the Japanese government implements an annual event meant to entertain and intimidate. A high school class is abducted, shipped to an island, and forced to fight until just one winner remains.

The premise behind Kinji Fukasaku's 2000 hit "Battle Royale" might seem a bit familiar to fans of post-apocalyptic YA books and films that came years later, but that's just coincidence [cough]. Even if you've seen those blockbuster American movies, though, this Japanese classic hits at a much higher weight with its story about teens thrown into a violent world they didn't create, and it's arguably one of the best Japanese horror films as a result.

The initial shock of it all hangs in the air as the teens break into familiar groups — friends stick together, young couples face a future where only one of them can survive, loners thrive or die under the pressure. The characters are sharp and feel lifted directly from your own high school years into a landscape splashed in carnage and misery. That it's also hugely entertaining, suspenseful, and affecting are unexpected bonuses here. Seek out the director's cut now if you've yet to see it.

Jim Stark (James Dean) is prone to trouble, and a new start in a new town is unlikely to change that. He tries to turn a new leaf, but life — and his fellow hot-headed teens — just won't let him, and soon knife fights, young love, and drag racing are filling his nights.

You can't have a list of the great teen movies and not include what might be the earliest classic of them all. Nicholas Ray's "Rebel Without a Cause" is an exploration of troubled kids from middle-class homes. This isn't cinema's typical portrayal of gang members or inner-city delinquents — this is a film about kids from "normal" homes who find their way to violent misbehaviors and criminal acts, and it's a deliberate effort to highlight youths in distress regardless of class.

Released shortly after his death, this is arguably the film that Dean is best known for, and it captures him in the role of a troubled young man in need of support. It's seen as cool, tragic, and romantic, but the film's ultimate theme is that we need to do better by our kids.

Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) wants to date Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), but her father's simple rule prevents it. She can't date until her older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) does too, but Kat has zero interest in the teen rituals. Well, until she meets Patrick (Heath Ledger).

There have been several modern films inspired by the works of William Shakespeare, including "She's the Man" and "O," but the best of the bunch is 1999's "10 Things I Hate About You." Gil Junger's film, co-written by Kirsten Smith & Karen McCullah, riffs smartly and entertainingly on "The Taming of the Shrew," resulting in a film that transcends teen cinema to become a stellar romantic comedy.

The entire cast shines, but Stiles and Ledger showcase an irresistible chemistry dancing between banter and flirtation, and dislike and love. It's as sweet and funny as they come, and while the rom-com tropes remain, there's a refreshing angle here with Kat — far from the shrew envisioned by Shakespeare — being able to rebel and stay true to her feminist beliefs right through to the end.

Si'r (Chang Chen) is a disappointment to his parents, and that disconnect only grows after he's assigned to night school in an attempt to get him back on the straight and narrow. Instead, Si'r finds new emotions he's wholly unprepared to handle.

There's a bit of a jolt going from the bright, sunny fun of the film above to the tragically truthful reality of "A Brighter Summer Day," but it's still a journey worth taking. Its details speak to very specific issues and concerns in Taiwan both in the 1960s and beyond, but its broader truths will resonate with parents from anytime and anyplace.

As with a few other films on this list, one of the themes at play here involves the culpability of adults in the lives and fates of the youth. Teens make their own choices, of course, but they can only work with the tools given to them by the rest of us. A parent's stress and troubles shouldn't add to the weight of a teenager's already tenuous and tumultuous existence because the result could be tragic.

The summer of 1962 is coming to an end, and high school graduates are celebrating their final hours of freedom before adulthood comes calling. For some it'll be in the form of college, for others the Vietnam War, but for now, it's all about tonight.

George Lucas is best known for the "Star Wars" universe, but "American Graffiti" remains an all-timer that succeeds brilliantly in capturing a very specific time and a place. It's the cusp of adulthood as seen through the eyes of young men unsure what comes next as they cruise their small town's main drag in search of girls, adventure, and the last vestiges of youth.

So many in the cast here were also on the cusp of stardom — Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Harrison Ford, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Kathleen Quinlan — that it can't help but magnify the moment in unexpected ways. There's a looseness to it all as we jump between characters and vibes, but all of it is warm and welcoming like a hangout with our own friends who we long since said goodbye to.

Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill) are nerds who can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel that is their senior year of high school. They make a plan to change their image and their fates by facilitating a wild party with the girls of their dreams, but life gets in the way.

There's a whole subgenre of teen cinema featuring characters trying to lose their virginity, from the silly ("Porky's") to the heartbreaking ("The Last American Virgin"), but Greg Mottola's "Superbad" tells the tale for a new, savvier generation. Sex is still on characters' minds, but the film is focused on how friendship changes as we grow up.

As heartfelt and surprisingly affecting as the film ultimately is, it's also incredibly funny from start to finish. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg co-wrote the movie, and it features a bevy of young talent onscreen with Cera and Hill joined by then-newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a rising Emma Stone, and the hilarious Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Joe Lo Truglio, and more. Situations are exaggerated without losing sight of the truth behind each beat, and it lands as one of the greatest teen comedies of all time.

Angel (Kristy McNichol) and Ferris (Tatum O'Neal) couldn't be more different. One is a tough girl from the wrong side of the tracks, and the other is a socialite's daughter who's never wanted for anything. They meet at summer camp, hate each on sight, and are soon competing to have sex first.

While films about teens racing to lose their virginity are common, they almost exclusively focus on the boys. 1980's still underseen "Little Darlings" is the rare exception that puts teenage girls front and center while still delivering laughs, engaging characters, and genuine heart. Director Ronald Maxwell, working from a script by Dalene Young and Kimi Peck, walks a fine line around the subject by letting the girls seem salacious even as the film itself is smartly sensitive about it all.

McNichol and O'Neal are both fantastic here. Characters that risk feeling like caricatures find their shape and heart as the two discover their similarities tower over their differences. Lies, truths, and the increasingly diminished space between lead to an unexpected friendship that leaves with a warm heart and a smile on your face.

Veronica (Winona Ryder) has grown tired of hanging with her elite, snobbish friends known as the Heathers — as all three of them are named Heather — and she finds a new affection in her school's new bad boy, J.D. (Christian Slater). Too bad he wants to kill all of her classmates.

While some teen films courted controversy with sexually frank material, Michael Lehmann's "Heathers" goes a far darker route (and aimed to be even darker). The end result is a razor-sharp satire about social cliques, performative grief, and lemming-like personalities. Daniel Water's script is as funny as it is dark, and its reflective look at a small community reacting to teen suicides with dishonesty offers up a biting commentary on our collective mishandling of too many "delicate" subjects around the youth.

The realization is that the kids are all right as long we stop treating them like babies and start respecting them like teens. It's not easy, but they're stronger than society often gives them credit for. It's a bold message for a thirty-seven-year-old movie told with the kind of grim humor we're unlikely to see in modern teen movies, and that makes it all the more relevant today.