When a beautiful first-grade teacher (Olivia Williams) arrives at a prep school, she soon attracts the attention of an ambitious teenager named Max (Jason Schwartzman), who quickly falls in love with her. Max turns to the father (Bill Murray) of two of his schoolmates for advice on how to woo the teacher. However, the situation soon gets complicated when Max's new friend becomes involved with her, setting the two pals against one another in a war for her attention.

Anderson cited many inspirations for the film, with Chinatown, The Graduate and Harold and Maude often being most closely associated with Rushmore. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Westival 2025 is Showroom Cinema's full retrospective of the director’s cinematic works across two all-day events on 4 and 18 May. All tickets £6.

Director Wes Anderson
Year 1998
Duration 1h 33m
Language English
Cast Jason Schwartzman, Olivia Williams, Bill Murray