Oxford Blues

If you enjoy a coming of age story set at Oxford University, you will enjoy the movie. If is fun to watch a self absorbed and arrogant young American student finds that there are more important things in life than his own fantasy of success. Learning to be a man of Character and having others recognize and trust his growing leadership is a great lesson for young people.

Great flick

A young Rob Lowe. Fun movie, decide story line. Wanted to add it to my movie collection. Seen it when it was first at the movies.

This is one of those blast from the past movies. I loved the setting, Oxford University. The buildings and scenes in the town and along the river were wonderful. The acting by Rob Lowe and Ali Sheedy isn't award winning, but it gets you through the plot. The focus is on rowing and that really makes the film worth seeing. Rowing at the British universities is huge and especially at Oxford and Cambridge. Very few films have really addressed it but this movie does a fairly good job of it, surprisingly.The film quality is old compared to the newer films, but this was made over 30 years ago, so that's to be expected. I was glad to find it on Amazon and at this price. Usually these old films aren't for rent anymore, only for sale, so it was a nice surprise to find it here for 2.99. If you're a fan of rowing and especially of rowing at Oxford, you'll like this film. I highly recommend it.

For years I waited for this 1984 movie to be released on DVD and when it finally was made available "on demand" at Amazon.com I hesitated purchasing it. I heard some of those do not play well. Not my copy of Oxford Blues.Growing up in a small British Commonwealth country I yearned for college education in England and Cambridge was my dream college. (Some thirty years later I entered graduate school in Chicago).I rented Oxford Blues shortly after it played in theatres in the early 1980s. I loved it, and kept a VHS copy. Grad school went smoothly but there were days when I simply tired of evening studies after work and felt like throwing in the towel. Each time I felt that way I interrupted my studies and popped the VHS into the player to see glorious Oxford University, the rowing team, the debating society, the revered latin-speaking professor and, oh yes, the adventurous Nick De Angelo. And after each viewing I was motivated all over to pursue my heart's desire.Oxford Blues is 5 stars all the way. It's great to be young!

I love this film. I first saw it back in the mid 80s and enjoyed this newer version of "A Yank at Oxford". Rob Lowe did come across as a very convincing brash American whose behavior does not sit well with the natives. He was very pushy, even interfering with a couple's relationship. You knew right from the start that he and Lady Victoria would never end up as a couple. Amanda Pays was lovely in the role, she was from an upper class family but she was very down to earth and I enjoyed watching Lowe's attempts to win her over. But the performance I enjoyed the most was Ally Sheedy's, Rona. She was quite wonderful. I also knew right from the start that she would end up winning Lowe.

So my friends and I were in Oxford, England and one of us brought up this movie. So, that evening after a long day in Oxford, in our airbnb, we watched it. Then, I remembered why I forgot it in the first place...it was a bland and forgettable movie. But for us forty-somethings it was incredibly nostalgic, watching Rob Lowe in his prime in an eighties movie with all the styles and things of the era. It was also fun seeing all the place on film that we'd just visited. So three stars for a trip back to the eighties with all the fun things I remember from my teen years...including Rob Lowe!

Watched the dvd a couple times already since I got it.

This is a riveting, gritty, true-to-life expose of Oxford student life, as informed by real people who actually went there. It tells you everything you need to know, from dealing with wacky dons, to rowing in a leather jacket, to copping off with Lady Poshknickers, to getting in by the time-honoured method of hooking up with a dodgy cougar in Vegas.If you have an interview at Oxford, take this DVD in with you, show it to them and say "I know everything there is to know about this place" and they'll not only let you in, they'll give you the Rowing Room, and think it quirky when you crash your sports car into the side of the college.Essential, eye-opening movie.

Nick De Angelo (Rob Lowe) is a brash young American student who gambles his way into Oxford University so that he can meet and fall in love with the beautiful and wealthy Lady Victoria Wingate (Amanda Pays). Up until now he has only seen her in magazines and newspapers. Initially, he asks a colleague (Chad Lowe) to move his name up on the list, ensuring his place. But there is a price for this. He works nights as a parking attendant at a casino and this is where he meets the wealthy and recently widowed Las Vegas Lady (Gail Strickland). Together they win a few thousand dollars and Nick is then able and ready to pay off the computer hacker and fund himself at Oxford.Arriving at the university, he instantly makes friends with Rona (Ally Sheedy) and Geordie (Julian Firth), and he meets his university Don, Simon Rutledge (Alan Howard). Rona falls for Nick, but he is still besotted with Victoria and attempts to make an impression on her, although his methods are often reckless and impulsive. He understandably upsets Victoria's finance, Colin Gilchrist Fisher (Julian Sands), and further enrages Colin's friends, Lionel (Cary Elwes) and Gareth (Anthony Calf). Both Nick and Colin are keen rowers and Simon tries to encourage Nick to work as part of a team instead of going solo. Simon also explains that marrying into money is not straightforward.He wants to build Nick some character.Throughout the film, Nick gets into one scrape after another, due to his brashness and often selfish ways. He is kicked off the rowing team at one point, unsuccessfully attempts to beat Colin at a singles rowing race, falls victim to Victoria's flirting and takes her out despite warnings from Gareth, and is eventually expelled from the University, or sent down. The movie is a hard learning experience for Nick. However, towards the end he is given the chance to change his ways, to value others, whether that means in love or friendship; to finally build himself some character and maybe see that his real love has been right in front of him all the time.Oxford Blues (1984) is an early vehicle for Rob Lowe, the actor following up successful roles in The Outsiders (1983), Class (1983), and The Hotel New Hampshire (1984). It is directed by Robert Boris, who would later direct Lowe in Frank & Jesse (1995), and produced by Cassian Elwes and Elliott Kastner. It is also a re-make of A Yank At Oxford (1938). The soundtrack is written by John Du Prez (who is best known as a member of the 1980's new wave pop band Modern Romance). Other co-stars include Michael Gough, Peter Jason, Aubrey Morris, and Bruce Payne.I like film and saw it when it was initially released on VHS back in my teenage years. It is quite similar to Youngblood (1986) in many ways and, although it met with generally negative reviews, I think the movie was well-directed and acted throughout. It was clearly Boris's intention to cast Lowe and Pays as the new Robert Taylor and Vivienne Leigh; but, he has also made the film his own, which is what I think the critics should have seen instead of comparing it to the earlier film. As 1980's teen films go, Oxford Blues is an above average effort.

Loved this film in the 80s, just had to reminisce.

I love this movie, have to say I am a very big fan of Rob Lowe ,and in this particular film is gorgeous and funny. The film also teachus the importance of build "character" and help others without expecting anything in return.great .I love it.

A bit too American with scenes of Oxford thrown in as a travelogue - but otherwise it is harmless.