# "Dazed and Confused" trio sue Linklater **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470 "2004-10-10T14:43:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/1 "2004-10-10T14:43:26Z")
Embarrassment and Ridicule _Pink : All I’m saying is that if I ever start referring to these as the best years of my life - remind me to kill myself._ Kinda disappointed in Pink. But then my last day of high school was not turned into a cult movie. ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/2 "2004-10-10T15:17:26Z")
I had no idea they were based on real people. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/3 "2004-10-10T17:04:35Z")
Geez, me either. I do have an urge to go down to Huntsville to point and laugh now, though. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/4 "2004-10-10T18:02:17Z")
Why did they wait so long that they had to file in another state because the statute of limitations had run out? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/5 "2004-10-10T18:58:25Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > Why did they wait so long that they had to file in another state because the statute of limitations had run out? Because they are stoned slackers, d’uh. Didn’t you see the movie? ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/6 "2004-10-10T19:50:18Z")
Pretty lame lawsuit, yet I wonder why Linklater didn’t even bother to change the surnames? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/7 "2004-10-11T00:37:40Z")
And they thought that if they never left Huntsville their lives would get _better_? What a bunch of losers. Oh, wait, then I guess the lawsuit is groundless. A bunch of losers want to sue for being portrayed as . . . a bunch of losers. Maybe–and I know this is a stretch–maybe they just want some money. Whaddya think? ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/8 "2004-10-11T11:44:20Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Maybe–and I know this is a stretch–maybe they just want some money. Whaddya think? heh Not much of a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/9 "2004-10-11T13:00:38Z")
> [@aaslatten](#): > > Pretty lame lawsuit, yet I wonder why Linklater didn’t even bother to change the surnames? My first thought exactly. It does seem that they are simply after money, but Linklater didn’t have to be so obvious, did he? I wonder why this didn’t come out in the past 10 years - not necessarily the lawsuit, just the fact that they were based on real-life people… Was Ben Affleck’s character’s inspiration one of the three guys? I know two of them were Wooderson and Pink - you’d think Affleck’s guy would be the most pissed since his character is such a schmo… When I first read about this, all I could do was go “hunh?!” and chuckle a bit… ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/10 "2004-10-11T13:19:19Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Was Ben Affleck’s character’s inspiration one of the three guys? I know two of them were Wooderson and Pink Pink, played by Jason London- main character, didn’t want to sign “no drugs” contract with football coach. Wooderson, played by Matthew McConaughey- older guy, working for the city (money in my pocket), likes the highschool girls because “I keep getting older, they stay the same age.” Slater, played by Rory Cochrane- long-haired super-stoner “Behind every great man there is a great woman, and that woman was Martha Washington, and every day when he came home she had a big fat bowl waiting for him, man. She was a hip lady, man, a hip hip lady.” You’d figure O’Bannion would sue just for having to have been portrayed by Ben Affleck! 😃 As I’m starting to doubt my chances of successfully romancing Milla Jovovich, perhaps I’ll swing on down to Huntsville and look up the real Michelle Burroughs! ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/11 "2004-10-11T13:23:46Z")
I am surprised that a studio lawyer wasn’t involved before the film was made – or assuming he/she was they didn’t ask about the real people/potential libel issue. Very odd: something is wrong – either these guys DID know and OK’ed it before the film was made or a Studio legal Dept. really dropped the ball ---
**Author:** ![kka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@kka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kka)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazed-and-confused-trio-sue-linklater/268470/12 "2004-10-11T13:41:29Z")
Over ten years, and they are just now suing? :dubious: