Dance 'til Dawn

Dance 'til Dawn
Dance 'til Dawn DVD cover
Directed by	Paul Schneider
Produced by	Whitney Green
Written by	Andrew Guerdat Steven Kreinberg
Starring	Christina Applegate Alyssa Milano Brian Bloom Tracey Gold Chris Young Tempestt Bledsoe Matthew Perry
Distributed by	NBC
Release date(s)	October 23, 1988
Running time	100 minutes
Language	English

Dance 'til Dawn is a 1988 made for television teen movie directed by Paul Schneider.

Plot

Shelley Sheridan (Alyssa Milano) and her jock-boyfriend Kevin McCrea (Brian Bloom) are Herbert Hoover High's most popular students. When she refuses to sleep with him, they break up shortly before their senior prom and are forced to find new dates on borrowed time. Everyone assumes Shelley will find a new boyfriend in no time; when she can't, Shelley gets scared. She lies to her friends that she's going to a frat party. She avoids the crowd by visiting the town cinema to watch an old horror movie. There she runs into school geek Dan Lefcourt (Chris Young). Dan is avoiding his father (Alan Thicke), who thinks Dan has a good social status in high school. Ostensibly using him so she won't run into her friends, Shelley soon discovers Dan is a really nice guy.

When one of his friends claims he's slept with an unpopular girl, Kevin, who is determined to "do it" after prom, decides to invite Angela Strull (Tracey Gold) to prom. While Angela is delighted with having Kevin as her date, her friend Margaret (Tempestt Bledsoe) doesn't trust it at all. Not only does Kevin have to convince Margaret he is serious, he discovers that Angela's overprotecting, religious fanatic pharmacist-father Ed (Kelsey Grammer) - the primary reason for her low social status - is impossible to deal with. He chases the two "lovebirds" all night, eventually getting arrested for his trouble.

Meanwhile, the beautiful but obnoxious Patrice Johnson (Christina Applegate) is confident she'll be named prom queen. To that end, she's arranged for an all-night celebration with her boyfriend Roger (Matthew Perry), whom she is having on a string. Her only competition is Shelley, who isn't there...but Angela appears in Cinderella fashion, and she and Kevin are voted prom queen and king. Kevin tries to get Angela into bed, but she resists and confronts him about his real reasons for asking her; when he explains that he really does like her now, she points out that he should have liked her first.

By the end of the film, at a popular diner where everyone conveniently shows up, Angela has learned that her parents had to get married because they had conceived her while they were high school students; confident after her night as prom queen, she informs them she's going to art school in Italy rather than Bible college. Kevin ends his night without sex but defends Angela's honor when his friend makes a lewd comment. Shelley and Dan announce that they are going steady, much to the shock of every senior in the room.

Cast

Teens

• Brian Bloom as Kevin McCrea
• Alyssa Milano as Shelley Sheridan
• Christina Applegate as Patrice Johnson
• Chris Young as Dan Lefcourt
• Tracey Gold as Angela Strull
• Matthew Perry as Roger
• Tempestt Bledsoe as Margaret

Parents

• Kelsey Grammer as Ed Strull
• Edie McClurg as Ruth Strull
• Alan Thicke as Jack Lefcourt
• Cliff De Young as Larry Johnson
• Mary Frann as Nancy Johnson

Others

• Lewis Arquette as Pawnshop Owner

Reception

References

External links

• Dance 'til Dawn at the Internet Movie Database
• Dance 'til Dawn at AllRovi
• Dance 'til Dawn at Rotten Tomatoes