Despite being left off most quirked-up mood boards, Rushmore is one of Wes Anderson's finest comedies. This early work is the story of Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman, in his break-out role). He's 15, wildly ambitious, and a scholarship student at the Rushmore Academy, a private school for boys. The captain of every extracurricular activity available, and also the captain of the ones that aren't, Max spends all his time doing anything but keeping up his grades. Embarrassed by his warm-hearted barber dad (Seymour Cassel), he forms an unlikely bond with Herman Blume (Bill Murray), the wealthy father of some of Max's least favourite classmates, who wants to help him realise his dreams. Unfortunately for Max, one of those dreams (Olivia Williams) is shared by the two of them.

Written with his longstanding collaborator Owen Wilson, this is one of Wes Anderson's finest screenplays – deadpan, hilarious and whipsmart. Beautifully styled and set to the kind of perfect soundtrack Anderson would come to be known for, the film shot Jason Schwartzman to stardom and was the beginning of a long filmmaking relationship with Wes (see also: The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel…). It was also the beginning of the Bill Murray renaissance, laying the groundwork for his late-career persona transformation from comedian into the saddest man alive.