The Last Prom
Release: January 01, 1980

Driver's education film depicting the dangers of drinking and driving, and teenage alcohol use. The movie was frequently shown during the spring of the year, as such milestone events as prom and graduation were upcoming in many students' lives. The underscoring idea was, of course, to encourage students to make the right decisions about alcohol use and peer pressure. Told as a documentary, "The Last Prom" is set at a high school in Indiana, and is centered around the school's upcoming prom. Told in flashback — the movie opens with a shot of a wrecked van in the school's parking lot — best friends Sandy Clark and Judy Grant are helping decorate the school's gymnasium for the big dance. They are asked to the event by the "big men on campus," Bill Donovan and Jim (no last name given). With foreshadowing evident throughout the film, the four prom-goers enjoy a few dances before Bill, who has snuck alcohol into the dance, convinces everyone to go for a ride in his newly customized van. As the effects of alcohol take hold, Bill begins to drive recklessly and eventually crashes into the side of a railroad viaduct. Sandy is critically hurt, and the action shifts to the hospital where emergency room doctors are unable to save her life. The movie ends with Sandy's funeral and the teacher pointing out to students that Sandy's desk would remain vacant for the rest of the school year; the teacher also tells that Bill is facing a long legal battle, while Judy (nothing is said about Jim, who presumably survives) will require months of hospitalization; indeed, her desk — which sat next to Sandy's — was to remain vacant as well.

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