Character Spotlight: Randall "Pink" Floyd

Randy Floyd is the good-looking, high school QB (in the 1970s, and probably even now, this makes you a bit of a star in a small town).  You can tell he's a big deal because the old guy and his wife grab him coming out of the bathroom at the baseball field and the old guy asks him if his left arm is ready to throw about 2000 yards this fall (even though you can see that Randy is right handed earlier in the movie when he's in front of the high school and crumples up the pledge and throws it with his right arm).

He is a genuine everyman - comfortable hanging out with his fellow jocks, but also the geeks, the stoners, and the misfits. Watch the movie closely and you'll see Randy is happy hanging out with any group. Normally someone in such a position doesn't question much, because they are too busy enjoying being naturally popular, good-looking and successful (in a social high school sense).

But our young Randall has more on his mind.  Make no mistake, like Don he is using high school to enjoy life as much as he can.  But he's also got more of an eye on the future, even if he doesn't know what that exactly might be.  He yearns for more than the big fish in a small town scenario that he's in presently.  By contrast, his peers (like Benny and Melvin) are totally living in the now, obsessed with the now, of winning a State Championship.

Mr. Floyd recognizes more than his peers.  But he also has a conscience that holds him back more than his circle of friends.  Right off the bat, he isn't going to sign the pledge, and his closest friends know it - early on Don notes that he's going to make a big deal over it.  Also early on, Melvin picks it up after Pink throws it away in front of the school, Benny has a serious talk about it at the beer bust, and Wooderson gives it to him after finding it in his glove compartment, inspiring a once-in-a-lifetime speech about all the rules they will try to get you to follow.

You'll note that for all the paddle-making his friends do, Randy has to borrow a paddle the one time he's (faking) going after a freshman.  Randall "Pink" Floyd does not bother to make his own paddle because he doesn't intend to beat any freshmen.  You could call it a plot hole that all his jock friends painstakingly make their custom paddles, but he doesn't.  He and Melvin perform a great, unspoken mind-meld to prevent O'Bannion from getting second licks on Mitch in the parking lot after the baseball game. He goes along with their paddling enthusiasm to a certain extent, but never actually partakes in the activities.

Of course, we eventually find out that Mr. Floyd got the paddles pretty badly when he was an incoming freshman.  You can see the parallels very clearly draw between Randy Floyd and Mitch Kramer.  Randy absolutely sees himself in Mitch, and does his best to take him under his wing for likely that reason.  There's also probably a secondary factor of definitely having a bit of a thing for Mitch's older sister, Jodi.

Simone tells him on the football field, "Yeah, I mean, c'mon Pink, I can't believe this, you act like you're so oppressed, man, you guys are kings of the school, you get away with whatever you want, what are you bitching about?" Most people would be content with having that kind of power in high school, but not Randy.  His response is, "Well, look, 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." That is a very clear statement about him looking forward to what he considers better things in the future, as opposed to accepting the benefits he has in high school.  Yes, high schoolers (including boys) can be overly-dramatic, but Randy is really feeling this.  When do you think Randy came to the above conclusion about his time in high school?  Was it recently?  I would have to assume so, even though his friends know he is generally stubborn. 

There's actually a lot of tangents going on here.  He yearns for more, absolutely.  He may not even imagine what that more might be, but he's restless. At the same time, he clearly very much enjoys the trappings of the popular kid in high school - hanging out with his friends, getting high, getting drunk, fooling around and raising a bit of hell.  Remember though, he's kind of stuck - he has nothing better to do at the moment than take advantage of his current position as "king of the school".  The question is, does he realize he could possibly spend less time doing that and more time setting himself up for the future he wants?

So Randy knows he wants more than being the king of high school, but he doesn't know exactly what that is.  It most certainly means getting out of the small town he lives in, and generally (at least in the 1970s) there are two ways out of a small town - academics or sports.  I won't even mention acting or art or music, as those are even longer shots than sports, even though early on in the movie Pink tells Don they could replicate their football success by being in a band.  We don't get the impression that he is a stellar student, which would be one sure way out.  He might be able to get a sports scholarship to a great university, but that assumes he wants to continue playing football. 

Randall "Pink" Floyd could really go either way - for every star QB that goes on to stardom at the college level, there are many who never make it.  Even the fact that he's a high school senior he may indicate that he's already trapped in his small town, or in a lifestyle that isn't enough for him.  That would be awfully sad, for the young man to realize that he wants more after he finds himself basically trapped.  Then again, if you want it bad enough, it's never too late to try and not end up hanging out with Wooderson through your 20s.