It was Gordon's directorial debut, and stars John Glover, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Wallace Langham (credited as Wally Ward), and Doug Hutchison.

New student Jerry Renault (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) must submit to the bizarre rituals of his peers and the expectations of the school's administration by selling chocolates as a fundraiser.

Leon needs the sale to succeed so no one will know he overstepped his authority in spending $20,000 of school money on the chocolates, and The Vigils cannot have anyone getting the idea that someone can defy them and get away with it–which is exactly what the students see happening.

The Machiavellian and creative Archie Costello, Assigner of The Vigils, summons Jerry to a face-to-face meeting before the secret society and orders him to sell the chocolates.

At the same time, he organizes a Vigils-backed publicity campaign at Trinity, under a simple yet brilliant slogan that he presents to the other Vigils: "We'll make selling chocolates popular."

Hounded everywhere he goes, Jerry is cornered on the way home from school by Emile Janza, a strong and brutish boy brought into the harassment campaign by Archie.

The final scene shows Obie Jameson, the new Assigner of The Vigils, gleefully giving orders to a subdued and humiliated Archie, who has been demoted to Secretary.

[2][3] Sheila Benson, writing for The Los Angeles Times, praised the movie, calling it "a first-rate adaptation" of Robert Cormier’s "dark, cautionary tale about personal freedom" and a "haunting allegory" that "may be best remembered as the directing debut of Keith Gordon.