The Buddy System is a 1984 American romantic comedy film starring Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Nancy Allen, Wil Wheaton and Jean Stapleton. The film was directed by Glenn A. Jordan who is better known for directing and producing numerous television films and television dramas. The film follows the story of a cautious single mother who forms an unlikely friendship with her son's school security guard. The Buddy System was Wil Wheaton's first major film role and his second non-television role after the 1983 film Hambone and Hillie.
Emily Price is a single mother: she got pregnant in high school and was abandoned by the father before her son, Tim, was born. She and Tim live with her mother, who is both protective and disparaging, and tends to overlook her daughter in favor of her grandson. She is trying to become a court reporter, but freezes up every time she takes the test. Joe comes into their lives when he is sent out to do a residency check by the school: Emily and Tim have been lying about where they live so he can go to a better school. The price for Tim is loneliness: he can't tell anyone where he lives. Joe, who is an aspiring novelist and an inventor of gadgets, decides not to report them and strikes up an unlikely friendship with Tim that gradually escalates to include Emily as well. Previous romantic entanglements - for Emily, the withholding Jim; for Joe, the beautiful but self-absorbed Carrie - intervene while Emily gains courage and independence and Joe comes to understand where his real talents lie.
The buddy system is a procedure in which two people, the "buddies", operate together as a single unit so that they are able to monitor and help each other. As per Merriam-Webster, the first known use of the phrase “buddy system” goes as far back as 1942. Webster goes on to define the buddy system as “an arrangement in which two individuals are paired (as for mutual safety in a hazardous situation).” The buddy system is basically working together in pairs in a large group or alone. Both the individuals have to do the job. The job could be to ensure that the work is finished safely or the skill/learning is transferred effectively from one individual to the other.
In adventurous or dangerous activities, where buddies are often required, the main benefit of the system is improved safety; each may be able to prevent the other becoming a casualty or rescue the other in a crisis.
When this system is used as part of training or the induction of newcomers to an organization, the less experienced buddy learns more quickly from close and frequent contact with the experienced buddy than when operating alone.
The buddy system is a procedure in which two people operate together as a single unit so that they are able to monitor and help each other.
Buddy system may also refer to: