# Help a teacher out: movies to end the year?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 20, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843 "2007-05-20T20:13:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@El\_Perro\_Fumando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Perro_Fumando)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/1 "2007-05-20T20:13:49Z")
So here’s the scenario: I’m a math teacher in a high school that has a strange structure to it. Our finals are given over 4 days, which are then followed by two “make up” days. Math finals are given on day 3 of finals, so I will be with my students for 3 more days after our course is complete. I cannot have them all help me pack up my room for 3 days, as that would be finished way too quickly. I do have a laptop and LCD Projector at my disposal, so I could show a movie over the course of three 45 minute class periods, but need help finding something to show.
So here are the qualifications:
PG rating or lower
No sex
No drugs
Maybe some rock and roll
Should have some math-related character or plot element
Needs to be easily obtainable - either cheaply at the store or through Netflix
Needs to be something that will not drive me crazy (I’ll be showing each part 6 times in a day before moving on to the next part)
Any suggestions?
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### Author:  [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/2 "2007-05-20T20:20:42Z")
[Stand and Deliver](http://www.amazon.com/Stand-Deliver-Edward-James-Olmos/dp/6305161917/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3708509-1472033?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1179692232&sr=8-1) is the classic story of a math teacher in hispanic LA who gets his presumed low-level kids through ap calc (over the course of a couple of years).
I’ve never seen the [film](http://www.amazon.com/Flatland-Film-Simon-G-Hammond/dp/B000NJ60FM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3708509-1472033?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1179692319&sr=1-1) , but Flatland the novel is always popular.
-Good Luck
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### Author:  [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/3 "2007-05-20T20:21:22Z")
A second vote for [Stand and Deliver](http://imdb.com/title/tt0094027/). It’s probably going to be even more interesting to today’s young people now that Edward James Olmos is better known because of Battlestar Galactica.
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### Author:  [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/4 "2007-05-20T20:25:28Z")
[October Sky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132477/) is a fine movie that both the kids and the teacher can enjoy.
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### Author:  [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/5 "2007-05-20T20:31:07Z")
I had suggested _Alice in Wonderland_ for its fun logic content, and the family friendly Disney moniker, until **El Perro Fumando** pointed out that, at 75 minutes, it’s too short to make three days of it. But if there are any other short suggestions that could double up with Alice (or for that matter, any list of multiple shorter choices), that’d work too.
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### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/6 "2007-05-20T20:31:14Z")
Another for **Stand and Deliver**. I watched this in my senior year math class in HS when we had the same setup for finals.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/7 "2007-05-20T20:32:15Z")
It’s the end of the year, let them have fun.
To that end, **Spider-Man** is a scientist.
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### Author:  [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/8 "2007-05-20T20:54:37Z")
_Stand and Deliver_ was my first thought. There is a line in there from Angel, the Lou Diamond Philips character that my daughters quote at each other to confound their friends. “. . .and his body’s decomposing in my locker.” Cracks 'em up every time.
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### Author:  [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/9 "2007-05-20T21:04:13Z")
It’s a pity you can’t do rock & roll movies. An oldie called “Don’t Knock the Rock” has both an anti-alcohol message and a roll-the-eyes factor for today’s kids. I saw it on late-night AMC.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/10 "2007-05-20T21:05:42Z")
Moved from IMHO to CS.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/11 "2007-05-20T21:06:33Z")
I’m guessing that [_Proof_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377107/) is probably a little to mature for your classes; ditto for [_Enigma_](http://www.amazon.com/Enigma-Special-Dougray-Scott/dp/B0000AKCJM/) or [_Pi_](http://www.amazon.com/Pi-Sean-Gullette/dp/078401213X/) (the latter was an almost unwatchable film, anyway.) Hmm…there’s not really much in the way of movies about mathematics or mathematicians, though I see that there are a couple of films currently being made about Srinivasa Ramanujan.
How about [_Real Genius_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/)? It’s pretty dated, being from the mid-Eighties, but still good fun (one of Kilmer’s best turns at humor before he decided to become “an _ACTOR_”) and most of the terminology is suprisingly accurate for Hollywood even if the central plot device is laughably implausible.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@El\_Perro\_Fumando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Perro_Fumando)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/12 "2007-05-20T21:17:09Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train]
I’m guessing that [_Proof_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377107/) is probably a little to mature for your classes; ditto for [_Enigma_](http://www.amazon.com/Enigma-Special-Dougray-Scott/dp/B0000AKCJM/) or [_Pi_](http://www.amazon.com/Pi-Sean-Gullette/dp/078401213X/) (the latter was an almost unwatchable film, anyway.) Hmm…there’s not really much in the way of movies about mathematics or mathematicians, though I see that there are a couple of films currently being made about Srinivasa Ramanujan.
How about [_Real Genius_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/)? It’s pretty dated, being from the mid-Eighties, but still good fun (one of Kilmer’s best turns at humor before he decided to become “an _ACTOR_”) and most of the terminology is suprisingly accurate for Hollywood even if the central plot device is laughably implausible.
Stranger
[/QUOTE]
Yes, the ones you suggested in your first paragraph are a little too mature for my students. **OMD** also suggested **Real Genius** , but I will have to watch it again to be sure I’d be ok to show it. I don’t have tenure, and I don’t want anything I show to come back and bite me.
Thanks to everyone who suggested “Stand and Deliver”, I’ll have to check that one out too.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/13 "2007-05-20T21:48:17Z")
[Cheaters](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218094/), which despite apparently having been made-for-tv is on DVD. Or perhaps [The Perfect Score](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314498/). Play 'em back to back and see who looks all nervous 😃
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/14 "2007-05-20T22:32:11Z")
_A Beautiful Mind_, perhaps?
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/15 "2007-05-20T22:38:51Z")
[QUOTE=El Perro Fumando]
**OMD** also suggested **Real Genius** , but I will have to watch it again to be sure I’d be ok to show it. I don’t have tenure, and I don’t want anything I show to come back and bite me.
[/QUOTE]
Given that it includes a line to the effect of “Can you pound a six inch nail through a board with your penis?” you might want to find something else.
Here’s some [Mathematical films](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mathematical_films) from Wikipedia along with a [list of films about mathematicians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_about_mathematicians).
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/16 "2007-05-20T22:41:55Z")
Looking at that list, I recommend [Sneakers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakers_%28film%29). It’s PG-13 (for “brief sexual references” but I don’t remember anything that bad). 126 minutes, so you can do three 40 minute segments.
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### Author:  [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/17 "2007-05-20T22:59:19Z")
Let’em have fun. Show “Arsenic and Old Lace”. It has a little bit of math in it…
> [@IMDB](#):
>
> [Discussing the body count]
> Dr. Einstein: You got twelve, they got twelve.
> [Angrily grabs Dr. Einstein’s necktie]
> Jonathan Brewster: I’ve got thirteen!
> Dr. Einstein: No, Johnny, twelve - don’t brag.
> Jonathan Brewster: Thirteen! There’s Mr. Spinalzo and the first one in London, two in Johannesburg, one in Sydney, one in Melbourne, two in San Francisco, one in Phoenix, Arizona…
> Dr. Einstein: Phoenix?
> Jonathan Brewster: The filling station…
> Dr. Einstein: Filling station? Oh!
> [Slits throat]
> Dr. Einstein: Yes.
> Jonathan Brewster: Then three in Chicago and one in South Bend.
> Dr. Einstein: You cannot count the one in South Bend. He died of pneumonia!
> Jonathan Brewster: He wouldn’t have died of pneumonia if I hadn’t shot him!
> Dr. Einstein: No, no, Johnny. You cannot count him. You got twelve, they got twelve. The old ladies is just as good as you are!
😃
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### Author:  [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/18 "2007-05-20T23:01:24Z")
[QUOTE=Marlitharn]
Let’em have fun. Show “Arsenic and Old Lace”. It has a little bit of math in it…
😃
[/QUOTE]
And history!
_Chaaaarge!_😃
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/19 "2007-05-20T23:06:57Z")
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- the classsroom scene (Bueller? Bueller?)
- the parade scene (Twist and Shout!)
[Ferris Bueller](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091042/)
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-teacher-out-movies-to-end-the-year/404843/20 "2007-05-20T23:16:23Z")
I would recommend _Proof_, but it does have one sex scene. I don’t recall if _Contact_ does, but if not, it’d be a good choice. And I’m certain that _Apollo 13_ meets all your criteria (there’s not much math shown on screen, but it’s pretty clearly there).
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