Oh, it’s an awesome slice of martial arts cheese - Brazilian dance-fighting army vet takes on Brazilian dance-fighting drug-lords to win the hearts and minds of troubled youths via the power of Brazilian dance-fighting - and Mark DaCascos really ought to have been a bigger star than he was.
Funny, I just made the connection that my two least favorite movies (this one and The Trial of Billy Jack, whose trailer I was unable to locate above) are both about teachers.
Just another form of monster movie, I guess…!
Make that three, with Good Morning, Miss Dove–the only American movie I can think of that doesn’t ballyhoo rebellious individualism, but the necessity for a community to have a wise, self-sacrificing leader/shepherd to bring social cohesion.
Family Guy “Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High”
Brian becomes a teacher for some hopeless students.
Looks like it can be found under Season 4 on Hulu Plus.
What, like Mister Miyagi?
I watched Season 4 as a second-year (I think) teacher, and I spent many episodes curled on the couch in the fetal position. A little too close to home.
:smack::smack::smack:
Yes, I did.
Two TV movies based on Torey Hayden’s books are Untamed Love & Trapped in Silence.
Slight hijack - in the 70’s a very lily-white guy from a nearby small town in Illinois got his first job as a teacher in a ghetto area of Chicago.
First day of teaching - mostly black kids - he pulls one student aside on their way out of class. As was the fashion of the day, this kid had a rather large afro hair style.
Mr. Lily-White Clueless said, “I didn’t want to embarrass you in class, but you accidentally left your comb in your hair.”
Pretty much. My mother was a high-school teacher at the time and the movie enraged her… “Give me a class with only a half-dozen students and I’ll teach them all to be geniuses, too!” She was further enraged when her high school was “lucky” enough to hire Jaime Escalante as a superstar mentor teacher… and he proceeded to accomplish nothing much for his inflated salary and special funding.
Cross-referencing the Heinlein threads here, if you watch, the book Clea Duvall takes off the library shelf is The Puppet Masters.
Hamlet 2
Dana Marschz: You can’t let your ethnic narrow-mindedness stop your son from thriving in our culture.
Mr. Marquez: I have to take exception to that characterization.
that scene reminded me I was a teenager of a teacher/counselor ( not my high-school counselor) who said I was selling my self short because I was Latina. Oh, I was an honor student at the time too.
A Smile As Big As the Moon - Dedicated teachers send special ed kids to Space Camp.
Front of the Class - Teacher with Tourette’s overcomes odds to become an award-winning educator.
StG
Beyond the blackboard about an innocent young Mormon teacher getting a job in the ‘school with no name’ at a homeless shelter. Can’t get much more underprivileged than homeless and being part of an ethnic minority in Utah oughta count extra.
**Hamlet 2 **is one of those terrible/wonderful movies that makes you cringe and howl with laughter at the same time.
I can’t really think of any patronizing classroom movies other than ones that have already been listed, but the little-known** The Emperor’s Club** starring Kevin Kline, is kind of a good one - the main message being that while a good teacher can’t help ALL of the students (one of the teacher’s favorites is proven to be a cheater) he can help SOME of the students to be better people. Also includes a lot of politics within the school (funding, legacy students, morality/ethics) that a new teacher might find interesting.
There’s a lot of urban hip-hop movies that take place in schools where delinquent kids end up finding confidence in themselves through dance, but most of them don’t have a focus on the teachers.
Take the Lead, with Antonio Banderas does, though. Watch Antonio get through to urban thug-life kids via the SEXY POWER OF TANGO.
It’s not about inner-city kids, but the Dead Poets Society is cheesy enough for a pallet of Ritz and a few cases of wine.
Which is based on a documentary about a real program in New York City: Mad Hot Ballroom. Never underestimate the glorious SEXY POWER OF TANGO.
No one has mentioned Boys Townwith Spencer Tracy.
Really? No one mentioned Stand and Deliver or Dangerous Minds?