Dangerous Minds (1995)
Former Marine Louanne Johnson lands a gig teaching in a pilot program for bright but underachieving teens at a notorious inner-city high school. After having a terrible first day, she decides she must throw decorum to the wind. When Johnson returns to the classroom, she does so armed with a no-nonsense attitude informed by her military training and a fearless determination to better the lives of her students -- no matter what the cost.
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Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
Fresh and Exciting
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Every year I watch this movie 3-4 times to remind me of why I do what I do. It is relatable, unfortunately, and necessary for most teachers to watch. I cry every time but this movie is crucial to my educational career.
An inexperienced teacher, Louanne Johnson (Michelle Pfieffer) is assigned to a class of kids who come from rough backgrounds. They seem hopelessly unmanageable and the school management isn't of much help either. But by the end of the movie, the teacher earns the respect of her students through unconventional teaching methods and by showing genuine concern for them. Of course there are few disappointments but it is a happy ending on the whole.The entire movie is a cliché done to death by Hollywood. We have seen this story in "To Sir, With Love", "Freedom Writers" and countless other movies. I understand that these are biographies of people whose tales are worth telling. But, none of these films are any different from the others. If you've seen one, you've seen them all. Michelle Pfieffer is good as the inspirational pedagogue, but she does not bring anything new to the table. The students are a bunch of clichés we come to expect in these movies; there is the big bully, the bullied, the bright one, the joker and girls in bright-red lipstick, all in need of guidance. Not a bad movie as such, but there is nothing new in it. Watch it if you haven't seen any movie using this formula. Give it a skip otherwise.
I wish I had never watched it. Nothing from this movie came out original. Having watched a bunch of "inspirational teacher movies" this one came out lame. The teacher was rather annoying and nosy rather that truly caring and genuine. She was an ex-marine? She didn't look the part and didn't show any sign that she was ever under the rigid and disciplined Marine training. It would have been good if she used some Marine techniques in disciplining her students instead of using Bob Dylan poems to inspire her students. What was the point of making a weak copy cat of "To Sir With Love?" This movie is a sad one. A really sad movie as it should never have been made.
One reviewer said "unless you lived the life," and others said what they thought, and yet it got a total of 6 among 72 voices.I'm giving it an 8 and I believe it reverberated as "true" and "truth" with one exception: teachers often love their students and give them candy, but the likelihood of a teacher overcoming the system is nil; hence the story portrays truth among students and teacher, but totally fails to address how a teacher who cares, and cares as much as this one did, overcame the bureaucracy and went on teaching.The performances were great across the board and a movie worth seeing more than once.