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Summary: Perseverance and Determination
Review: Morgan Freeman plays an excellent role as principal Joe Clark of a crippling New Jersey high school. The school was falling apart because of neglect from the teachers, parents, community, and state government. Joe Clark stormed in and fixed all that with old-fashioned techniques by getting everyone involved in the school and its students. Clark didn't back down despite the powers that be that were against him. The supporting roles from Robert Guillaume and the late Lynne Thigpen helped make the movie a good watch.
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Summary: Morgen Freeman at his best
Review: One of the best movies I hav seen.
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Summary: Lean On Me: The Two Joe Clarks
Review: Reviewing a film like LEAN ON ME presents a moral dilemma for the serious reviewer. On the one hand the reviewer is supposed to judge the movie on its own merits regardless of how far off from true life it is, and on the other hand to ignore totally the distinction between the real life and the Hollywood protagonist is to take the morally easy way out. What the film presents is a mythologizing of a man who has made a career of bending the rules to achieve socially desirable goals while punishing and humiliating those who serve as his subordinates when they dared to bend those same rules.
As the movie opens, Paterson High School is shown to be a school in name only. It is far more anarchic than anything Glen Ford had to face in BLACKBOARD JUNGLE. To emphasize this point, director John Avildsen subtly plays the song "Welcome to the Jungle," thereby justifying whatever means Principal Clark wishes to take to restore a sense of order and learning. During the course of the movie, Morgan Freeman plays Clark as a principal who fights evil with evil. In such situations, it is a given that the protagonist will accomplish his goals, much to the applause of a cheering audience. No one seems to notice that Clark's methods are not only morally questionable, but are downright illegal. Witness his impromptu expulsion of dozens of the high school's worst students without due process or his chaining of the school's fire doors to keep neighborhood drug dealers out. Finally, witness Clark's handlings of his teachers. He cannot hide his belief that they are all incompetent buffoons who totally deserve his fury. The point that Avildsen, Freeman, and certainly Clark himself who served as a technical advisor wish to make is that the means justify the ends. By the end of the film, the audience has learned this message.
LEAN ON ME is a technically competent film. Freeman is convincing as Joe Clark. The script is literate, given the speech patterns of most of the actors. The audience is carried along from one mini crisis to another without bothering to think about what has passed in front of their eyes. And it is precisely here that the moral reviewer finds his dilemma. I thoroughly damn the true life Joe Clark as a sadistic megalomaniac with the same fervor that I praise the Morgan Freeman interpretation of Joe Clark. No one said that movies had to mirror reality, but I want this review to be like the little warnings on the sides of cigarette boxes: 'Caution: Viewing May Be Harmful to your Ethics.'
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Summary: The Reformation of Eastside High School
Review: The movie, Lean On Me, focuses on the vigorous efforts of one man, Joe Clark, to clean up Eastside High School and make it a safe enviroment conducive to learning. The Joe Clark, portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the movie, began his task with a domineering, aggressive manner that held the ideal that the positive outweighs the negative. With a transactional leadership quality, Clark immediately gains control of the schoolthrough "challenging the process" as he reprimands the school's faculty for the current state of the school. His next step was to expell students deemed as undesirable trouble makers. Altogether, 300 students were told that they were no longer welcome at Eastside High School. The antagonist in the movie is a mother of one of the expelled students who immediately begins plotting Clark's demise, and continues to do so throughout the movie. While reforming the school and working to raise student test scores, Joe Clark not only transforms the school for the better, but also goes through a personal reformation as he learns to show appreciation for those working with him to accomplish a shared vision.
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Summary: Should be required viewing for principals
Review: There's much to learn hear about leadership, management, and discipline. All of which seem to be in short supply in many of our public schools. But that may be more of a result of lethargic school boards rather than faculty. Morgan Freeman is transformed into Joe Clark, the brash, hard nosed, take no prisoners principal of the all too real East Side High. His principles are straight forward. 1) Discipline. No cigarettes, weapons, mouthing off, grafitti, drugs, tardiness. 2) Personal responsibility for both teacher and student alike 3) Pride in yourself, your race, your community, and your institution. 4) Hard work. And perhaps most importantly 5) the value of an education to affect your opportunities in life.Joe Clark listens, encourages, chastises, and directs students and faculty. And perhaps most importantly he is accessible. Walking the hallways, attending classes. Although his measures may have been at times extreme and not in keeping with popular sentiment you could not argue with his results. The film works and I definitely rate it as a purchase just not necessarily a classic.
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Summary: I can't praise this movie enough!
Review: This is a "feel good" movie about a principal who wants to instill hope in kids and "lead them on to victory," but his actions are not without consequences. The school board and the parents in the community will stop at nothing to remove him from his position. It will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. A very inspirational movie! All you will get out of the DVD is just the movie. There are no "extras" such as commentarys, screen shots, credits, and so on. This doesn't even detract from the movie because the movie stands on its own two feet without the extra fancy stuff. I wholeheartedly recommend this movie and don't think you will be disappointed!
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Summary: Outstanding!
Review: This is a movie that the so called 'black leaders' wouldn't want inner city kids to watch. Why? Because Clark told the inner city kids that it is up to them what happens in their life. The Jesse Jacksons of this world make living by making inner city kids feel like helpless victims. The one line Clark said to those kids summed it all up, "If you don't suceed in life, I don't want you to blame the white man. I don't want you to blame your parents. I want you to blame yourselves. The responsiblity is yours."
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Summary: For years to come this story will always be an inspiration
Review: This is an excellent movie. I first watched this movie when I was about 11 years old. It was powerful for me then and as a educator in the inner city is more powerful now. This is a wonderful depiction of a at risk high school that was revamped and made better as a result of a man's vision and hard work. Although radical at times, the story shows how staff worked together despite their differences to reach a group of students that would have been left to the cruel streets if someone hadn't cared. Wonderful inspiration during a time when teachers are taken for granted. Great character ed movie for young at risk students.
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Summary: an excellent movie that you never want to end!!!!
Review: This is my favorite movie that has came out on video so far. Morgan Freeman does an excellent job in the strict, but determined principal that turns a run down, student run school into a place where learning and education is exciting. The younger students really did a great job of supporting the great acting of Freeman. This is a must see movie to pay close attention to and think long and hard about. Lean On Me has all the basics of an everyday life explained and interpreted through a high school principal. 5 stars!!!!!
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Summary: One of my favorites..
Review: This is simply one of the best movies ever produced, whether you are or aren't into "black culture" or movies of this genre, after viewing you, you will most likely atleast be able to appreciate a film, and story like this. I think the majority of people know the story of this movie, if not, you can read reviews from critics, so I will not discuss many points of the movie. If you are looking for an inspirational story from real life, check this out, if you are intersted in teaching in inner cities, check this out, if you are looking for just a good movie that may make you "feel good" then check this out. Morgan Freeman is brilliant in this film, along with many of the student actors. You will laugh, smile, at times be upset at Mr. Clark, and you may even cry. The only problem with this DVD is just that there are not a lot of extra features. However, because the movie is what you buy it for, I will not knock it that much, and, because the DVD can usually be found for under 10 dollars, you can't expect many extra features. Do yourself a favor, and check out this flick, It's one of the best.
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