Ras les profs!

The movie "Teachers" pledges to fight for the cause of education, pointing out what's wrong in a damaged system that awards students who don't even show up in class, mocks the school system and also guarantee some laughs with it. The message is good, it's not anything out of this world, but the intersection of genres and some choices get in the way of making this a greater film.

Despite this being a 1980's flick, "Teachers" is not dated and feels more relevant now than ever. Schools like the one depicted here are quite common, with variations on the same tune: precarious places with uninterested teachers and even worse students, and directors trying to please themselves and the government with false statistics to get more funding, that always gets lost somewhere. It'll open some eyes about the obstacles inside the educational system and the politics behind one of the greatest tragedies of all: present students and future workers have their potential wasted under those circumstances, a present with no knowledge and a future without opportunities. You know the rest of the picture in real life, and it can only turn darker.

A high school is facing a lawsuit from one of their former graduated student who passed all exams but who doesn't even know how to read. This premise, so far, looks dumb cause this kid benefited, in a way, of the institution policies and then got mad he got shunned off by possible employers, then sue them? No judge in their right mind would accept that. Anyway...The prosecutor (JoBeth Williams) goes to the school to find out what really happened and if the teachers knew about this wrongful approval. One of the masters is a former teacher of hers (Nick Nolte), an idealistic man she saw as an example to be followed but at the current moment is deeply involved in the place's mode of conducting business: they need to get more budget and they can only guarantee that with results - which they don't have because they are a low quality school (but the government doesn't know that!). It's a game of pretending but he teaches, he cares about his students, and that's why the woman is convinced he can help her to make her case against the school, after knowing that no one's gonna help her there.

In between the battle of ideologies Nick's character has with the prosecutor (the institution's reality vs. the dreamy cause of education) and the obstacles he faces with the board of directors, he tries to save some conflicted students - a rebel boy (Ralph Macchio) neglected by his divorced parents, who is forced to take reading classes in order to pass since he was already pushed grades after grades by thousands of other teachers - and a girl (Laura Dern) who was knocked-up by a PE teacher, and I guess you can see that this will be the turning point of the story. Luckily, the movie escapes from the worn out clichéd of dangerous school filled with robbers, punks and thugs who threat colleagues and masters.

What attracted me the most was the level of reality brought into the story. Absurdity is a norm in that kind of movie, and "Teachers" has plenty of that, but it stays close to the truth in some aspects, with the teachers routine in class and in the meetings with their peers during breaks. Directors putting pressure on teachers to get results favorable to them? Sure, and they do that with students too. I personally seen during my high school years a director assembling the last seniors, explaining to all of us how important the state's exam was, rudely demanding to do our best. You know what everybody did? Boycotted the exam. By that, I mean, the majority flunked those tests on purpose. Why going right if no one's gonna stay there one more year? It's all about providing big budgets to the school.

The movie's a delight, humored, serious when needed but it's overloaded with baggage. It deals with problematic schools (avoiding some clichés though), some romance, the lawsuit, troubled kids (but never dangerous as portrayed in many existing realities and films out there), disenchanted masters vs. idealist types, and more. It's like Mr. Hiller wanted all and wouldn't want to settle for less, but in the end he accomplishes half way with everything he wanted because it's just too much to cover. By the time a murder takes place, it all falls out of place and the upcoming moment is an hilarious scene where the true nature of Richard Mulligan's character is revealed, cutting off any possible moment of sadness for the dead student. I think the writer and the director should settle with something: or invest in a real drama like "Lean on Me"; or be somewhat satirical; or an anarchic comedy like any other of its kind.

The final message provided here isn't all that easy to accomplish, and I'm not sure if it is even possible. Teachers challenging the system is a good cause but it can only work if students, parents and the community get involved, and the administration (governments included) be willing to fight for the best cause for all. Education is the fundamental right that paves the way to all the other rights. 8/10

I saw this movie again recently and even though it was exaggerated a little, I thought it was pretty good. I went to both public and private schools in the 70s-80s and saw many of the same sort of teachers and administration in both types of school. I had teachers who didn't care, who just couldn't teach, and those who actually did try to engage the students and do a good job, and all of those types, although exaggerated a little, are portrayed here. I've also seen clueless principals who just hid out in their offices all day and were in their car driving away 5 minutes before the final bell rang.

Around the time the movie was released, I read a news story about a girl who was valedictorian of her school, in the National Honors Society, but flunked out of college due to being unable to read because of dyslexia and she ended up suing her school.

This wasn't clearly the case in the film, but should a student who can't perform to a minimum academic standard or doesn't even show up for class and turn in work still pass and get a diploma?

The fact the school was more concerned with with its image than with addressing the issue is something I also saw in school growing up and even now. In my area recently, a local doctor sued his son's former school over unrefunded tuition money. He claimed his son was bullied there for a couple of years and complaints and meetings with school officials didn't help, so he enrolled his son elsewhere. When he unenrolled his son, the school would only refund the unused portion of tuition if the father signed a confidentiality agreement stating he wouldn't discuss what went on there. Sound familiar?

Although a bit over the top, Teachers is an example of what went on, and probably still goes on, in schools and is worth seeing.

"Teachers" really doesn't do justice to show us the real world of teaching in a school. But I found it to be a funny and touching movie anyway. An excellent cast came together to create this satire about the lives surrounding teachers, students, and faculty members of an Ohio high school. The main plot of "Teachers" is about a former student (who's never seen) who plans to sue his alma mater, and the pressures the faculty is forced to take. Nick Nolte is very good here as a popular social studies instructor who doesn't play by the rules; Judd Hirsch is also good as the Vice Principal who's a longtime friend of Nolte's. Other cast members include Jobeth Williams as a lawyer (and former student of Nolte's) who's firm is defending the person suing the school; Ralph Macchio ("The Karate Kid") as a troubled student who develops a friendship with Nolte; Oscar winner Lee Grant as the school's superintendent; and the late Emmy winner Richard Mulligan (TV's "Soap" and "Empty Nest") as a mental patient who passes himself off as a subsitute teacher for a history class and acts out all of the historical events by dressing up in costume. Even Morgan Freeman, Laura Dern, and Crispin Glover are featured in small roles before going on to bigger projects (Freeman in "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Shawshank Redemption"; Dern in "Jurassic Park" and "Rambling Rose"; and Glover in "Back to the Future"). All these actors are well cast. "Teachers" isn't a great film, but a good one. I was entertained by most of it, although there are a few preposterous moments. For one thing, I don't buy for one second that a teacher can win three consecutive teaching awards for the most orderly taught class, and then spends every class session everyday reading the newspaper and falling asleep while his students do their school work in class. That's not teaching. This character should not have been included in the script, or at least make him teach. This is absolute nonsense. But I loved the early scene when this instuctor (using some kind of paper machine in the school offices) gets blue ink squirted in the face by the school psychologist who wants to use that same machine (this comes because of his refusal to let her use the machine and as a result the woman flips out). Also, the scene where a woman walks naked down a school hallway is ridiculous. "Teachers" is nonsensical at times, but nevertheless I found it entertaining as I watched it.

*** (out of four)

Except for the shock of JoBeth Williams idiot-level strip tease, plus a few other sharp digs about school teachers you and I have hated or loved, I can't think of a single reason to pay any attention to this Arthur Hiller glob of pretentiousness. Whatever Hiller did to elicit what Judith Crist said was "arguably George C. Scott's finest screen performance" in The Hospital, he didn't do it here for Nick Nolte or Williams or anyone else involved. What we're left with is a stale attempt to expose the darker workings of an American high school, but unlike The Hospital and its wonderfully scorched-earth approach to the runnings of a major healing center, Teachers just makes you want to vote for vouchers--and get your money back from the place you rented this dreck.

The movie itself shows nothing really new, but the acting is pretty good and everyone is well cast. Especially Ralph Macchio, who gives a great performance as a troubled youth, and doesn't give one of those annoying ones like he did in THE KARATE KID III. Nick Nolte is also enjoyable as the teacher who doesn't want to follow the school's standard procedure. Too bad the movie didn't get the notice it deserved.