To Sir, with Love II

Proof that Sidney Poitier does not always have the Midas touch. You knew all along that Mark Thackery was going to succeed, so no surprises there, and no real satisfaction either. But the BIG TURN-OFF was the sheer idealism of the movie. The teens Thackery is trying to convert just aren't gritty and dirty enough. The moment when Thackery returned from his short retrenchment and the class began chanting 'Thackery' in unison epitomised that for me. It was a moment was total unrealism. This movie just did not work, despite good intentions I'm sure. 4 out of 10 because I'm not feeling generous.

I saw and loved the original movie To Sir With Love. Sidney Poiter is one of my favorite actors. I really enjoy classics. After watching the original movie for the umpteenth time I was beginning to wonder what ever happened to S.Poiter. Wondering if they ever made a second or would ever make one... then just days after think that, I saw an advertisment for To Sir With Love 2. You can imagine how overjoyed I was. I could hardly wait to see this movie to see if it could be as good as the first. I was very much pleased with it. If you enjoyed the first you will enjoy the 2nd. I am also happy to say that I have passed on, to my very young daughter, my love for the classic movie. As a matter of fact she is at this very moment watching the original To Sir With Love and not for the first time I might add. Sidney Poiter is a very handsome man and a very good actor and everything and I mean everything he has done has been wonderful. And I might add that he looked as young in the 2nd movie as he did in the first. I would love to know where he found the fountain of youth.... but I am sure that is a secret only God knows.

I saw To Sir, With Love 1 when I was young, and it stayed with me. I always wanted a teacher like Mark Thackery, but I was never lucky enough to encounter one. I had no ideal that they had made the second one until one day, I was lucky enough to catch it on Starz! Three people at my house sat mesmerized by Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackery's second chance after being retired from English schools to help kids that needed help and had been discarded from life. I found it to be very believable, and so did my friends. We would all recommend this movie. If you get a chance to see it, watch it. It's definitely worth your time.

After 30 years at his old school in England, Mark Thackary leaves on mandatory retirement, and gets a job teaching in Chicago. Lulu and Judy Geeson are back reprising their roles from the original for the beginning send-off. The Chicago coming-of-age scenes are mostly predictable, but Poitier is as smooth as ever, and the two main brothers do a marvelous job. The original was a great movie. This sequel is an enjoyable time-passer. Daniel J. Travanti does a good job as the feckless principal.

Someone who knows how much I adore Poitier's no nonsense demeaner and noble characterizations taped this film for me one evening when I informally voted that it would not be worth my while to make a b line home to see it. Though I appreciated the favor, the tape sat on my shelf for many a year. All I recalled about the production were the brief previews that served as ample warning that the film would aire. Truthfully, I was kind of Poitiered out. Nobody went around public speaking talking about his book and showing clips of his works as much as I did. I particularly enjoyed the Bill Cosby pairings of comedies, the "In the Heat of the Night" and "Shoot to Kill" cop flicks and the career founding race films that literally and figuratively were black and white. The first "To Sir with Love" was passable but finding difficulty joining the lofty ranks of the aforementioned 3 category favorites. With "Fame" and "Good Will Hunting" among my favorite school theme films and "With Honors" and "Breakfast Club" doing admireable jobs at rounding out that theme category, I found it hard to believe there was a place for a partially commited to Poitier project to have any impact. For all intents and purposes, I wrote this project off and kind of kept my distance from it the same way a boxing fan might refuse to go see a very old Ali take on Berbick. Almost a decade after first recorded I watched this "To Sir with Love 2" and was surprised to find that it has it own healthy niche'. The first few minutes shows the 80 year-old thesbian playing a teacher moving about the city with a theme song that sounds both dated and amateurish, however this cheesiness is only misleading and does not hint of the good stuff that follows if you stick with it. There are plenty of good teaching techniques peppered with periodic morale lessons. Blunted violence and self censored language may come across as humorous or unrealistic, however it does not take away from the overall message and in the end plays a major part in the movie's charm. For the umpteenth time, another score for Poitier, even though I thought he was done.