Just watched this, the TV-movie sequel to To Sir, with Love, on YouTube just now. It begins back in London where Mark Thackeray (Sidney Poitier) retires after 30 years from the high school he taught where we first met him along with his now-former students played once again by Judy Geeson and Lulu. We then see him go to Chicago, my birthtown, where he will now be teaching a new bunch of problem students of various races. Do I get a sense of deja vu here? To be honest, nothing can touch the original in terms of charm and entertainment but Poitier is still a fine actor in his twilight years and the players playing his students this time do have their chance to shine. And this time, we get a little background on what Sir had been doing before that fateful time he first set foot in that English school so that's a plus. Since this was a network production with all that entails concerning standards, there's no realistic-like dialogue which would probably be pretty profane concerning the students but there's still some believability in the way these pupils put themselves out there in talking about themselves. And despite the limited running time with commercials being considered during each fade-in, director Peter Bogdanovich manages to make each scene count. So on that note, To Sir, with Love II is at the least worth a look. And since this is the last day of Black History Month, I probably will take a break from reviewing another film involving African-Americans for a while. But if you like my reviews and are reading this under my username, all I'll say now is watch this space for anything further I may comment on in the future...
