The Principal

Plot synopsis:
Rick Latimer (Jim Belushi) is a high-school teacher with a drinking problem. Spotting his ex-wife Kimberly (Sharon Thomas Cain) in a bar one night, Rick gets into a fight with the man she's with, culminating in his beating the hapless man's car with a baseball bat.
The board of education finds that Rick's behavior is reflecting poorly on the school district's image. They unanimously decide to transfer him to another school, in another district: Brandel High, a crime-ridden and gang-dominated institution, where he is made the new principal.
Believing he can repair his image by cleaning up the school, Rick attempts to have an assembly to declare his intentions: "No more." No more drugs, running in the hallways or being late to class. While he's giving his speech, Victor Duncan (Michael Wright), the leader of the main gang in the school, walks in, derides Rick in front of everyone, then walks out, which eventually results in a small riot, which earns Rick the enmity of not only the teachers but also school head of security Jake (Lou Gossett Jr.).
Eventually, Rick manages to enforce his policy of getting rid of the drugs being dealt in the bathrooms and clearing out the hallways — but not always with success. Because the students are now forced to go to class, some of the more unruly students become increasingly disruptive, including White Zac (J.J. Cohen), who eventually attempts to rape one of the teachers, Ms. Orozco (Rae Dawn Chong), with whom Rick is beginning to form a close friendship.
Victor, meanwhile, continues to assert his influence on the school, going so far as to brutally beat a former member of his gang and hang him by his ankles when the member warms to Rick and actually starts learning. The clash between Rick and Victor eventually leads to a showdown in the school halls, where Jake is temporarily locked inside a supply closet while Victor and his gang hunt Rick down. In the end, Victor and Rick fight each other with their fists, with Victor seemingly having the upper hand until Rick overpowers him.
Rick beats Victor, much to the shock of the rest of the school who witness the beating. Several students cheer Rick on, much to the chagrin of Victor's gang members. After a small fight breaks out Rick again declares, "No more!" Victor is taken away in a police car, and as a student derisively asks, "Hey man, who the hell do you think you are?", Rick responds "I'm the principal, man!" and rides away on his motorcycle.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
'The Principal' is one of those films where Belushi could have been nominated for Best Actor, and Louis Gossett Jr. for Best Supporting Actor...The film has some great scenes, a good story and character development, and a decent soundtrack...The film is pretty hard-edged, though has elements of comedy...overall - an under-rated film (ones which I love to review) worth seeing...[7/10].
Belushi takes a job as a principal at a tough inner city high school where he must contend with many problems there.
The film is filled with a lot of the minor stars of this era such as Lou Gossett Jr., Rae Dawn Chong, Esai Morales and Kelly Jo Minter to name a few.J.B.stars as a washed out High School Prep teacher who's personal life begins to fall apart.
Let me just start by saying James Belushi totally kicks a$$ as Rick Latimer, a city school teacher, who one night, after drinking a few shots of alcohol, gets a bat and smashes up the car of the lawyer who is dating his wife, who represented her at their divorce trial.
At the assembly, Rick announces that he will enforce a new and painfully simple rule of, "No More." Rick says,"This means no more skipping class, dealing drugs, or whatever the hell it is you've been majoring in here, No More!" He is able to enforce this rule by forming a mediocre security team with the help of a janitor (Louis Gossett, Jr.) to help bring back order to the school.
He begins making threats to Rick, telling to get out of the school while he still has a chance.James Belushi is what makes this movie worth watching.
Similar films like Dangerous Minds (1995), The Substitute (1996), 187 (1997), and High School High (1996), but The Principal, I think is the one that started it all.
Rick Latimer (James Belushi) is a high-school teacher with some social issues.
But with only Security guard Jake Phillips (Louis Gossett Jr) as an ally and the thuggish school kingpin Victor Duncan (Michael Wright) after his blood, Latimer will do well to just survive the first week.The formula of such movies like The Principal is now seen as old hat, post the release of Christopher Cain's movie you can trace a line from Lean On Me in 1989, to The Substitute 1996 and on to One Eight Seven the following year.
So plenty of films, and similar types like Stand And Deliver, from which to choose should you require a night in with a teacher intent on straightening out those ruffians; whilst ensuring the good kids get the education they deserve.
So why choose The Principal then?Well James Belushi's fans don't need much convincing here, an always likable star who knows the limits of his talents, the film gives him the chance to mix serious drama with his comedy bent.
Belushi is admirably supported by Gossett Jr, a believable tough security guard if ever there was one, while a lot of the film's strength is drawn from the developing relationship between the two men.
The style is unmistakably Eighties (I think in an endearing way) and James Belushi's charisma and drama chops carry the story- which occasionally gets silly (also endearingly).
The school teacher Rick Latimer (James Belushi) is drinking with friends in a bar when he sees his former wife dating her lawyer responsible for their divorce.
The chief of the security Jake Phillips (Louis Gossett Jr.) believes Rick is crazy but soon he supports the principal attitudes.
But the drug lord Victor Duncan (Michael Wright) is not happy with the new principal and promises to kill him."The Principal" is that type of movie for fans of films like "To Sir with Love", "Class of 1984" and "Dangerous Minds", where a teacher faces difficulties in a problematic high-school with the students dominated by gangs.
James Belushi performs one of his best roles as Rick Latimer, a school teacher that has destroyed all opportunities in life and now has no other option but stay at the notorious Brandel High School.
This is a great 80's film - James Belushi and Louis Gossett, Jr. are excellent and you're with them all the way as they're so likeable.Rick Latimer (Belushi) is great; he starts off as being a kind-of drunken, violent loser (but he's funny so we let him off) and then becomes a reluctant hero who realises why he's a teacher in the first place and makes an effort to SORT THINGS OUT.This film is full of COOL bits; every scene with Latimer on his motorcycle ("Disneyland!" or 'El Principal'), the scene where the makeshift security team crack down ("...set it off on the left, y'all, set it off on the right..."), the assembly scene ("NO MORE!")...all great.
James Belushi stars as a teacher with a short fuse who gets to become the principal of the roughest high school in the city.
Belushi is solid here and so is high school security guard Louis Gossett, Jr. in a supporting role.
Public schools  could probably learn a lot from this feature.Of the many comedians of early Saturday Night Live who have gone on to movies, Belushi appears to be the one who has most successfully transcended the comedian stereotype.
While Bill Murrey may do well as a comic role being serious, the few pictures I've seen James Belushi in suggest that he's more like a serious actor who's also funny.Good feature for those of us who are tired of irresponsible youth getting a free pass..
James Belushi and Louis Gossett Jr. make a great duo and JJ Cohen as White Zac is also very well casted (he is nothing like the parts he plays).
The movie is your typical run down drunken teacher sent to a run down typical gang infested school to be the principal but what is not typical is how two words "No More!" Echo and it seems to drive the line between those who want to try and those who want to hurt.This movie is not a typical 80's but is a drama in away and a action flick in a way but it keeps you watching.
"The Principal" may be a bit beyond what goes on in inner city or ghetto schools but most movies do that in other situations too.
This is a pretty good '80s vehicle for James Belushi, who gets to show off both comedic and dramatic chops as Rick Latimer, a teacher who, in a drunken state one night, flies into a rage upon seeing his ex-wife with another man (her attorney, no less).
"The Principal" does score high marks for good intentions, even as it recalls earlier films such as "The Blackboard Jungle" and "Class of 1984" (other films in this genre, of course, include "Stand and Deliver", "Lean On Me", and "Dangerous Minds").
Many people have probably not seen this movie, but it brings a satisfactory chemistry between both Belushi and Gossett Jr. in which they fight off punk teen gangs at their school.
James Belushi is very good in the suffisticated personality as the angry principal who is gonna teach the kids to cherish their values.
Belushi gets tough as a school principal.
James Belushi socks it to em' and gives a creditable performance as a high school teacher going through a difficult time.
Plot is akin to Michelle Pfeiffer's Dangerous Minds but in this case, Belushi is the hard-case Principal determined to make a real change of his life and his students.
Divorced teacher Rick Latimer (Jim Belushi) gets into a bar fight with his ex-wife's boyfriend and arrested.
He has to battle student gang leader Victor Duncan (Michael Wright) and get single mom Treena Lester (Kelly Jo Minter) to return to school.This is a white savior movie.
The basic story was told (and much more effectively, I might add - perhaps because it was based on real people and events) a couple of years later in "Lean On Me." This movie is a fictional account of roughly the same chain of events - a teacher gets assigned as principal to an inner city school that's become a haven for gangs and drug-dealing and he sets himself to the task of cleaning it up.
He played Rick Latimer - the down and out teacher who gets assigned to Brandel High School because there's no one else to go there and basically the Board of Education is throwing him away.
Latimer's "my turn" after Victor gives him a pretty good beating made me chuckle a bit.It's not a bad movie.
John Belushi (an effectively imposing turn balancing the dry humour with a serious side) stars as a teacher Rick Latimer who's life is falling apart and an brutal act involving his ex-wife and new lover, sees him being offered (though there's no real choice to it) a new position as principal at a school that's over-run by drugs, violence and gangs who don't have education on their minds.
But Latimer doesn't cave in and soon finds an ally in janitor Jake Phillips (a tough performance by Lou Gossett Jr.) The formulaic story (which at times can get preachy) seems to be fuelled by such topics as crime, racism and talent untapped in what Belushi's strong-minded character transforms, as he might be in over his head however his got nothing to lose.
James Belushi is at his very best in the gritty urban action classic The Principal.
Brandel is an alternative high school where all the bad kids who get kicked out of their prospective schools are sent and is much like a prison and is a breeding ground of drugs, gangs and violence.
Jim Belushi best role and a good way to relax and enjoy an action packed entertaining movie..
"The principal" is one of many movies dealing with violence in school .
Other movies about this subject are "Blackboard jungle" (1955) , "Class of 1984" (1984) , "Stand and deliver" (1988) ,"Lean on me" (1989) , "Dangerous Minds" (1995) , "The Substitute" (1996) , High School High (1996) ,"187" (1997).The best way to look at this movie is to look at it as unusual western.
Most of the kids in this movie isn't portrayed as bad , they just apathetic and the same goes for almost every teacher in Brandel.James Belushi ("Red heat") fits the main role of Rick Latimer incredibly well.
His latest incident, that has him exploding when seeing his ex with another guy, who just happens to be a lawyer, I think, puts him on the bad end of the faculty, where he's demoted and made a principal, of one of the worst high schools, in L.A- Brandell.
We see a man beaten by the odds, about to rebuild his life, and turn this wayward school around, if it means getting rid of the chief hood, Victor, permanently (a frightening and menacing performance by a fine black actor, Michael Wright, him and Belushi reteamed in 1994'S, Race The Sun).
This is a great, popcorn, bubblegum, high school flick, with action, thrills, and a nice re paint job on Belushi's reconstructed bike, as it was dismantled, by Victor and his boys.
This movie is about a simple guy that become principal in a tough school.
James Belushi is the perfect choice in this movie, he was very young at that time in 1987, he was like 32 years old.
If you enjoyed Dangerous Minds, 187, High School High, Lean on Me, or any other movie of its ilk, I highly recommend "The Principal".
The aforementioned movies are pretty good, but what I enjoyed about this one is that, thanks to the talent of James Belushi, is never dull.
The beauty part of Jim Belushi is, if you didn't know he was John's brother, you wouldn't figure it out very quickly if at all.This film doesn't even seem like an 80s movie, so that's why you see it on TV a lot.
Newly divorced High School teacher Rick Latimer(James Belushi) has been reassigned, he is now the Principal of Brandel High School, this inner city school is the physical embodiment of hell, students run amok, smoke dope, drink, and fight (and boy do they FIGHT).
Latimer takes it upon himself to clean up the school, along with security guard Jake Phillips(Louis Gossett Jr.) take on crime and troublesome students.
I think my review title says it all about the James Belushi starring film, The Principal.
It's yet another of those Blackboard Jungle inspired films now updated to the Reagan Era.Belushi's a teacher with a really lousy personal life and after beating up on his ex-wife's boyfriend and trashing the car of same, he gets to spend a night in the clink.
So Belushi's off to Brandel High School which is run by drug dealer Michael Wright and he's only got school custodian Lou Gossett, Jr. as an ally.
My favorite however is Jacob Vargas, a kid that both Chong and Belushi take an interest in.The Principal is in a long line of similarly themed films from The Blackboard Jungle to Dangerous Minds.
this movie is about a man who ends up being principal of one of the worst schools in the country.the school is pretty much run by a drug lord/gang banger and his cronies.the teachers have given up hope on the kids and stopped teaching them.Rick Latimer (James Belushi)is Latimer,who finds himself in over his head,but won't quit.this is more of an action movie than an inspirational one.it's sorta like The Substitute and other similar movies.i don't think there's any real deep message here.and maybe that wasn't the intent of the filmmakers.maybe they just set out to making an entertaining action movie.if so,they succeeded.i found it entertaining.for me,The Principal is a 7/10.
High School Teacher Rick Latimer (James Belushi) is been transfer to other High School in the urban part of the city.
The energy that the movie pramolgate is infinity.After that you see "The Principal" you feel a great sense of revolution to your problem.In your mind the disharge of adrenalin is too hard that seems a thunder,but also if you can't fallow this feeling,it's anyway a good sensation for realize you that in life the bestest thing that you can do it's fight till to end.the actors are superb:James Belushi in the character of hungry Principal is in one of his best performance,nothing else can do this role so conviction,becausealso in the real life Belushi is "Rick Latimer".Louis Grosset jr.is very good and Rae down Chong convictedme in this character..
I dunno, maybe I didn't realize it was an action film and not a drama, which is what I expected, but I was personally hoping for a better dealing with issues in this movie, like a young teenage mother, and the community in which this school is in.
This is the best teacher-like movie that I have ever seen.Basically Ladimer (Belushi) was assigned to a principal job at the absolute worst school in the whole state, Brandel, and it became his job to try and change the kids from convicts to students.
Although it seems that pretty much everyone Ladimer tries to help, ends up the worse for wear, he is determined to make a change in the school, and make everyone understand two words..NO MORE.I highly recommend this movie if you're like for an 80s movie filled with its fair share of action, almost dark comedy, and a good drama..
I've always liked James Belushi but hadn't figured out why until I first saw The Principal.
With the help of a crusty school security head (Louis Gosset Jr.), and a young teacher who cares, plus a growing group of kids who see the light, Latimer takes on the resident student kingpin, a very unlikable young man who deals drugs openly and believes he is in charge.
Then at the 1980s we came back to school in (The Principal) yet in a whole different way.This movie approaches the case through an angle that gathers between the commercial look (war with crime, action scenes, comic remarks) and the rule of meet violence with violence; which was – and still is – a pretty bold matter in movies of that kind.
While it provides a swamp of a school, classic situation for its stubborn idealistic lead to face, rather to fight, many examples for the poor underachievers (single underage mom, a bright yet gangster student, Latino delayed in reading..) and frank criminals (a drug dealer, a rapist..), even loyal assistants (a tough janitor, a nice teacher..), it – in the same time – shows and handles everything and everyone as just a thrilling B-movie fare.All the characters are underdeveloped.
Hollywood soon resurrected the "well-meaning teacher confronts the urban dilemma" movie, and "The Principal" was one of them.Starring Saturday Night Live alumnus Jim Belushi, in this film he plays Rick Latimer.
It is decided that he won't be fired, but instead he'll be promoted: only he'll also transferred to Brandel: An inner-city high school that has seen its better days.Now the principal of Brandel, Rick shows up on his motorcycle to see gang attacks, kids wandering graffiti-tagged hallways, drug commerce and other vices taking place out in the open.
Lean On Me is a better movie, but The Principal manages to be what it set out to be, a rough little slice of inner city justice.P.S. I still think this and K-9, while giving James Belushi something to proud of, still can't match The Blues Brothers and Animal House..
James Belushi, Louis Gossett Jr., Rae Dawn Chong and Michael Wright star in this 1987 drama.
A teacher is sent to be principal of a drug-infested high school.
Rick Latimer (Belushi) is a school teacher who gets himself in trouble and is asked to be principal of drug-infested high school, Brandel.
I've always liked this film and think it's one of Belushi's best.
A man named Rick has to become a principal at Brandel high school.