Dangerous Minds
Tags: inspiring

Plot synopsis:
LouAnne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer), a discharged U.S. Marine, applies for a teaching job in high school, and is surprised and pleased to be offered the position with immediate effect. Showing up the next day to begin teaching, however, she finds herself confronted with a classroom of tough, sullen teenagers, all from lower-class and underprivileged backgrounds, involved in gang warfare and drug pushing, flatly refusing to engage with anything. They immediately coin the nickname "White Bread" for LouAnne, due to her race and apparent lack of authority, to which LouAnne responds by returning the next day in a leather jacket and teaching them karate. The students show some interest in such activities, but immediately revert to their former behavior when LouAnne tries to teach the curriculum.
Desperate to reach the students LouAnne devises classroom exercises that teach similar principles to the prescribed work, but using themes and language that appeal to the streetwise students. She also tries to motivate them by giving them all an A grade from the beginning of the year, and arguing that the only thing required of them is that they maintain it. In order to introduce them to poetry, LouAnne uses the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" to teach symbolism and metaphor; once this is achieved, she progresses on to Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night". LouAnne rewards the students liberally, using candy bars, reward incentives, and a trip to a theme park. Her methods attract the anger of the school authorities, George Grandey (Courtney B. Vance) and Carla Nichols (Robin Bartlett), who try to force her to remain within the curriculum.
Particular individual students attract LouAnne's attention for their personal problems. Callie Roberts (Bruklin Harris) is an unusually bright girl who excels at English, but is removed from the school halfway through the semester when she becomes pregnant. LouAnne visits her outside of school hours to try to persuade her to continue with further education. Raúl Sanchero (Renoly Santiago) is a well-meaning boy who is frequently involved in gang warfare and street crime. LouAnne tries to encourage him to focus by paying a special visit to his family to congratulate him on his work, and going to dinner with him as a way of instilling confidence and self-respect. Emilio Ramírez (Wade Domínguez) is her most troublesome personal project, as he believes strongly in a sense of personal honor that prevents him from asking for help. When LouAnne discovers that his life is in danger because of a personal grudge held by a recently released thug, she tries to protect him. She advises him to seek help from Principal Grandey. The next day, Emilio visits Grandey, but Grandey (not realizing that Emilio is in serious danger) instantly dismisses him because he neglected to knock on Grandey's door before entering his office. Feeling rejected, Emilio leaves the school and is subsequently killed by his enemy. LouAnne is outraged that his life was lost due to something as trivial as forgetting to knock on a door.
Heartbroken by her failure to protect Emilio and angry at the indifferent school system for contributing to his death, LouAnne announces to the class her intention to leave the school at the end of the academic year. The students immediately break down, begging her not to leave. Overwhelmed by their unbridled display of emotion, she decides to stay.

Review: So running into this tonight, I finally decided go give in and give it a watch.My final assessment is that although this movie bears comparison to a long list of great-teacher-inspires-kids movies, I now embrace the movie because Michelle's portrayal brings it over the top, also, I was positively impressed with Renoly Santiago's honest and sensitive reading.It is easy, as I am ample testament, to dismiss movies that appear to be clones, but since this was reportedly based on a true story of an ex-military woman, it either demonstrates that the story does not emerge from the minds of banal-thinking writers, but from fact, or that the stories like these repeat themselves daily in the fabric of America and need to be told under as many guises as there are stories.
The fact that so many people are willing to trash the film based on the fact that an Inspirational Teacher Movie just is not real.
This is a heart warming story, and although at times it's quite tragic, it shows a growing bond between a group of socially discarded students and a very special teacher.Michelle Pfeiffer's performance is simply wonderful, she captures the passion and warmth of her character perfectly.
It's basically the story of Raul, Emilio, and Carrie, and how they cope with life as a result of Ms. Johnson.The movie has some really good lines (my favorite: "You asked me how I was gonna save your life.
Well..for me it was very interesting to watch a movie like because it shows how a bright person can change a ''dangerous mind'' and make them active rather than rejecting them and drive them to the streets selling drugs and the likes...the ideas is this movie were very awesome and hitting on the core of the American society in the early 90's,so that it criticizes the whole daily life in an inner city as a prototype...family,relationships,fear,fights,power,those are some of the crucial themes the movie .Actually, the teacher did a good job with the collaboration and curiosity of those students,because they feel that there is something special about the new teacher which they lacked with the previous one and also because she gave them more freedom and behaved toward them as friends not students,,,:) well done teacher!!!.
Dangerous Minds is not a film of which tells teachers how they ought to do their jobs but rather it emphasises the types of issues the students and Lou-Anne embark on in their lives.When Lou-Anne first enters the classroom she is met by a chorus of boos, chaos and anarchy by the students- they don't like her and they all think that she isn't any different from the other teachers in the school.
She also shares with them the personal hurdles, obstacles and difficulties she had to overcome and face, thus she shows herself up to be somebody the kids could relate to, because she has been through exactly the same types of struggles they have gone through and are going through themselves.Personally, Michelle Phieffer gives a good performance in her role as Lou-Anne and whilst it isn't up there with her very best, she is very convincing throughout.
Considering how much this film was trashed by so many people, the truth nevertheless is that there are certain efforts which strike a chord with viewers and touching them in ways that inspire thought, understanding and empathy on their part, and Dangerous Minds is one of them.
The so-called teacher as hero(ine)concept of the movie is approached in an almost realistic, dark and serious matter but not in a way that puts viewers off.All in all, this is a very good movie that is not afraid of portraying the gritty and tough suburban outlooks of inner city school life, as seen through the eyes of the pupils themselves and Louanne Johnston herself.
I really liked the character that Michelle Pfeiffer created.It is a film that shows the importance of teachers and teaching.
Last year I saw this film at our English class which was written by LouAnne Johnson and directed by John Smith.In the film, Michelle Pfeiffer starred LouAnne Joihnson, a teacher who starts working in a high school where students don't listen to their teachers and only do the things that they like.
For all this students start to love her.Dangerous Mind is an excellent and common film which doesn't need special effects to catch our attention, because only with the characters, the simple clothes they wear and the wonderful story, as well as a nice sound track, we can get hooked.I recommend people to see this film because it has things that can happen in our lives and the drama the film has is very convincing.Gisella Villarreal, Cutral Co, Neuquen, Argentina..
As a fictional story about a fictional school, I liked it.Although it *did* get sort of get close to that stereotype of brave white person coming to rescue the poor Latino/African-American kids single-handedly..
This film is about a white teacher who goes to teach in a black dominated school and ends up learning about a lot of life's lessons in which the kids are being taught..
of course, i love any inspirational teachers movies and it's unfortunate/probably not very realistic to have such teacher who can change a group of troubled kids' lives.
this move is great Michelle Pfeiffer is amazing in this film rating by me 10/10 really puts the perspective in it i think it is really good the plot of this film is a ex marine teacher Louanne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer) that gets a job at a city high school as a teacher but little does she know that the kids she is teaching are the baddest and the meanest of the school.
I just wished urban high schools had a teacher like Michelle Pfeiffer..
Cheesy Cringe-worthy Punch-in-the-face-worthy soppy acting from Michelle Pfeiffer Stereotypes blown totally out of proportion Poor camera work Diabolical musical overlay Badly scripted Rushed feel No real closureI cannot criticise this movie enough.
While I was expecting a typically dark gangster/student-type movie, addressing the inner-city problems of troubled kids in poverty-stricken areas, and the interesting, inspiring attempts of an admirable teacher to get to the bottom of their various dysfunctions, what I instead got was something so cheesy it would have been better suited to Broadway, if they threw in some hastily written musical numbers.
From the overly dominant soundtrack, to the exaggerated stereotypes, this cheesy 'dangerous high school meets inspirational teacher' flick can be more than cringe worthy at times.The acting was generally poor, the dialogue was abysmal, the script was flawed and somewhat unacceptable, and the characters were over the top and unrealistic.The whole production was one big cliché, and whilst I can respect that this picture was, loosely, based on a true story, the overall presentation was way too generic.
Occasionally, suitable backing music would drop in the right places, with good timing, hence enhancement of the scene.Surprisingly, by what I'd class as some kind of freak of nature, the movie actually managed to, slightly, win me over.As the credits rolled, I decided that I had mildly enjoyed the second half of the film, but my grievances were still strong, and the flaws were unforgivable, in my opinion.I'll give this a generous score of 5/10..
It tells a lot about how to make a difference in people's lives, and how to think outside the box to become an effective teacher.The movie is based on LouAnne Johnson's true story, which is originally a book titled "My Posse Don't Do Homework", written by herself.
A few things for people who saw this film and don't know what I'm talking about when I say "unrealistic", number one rule of teaching is that you do not become that personal with students, such as inviting them to stay in your house because you feel that they are in danger.
Michelle would have been fired on the spot for several things she did in the film.But still, I really liked Dangerous Minds.
I also never really connected with any of the characters, all their personal stories (including the leads) remained superficial, almost as if this was an extended episode of one of these high-school sitcoms, you know, the ones where the students or teachers come up with the moral punchline at the end of every episode..
The plot is overly familiar, having been regurgitated many times since it was introduced in 1955's "The Blackboard Jungle":  a sensitive high-school teacher, at a loss as to how to deal with a classroom of inattentive roughnecks, defies the authorities and introduces startling new instructional techniques, and, in the process, wins the students' respect and, yes, love.
Michelle Pfeiffer works very hard as an ex-Marine-turned-inner city schoolteacher who butts heads with the prim school-board over how she should teach her unruly classes; seems Michelle has been resorting to candy bar rewards and Bob Dylan poetry readings to get her students attention.
High school films peaked in the 1990s but Dangerous Minds stands out from the rest, it goes in depth of the struggles faced by students caught in between school and gang life.
Dangerous Minds was a very good movie although the story line was a little predictable.
Dangerous Minds comes from that genre of inspirational (or insipid, depending on how you look at it) school dramas, particularly prevalent in the 90s where the unorthodox new teacher whips a ragtag group of talented, but misguided, behavioral problem students into shape, and instills the importance of self worth through education into them.
I haven't read the source book, "My Posse Don't Do Homework", but, having gone through a public school with plenty of behavioral issues and unruly kids, I can imagine that my experiences with the system are similar enough to anywhere else.Michelle Pfeiffer plays LouAnne Johnson (the real life author of "My Posse"), an ex marine in the midst of marital troubles who takes up a teaching position in a Palo Alto CA public school- a class where the problem children are sent to languish before the inevitable drop out.
"To Sir, with Love" did a much better job with this topic, and both Michelle Pfeiffer and George Dzundza have had far superior roles than "Dangerous Minds".
I love this movie ive seen it loads of times and i dont know what it is its just something about the film thats got like a twist to it, and basically i just love it.
And the soundtrack to the movie "gangsters paradise" is really good aswell and Michelle Pfeiffer was really good in it aswell so all i can say is this film "rocks"..
Plot: A teacher gets a job in a certain high school and hopelessly tries to help a class full of poor students do something with their lives, while they try to survive the streets they were born onto.You'll love Dangerous Minds if: You don't ask too much out of a movie like this and of course if you like Michelle Pfeiffer it's a movie about a teacher that struggles to teach students that come from broken homes and that are more streetwise than she can handle.
While not a fan of Michelle I gotta agree that see does a good job in here although her character is a bit TOO sensitive for an ex-marine.You'll hate Dangerous Minds if: You want realism or if you hate soap operas.
Rather in the vein of Meryl Streep in `Music of the Heart', not to mention that classic with Sydney Poitier, `To Sir, with Love', Michelle Pfeiffer's acting out the saintly-goodliness in a classful of no-hopers, largely made up by Hispanics, blacks and other minorities in run-down inner city suburbs, does not portray with much reality the true situation which many teachers in likewise situations have to go through.
Maybe that is not the aim of any of the aforementioned films anyway; a more acceptable romantic veneer must be laid on for the resulting product to be commercially viable, and then nobody's feelings are trodden on.Be that as it may, the frail-looking little Michelle Pfeiffer hardly convinces as an ex-marine karate teacher, and even less before a classroom of untameable rebelliousness in Palo Alto, slash The Bronx, slash Tower Hamlets, or any other inner-city suburb densely populated with less fortunate people who do not aspire to being bankers, basketball players, successful rappers, genetic engineers or formula one racing drivers: with just a little luck they might land up in a job filling up people's shopping-bags at the cashier's desk in a gigantic multinational hypermarket....This is what our great politicians conveniently overlook, having inherited the great ideals handed down from the Thatcher-Reagan globalization mentality.
Michelle Pfeiffer plays an ex-Marine (I know...) who teaches a bunch of tough inner-city kids (all of whom seem to be in their early twenties at least) to appreciate poetry through Bob Dylan songs, etc.
And how come not one single teacher has been able to do for those kids what the whimpy (ex-marine) Pfeiffer was?Great ambitions and a good cause - but not the right stuff to bring it home..
This Movie Is One The Best I Have Ever Scene The Theme Music Is Not Heavy Metal But The Acting And Scripts Are Excellent Because It Is Dealing With Issues In The Late 1990s Such As Gang Violence How Drug Use Effect A Person And How Somebody Shot While He Is In High School Can Effect Others Like Friends And Family And Trying As Best You Can Is The Important Thing I Watch This Movie Once In While Because While Some People Think That A Fight Like A WWE Wrestling Match In A School Gym Locker Room Is Entertaining Like WWE Says Don't Try This At Home Some Of The Students In The Classroom When Miss Johnson Comes In The First Time Aren't To Pleased When The See Her But After Like A Month Or So The Accpect Her Because She Found Way To Get The Students The Her Classroom To Listen To Her And The Lessens She Thought Because Learning Is The Important Thing And That School Effects All Of Us In Our Lives.
Now that I've watched this movie again, 8 years later I can see the real Pfeiffer's motives in "acting" in this film.
The main problem is that the script depends too much on dramatic convention, and too often chooses to take the easy way out rather than directly confronting the reality of it's premise and characters.Louanne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer) is an ex-marine who begins a teaching career in a tough NYC inner-city school.
But she's well supported by George Dzundza as a fellow teacher, Courtney B.Vance in an underplayed turn as the by-the-book principal, as well as Renoly Santiago and Wade Dominguez as two self-destructive students.A missed opportunity as a movie, "Dangerous Minds" was later turned into a short-lived TV series with Annie Potts taking over from Pfeiffer as Louanne Johnson..
Louanne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer) is an ex-marine hired as a teacher in a high-school, where the students are Afro-Americans, Latinos and poor persons.
After a terrible reception from the students, she tries unconventional methods of teaching, using karate, Bob Dylan lyrics, friendship and attention, and gets the trust of the students on her.I like this movie a lot and probably today I have watched it for the fifth or sixth time!
Michelle Pfeiffer shows how adaptable she is, by playing teacher to problem teenagers Louann Johnson.
One reviewer said "unless you lived the life," and others said what they thought, and yet it got a total of 6 among 72 voices.I'm giving it an 8 and I believe it reverberated as "true" and "truth" with one exception: teachers often love their students and give them candy, but the likelihood of a teacher overcoming the system is nil; hence the story portrays truth among students and teacher, but totally fails to address how a teacher who cares, and cares as much as this one did, overcame the bureaucracy and went on teaching.The performances were great across the board and a movie worth seeing more than once..
It's your typical inspirational teacher,gangster\student type of movie very predictable.They all have almost the same story-line kind of repetitive which is why it's not really doing it for me,other than that I've nothing against it.
We have seen these types of films before when a teacher or principle goes into a school that is filled with tough kids and by the end they all love the teacher.
OK so a teacher by the name of Louanne Johnson played by Michelle Pfeiffer inspires kids to learn and love poetry by having them listen to Bob Dylan songs.
But by the end of the movie, the teacher earns the respect of her students through unconventional teaching methods and by showing genuine concern for them.
It's even worse when it contains a hard working performance by a good actress.'Dangerous Minds' comes with the 'true story' tag but looks, to me, like pure fantasy.
Michelle Pfieffer plays LouAnne Johnson an ex-marine who gets a teaching job at The School From Hell, one of those inner-city prison schools where every student is a drug dealing malcontent.
The kids are so standard for The Inspirational Teacher Movie that I sort of started to count down to when one of the girls would end up pregnant.Is there anything to salvage from 'Dangerous Minds'?
Based on a true story, the story sees ex-Marine Louanne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer) hired as a teacher at Parkmont High School, for a class of street-wise teens, involved with gangs and drugs.
Pretty realistic inner-city kids, dark and nearly out of control school, pretty teacher.Careful - my sort of spoiler - This is To Sir With Love in modern America.But, it is good, so go ahead and watch it.
When he is detained in school for fighting, The new teacher, Louanne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer) attempts to discuss the situation with him.