One of the first films to take on the plot device of ‘tough students vs. tougher teacher’ is the 1989 biographical piece “Lean on Me.” Written by Michael Schiffer and directed by John G. Avildsen (the Academy Award winning director of “Rocky”), “Lean on Me” details the real life story of Joe Louis Clark, a teacher/principal who was instrumental in cleaning up the tough Eastside High, an inner city school in Paterson, New Jersey. Eastside High went from a great institute of learning to a “cauldron of violence” over the course of twenty years, becoming one of the most dangerous schools in the country.
The film begins in 1967 as we see the beautiful Eastside High in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement. As a chorus of angelic voices usher us inside the school with a singing of the Eastside High anthem, we meet an eccentric, free-thinking teacher named Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman). It is quickly clear that Clark has a special bond with his students as he hosts a game he has created and the students battle each other in various classroom topics. The class is interrupted by Clark’s friend and fellow teacher Frank Napier (Robert Guillaume) who pulls him into the hall to advise that the other teachers have formed a union and are siding with the school board on a curriculum Clark has been opposed too. Clark storms into the meeting too late as the other teachers inform him they have agreed to have him transferred. Refusing to sell out to the uncaring school board, Clark quits in anger. “They can go to hell!” he hollers as he storms down the hallway, ignoring Napier’s pleas to stay. “This place deserves exactly what it gets!”
In an epic dissolve, the fastidiously clean and primed hallway is transformed to its present day (1987) appearance; damaged lockers, graffiti spray everywhere, and barred windows. As the Guns N’ Roses song “Welcome to the Jungle” (a song seemingly recorded for this scene alone) begins to play we are now introduced to the current state of Eastside High. Drugs and drug dealers run rampant, gang violence is in every hallway, and the teachers have no control whatsoever over the students. The song plays in its entirety and ends when a teacher, who was attempting to break up a fight between two students, is savagely beaten to near death by one of them and carted out on a stretcher.
Patterson mayor Don Bottman (Alan North) is informed that Eastside High is ranked last in the state, with only 38% of its students able to pass a basic skills test. Because it’s an election year, Bottman decides fixing the problem in Eastside High is paramount to his continued political career. Consulting with Napier, who is now the superintendent of the district, they agree to bring in the only man crazy enough to take on the job of turning things around at Eastside.
Now a principal at a nice, quiet, suburban school, Clark is visited by Napier who offers him the position at Eastside. Clark refuses at first until Napier chastises him for having had an insignificant life up until this point. Clark takes the job and immediately demonstrates his no-nonsense approach in his very first teacher meeting by reassigning several positions and scolding the teachers for having failed in educating the students. “You’ve tried it your way for years and your students can’t even pass the State’s minimum basic skills test. THAT MEANS THEY CAN BARELY READ!” He screams in a disgust fueled tirade. He then orders the teachers to compile a list of all the gang members, hoodlums, and drug users and dealers that are in the school. As he departs the meeting he warns his staff that it’s no longer a democracy and that he is the only boss – referring to himself as the HNIC – Head N* In Charge.
As the entire student body gathers in the auditorium for Clark’s inaugural meeting, the teachers begin herding the students from his list of deviants up onto the stage. Clark takes the microphone and introduces himself as the new principal. He advises that things will be different and begins showing his empathy towards the thousands of inner city students. His first order of business shocks everyone when he expels all the troublemakers permanently. As security forces the group of miscreants out and locks the doors behind, Clark prophesies his desires to the stunned room. With hard work and a different way of implementing strategies, he expects the students to increase the score on the upcoming skills test. If they do not succeed, Eastside High will be turned over to the State. “My motto is simple,” he explains, “If you don’t succeed in life, I don’t want you to blame your parents. I don’t want you to blame the White Man. I want you to blame yourselves. The responsibility is yours.”
Clark attempts to instill pride in the students by having them clean up the graffiti, tutor each other, and learn the school song, paying close attention to two students; Kaneesha (Karen Malina) and Sams (Jermaine Hopkins) the latter of which was expelled at the beginning and is only readmitted after promising Clark he will change his ways. From his very first day, he begins to receive resistance from local parents and the dangerous students he has expelled.
“Lean on Me” differs from many other similar films in that it confronts common social issues from a very different standpoint than the norm. Clark refuses to bow to social pressure, standing strong with his decisions no matter how unpopular they may be. His antics, while effective, would no doubt be lambasted in today’s politically correct and super-sensitive world, which is a shame since they work with every move he makes. During a PTA meeting, several parents of the expelled students raise their concerns. Clark politely defends his actions. “They say one bad apple spoils a bunch. Well what about three-hundred?” Reaffirming that what he did was not designed to sink the already sunken three-hundred problem students, but to offer a fighting chance for the other twenty-seven hundred.
“Lean on me” is a strong movie that will keep you thinking. Its shortcomings are its predictability (though it is based on a true story) and some over the top cheesiness during a montage depicting students studying for the skills exam and lauding their new found love of scholastics. Keep an eye out for minor roles by then rookies Karina Arroyave (“Falling Down, “Dangerous Minds,” and “24” among others) and Michael Imperioli.
– by Matt Christopher
