Dangerous Minds (DVD)

Dangerous Minds is often shown on ITV1, but every time it’s shown I manage to miss it. Last Friday night, though, I remembered and set the video to record it. I’d heard many a good things about it over the years, and before watching it I knew it was going to be great viewing. Michelle Pfeiffer had said it was one of the best things she’d done, and many a critic said it was the most honest film they’d seen for years. So you can imagine my delight when I finally got the opportunity to see it. The film starts rather abruptly and dives straight into the plot. There are no ...  Read the complete review

Here's a classic of the genre that is inner city urban school drama. Michelle Pfeiffer stars as Louanne, an ex-marine teacher struggling to teach an inner city school full of yobs. This film, at its worst, is a predictable and cliche inner city school drama, and with that comes it being really really easy to guess the general plot. However, it does have some excellent bits to it. Michelle Pfeiffer does a great job in a gritty role, and one that raises my view of her acting prowess for sure. Likewise, the class members are believable and authentic, which is always a risk in these sorts of films because sometimes they are so pathetic you just know ...  Read the complete review

Ex US Marine, LouAnne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer)has accomplished many respectable things in her life but for her that just isn't enough; she now wants to take on her biggest and most challenging job to date... teaching. When arriving at Parkmont High School, California for her first day of teaching she is shocked and outraged to discover how the young adults behave. She doesn't however want to give up on them as that's what every other teacher has done to them, she wants to stay and teach them respect and at the same time if she manages to teach them even a fraction of the national curriculum then she'll consider it to be a job well done. While working as a ...  Read the complete review

One of my favourite type of film is the sort where you get a teacher who comes along and does something wonderful with a bunch of tough kids. The best of these has to be 'To Sir with Love'; which is a wonderfully inspiring film, but as I watched Dangerous Minds on DVD last night, I could not help but notice many striking similarities. Dangerous Minds is set at a tough school in America and within that school is the Academy where all those difficult to teach students are placed. Along comes Miss Johnson (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) an ex marine who wants to teach. The first day is an absolute disaster but she is not a quitter and gradually she gets the ...  Read the complete review

The 90s saw a run of films that featured colleges and school, often with violent and disruptive students at their core, and a teacher who came in and made a difference. John N Smith's 1995 film Dangerous Minds is no different. Set in an inner city school, it features an ex-marine (Michelle Pfeiffer) who comes into a school and is determined to help the pupils she is faced with, even if it means breaking the rules. Throughout the film, we see the dangers of teachers often left alone with volatile groups, but also the strong bonds that can be forged between individuals with the right help and guidance. What the film does well is that it doesn't hide ...  Read the complete review