Jim Belushi is drinking at a bar when his ex-wife walks in with her date: her divorce lawyer. Belushi winds up in a fight with him and gets dragged off by the cops. At work, he's not fired. He's promoted to the principal of the district's worst school. There's drugs, gang violence, the teachers are just serving time, and Michael Wright -- two years younger than Belushi -- in a leather duster, who is clearly the villain of the piece. On his side are Lou Gosset, who is in charge of security, and Rae Dawn Chong, as an idealistic, struggling history teacher.
The movie has a HIGH NOON vibe to it and is one of the right-wing-violence movies of the 1970s and 1980s, like DIRTY HARRY and RED DAWN; the only way to respond to violence is for the principled to use violence. This isn't new. Before the Production Code shut them down, there were movies which glorified vigilante action against gangsters. Now, with the Code shut down, theme theme was again part of the conversation.
This movie is no great example of cinema. It is filled with cliches. It is, however, competently directed by Christopher Cain, with good, moody lighting by Arthur Albert and efficient editing by Jack Hofstra. This film offers no advancement in technique, has nothing particularly useful to say. Half a century earlier, it would have been a B movie from a Poverty Row producer. It's totally undistinguished, but it does tell its story swiftly and efficiently.
The movie has a HIGH NOON vibe to it and is one of the right-wing-violence movies of the 1970s and 1980s, like DIRTY HARRY and RED DAWN; the only way to respond to violence is for the principled to use violence. This isn't new. Before the Production Code shut them down, there were movies which glorified vigilante action against gangsters. Now, with the Code shut down, theme theme was again part of the conversation.
This movie is no great example of cinema. It is filled with cliches. It is, however, competently directed by Christopher Cain, with good, moody lighting by Arthur Albert and efficient editing by Jack Hofstra. This film offers no advancement in technique, has nothing particularly useful to say. Half a century earlier, it would have been a B movie from a Poverty Row producer. It's totally undistinguished, but it does tell its story swiftly and efficiently.