THE REWATCHABLES · September 3, 2020
A 1995 drama / teen directed by John N. Smith, covered in the complete Rewatchables archive.
ON THIS EPISODE
FROM THE CONVERSATION
WHY IT WORKS
WHAT DID NOT WORK
SCENES THEY KEPT COMING BACK TO
The black-and-white opening uses the full song and immediately sets the movie’s identity.
About 24 minThe teacher’s first class goes poorly, then she recommits and returns in a leather jacket.
About 24 minEmilio rejects the poetry lesson and proves he can dominate the room.
About 24 minEmilio’s public defense of the teacher is the key breakthrough moment.
About 32 minRaul experiences class shock and gradually gains confidence in a world outside his own.
About 8 minThe private conversation at her house serves as Pfeiffer’s emotional Oscar-clip moment.
About 32 minHer grim announcement to the students is treated as the film’s most affecting scene.
About 40 minThe class reacts to the teacher leaving after Emilio’s death, showing what she meant to them.
About 40 minShe praises Raul to his family, which visibly affects Raul.
About 32 minWHERE THEY DISAGREED
Bill SimmonsHollywood uses a white character as a buffer so these stories feel accessible.
Shea SerranoWhite people still control the industry, so they get to make those decisions.
Van LathanAmerica treats whiteness as the cure for all ills.
Bill SimmonsIt had the biggest marketing impact on a movie becoming a hit.
Van LathanIt is great, but not among the most important songs in hip-hop history.
Shea SerranoIt is still 100 percent a very good song and deeply tied to the film.
Bill SimmonsHe wishes the subplot had remained or had a director's cut.
Shea SerranoRemoving it helps because it keeps the story focused on the classroom.
Bill SimmonsHe buys the performance as tough and driven.
Van LathanHe is skeptical and says the role feels more like her being dropped into the classroom than truly transformed.
Argues it fits a long tradition of white-savior stories but still finds it highly rewatchable.
Opening minutesSays he loves the movie despite its flaws and especially likes the kids and Michelle Pfeiffer.
About 8 minCalls Raul’s restaurant experience the movie’s most brilliant scene because it captures class shock and human vulnerability.
About 8 minTreats Pfeiffer as a major movie star whose face and likability help sell the film.
About 16 minThinks Pfeiffer was trying hard for a prestige turn and perhaps an Oscar shot.
About 16 minCalls Emilio’s classroom support of Ms. Johnson one of the film’s great emotional releases.
About 32 minRanks the death reveal and the ensuing classroom scene among Pfeiffer’s best moments.
About 40 minSees the principal as an extremely villainous bureaucrat who helps doom the kids.
About 56 minWould have preferred the cut love-interest material to remain, or at least a director’s cut to exist.
About 16 min · medium confidenceDisagrees with Bill and thinks the streamlined version works because it keeps Pfeiffer’s devotion to the classroom central.
About 24 minSays the death announcement scene is Pfeiffer’s best acting in the film.
About 40 minLikes the ending, especially the kids persuading Ms. Johnson to return.
About 40 minThe hosts frame the film as a classic case of a white teacher entering a mostly Black and Latino classroom and being cast as the necessary cure.
Opening minutesThey emphasize that the movie works because it captures how hard it is for teachers to earn trust and make even small breakthroughs.
About 8 minGangsta's Paradise is treated as central to the film’s identity and box-office success.
About 32 minRaul and Emilio are discussed as emotionally real teens whose choices reflect the pressures of their environment.
About 8 minThe movie is based on Lou Anne Johnson's autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework.
About 24 minThe film had a $23 million budget and made about $179.5 million worldwide.
About 24 minGangsta's Paradise was the first rap song to finish the year at number one.
About 24 minThe Gangsta's Paradise video was directed by Antoine Fuqua.
About 48 minMichelle Pfeiffer was pregnant during filming.
About 56 minAndy Garcia's love-interest subplot was shot and then cut from the film.
About 16 minThe movie was spun off into a short-lived TV series starring Annie Potts.
About 56 minLou Anne Johnson objected to the film's portrayal of Black and Hispanic parents.
About 48 minUsed as an example of early white mentor stories in school and sports settings.
Opening minutesMentioned as another earlier version of a white household adopting Black kids.
Opening minutesReferenced as a later white-savior sports movie and Oscar winner for Sandra Bullock.
Opening minutesNamed as another teacher-driven inspirational classroom movie.
Opening minutesCited as a template for some of the school scenes and parental dynamics.
About 16 minUsed as a benchmark for another teacher movie that was better reviewed.
About 8 minIncluded in Ebert’s list of similar inspirational classroom movies.
About 32 minUsed to compare season four’s teacher storyline and restaurant scene.
About 8 minVan cites it as a movie that helped kill the white-savior-teacher archetype.
Opening minutesUsed as another teacher/coach movie in the same broader tradition.
Opening minutesMentioned as an example of a later white-savior sports film.
Opening minutesUsed to discuss soundtrack marketing and a white teammate who exists mostly in the background.
About 40 minCited for the 'Ninja Rap' example of rap and movie marketing.
About 32 minMentioned as another movie with a big rap tie-in.
About 32 minUsed as an example of Will Smith’s song-and-movie cross-promotion strategy.
About 32 minThe hosts joke that Shea is ready to fight Van through Zoom if he disparages the movie.
Opening minutesRaul becomes the house favorite; the hosts keep returning to his intelligence, vulnerability, and growth.
About 8 minVan repeatedly mocks the principal’s soft-spoken bureaucracy and moral failure.
About 56 minThey repeatedly note that Emilio gets singled out as the key student the teacher tries to save.
About 24 minBill and Van keep tracing Pfeiffer’s screen image, awards prospects, and likability.
About 16 min“How are you going to save me from my life?”Opening minutes
“There are no victims in this classroom.”Opening minutes
“Read it again, Miss Johnson.”About 32 min
“Hey man, we're talking.”About 8 min
“This will make the difference in your life forever.”About 32 min
MAKE IT A MOVIE NIGHT
WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
Three movies to watch before Dangerous Minds, and three to watch next.
ON THE MIC
Bill SimmonsThe Rewatchables
Shea SerranoThe Rewatchables
Van LathanThe RewatchablesREWATCH FAVS
Upvote it for the live listener ranking.
YOUR PROGRESS
Sign in with Google only when you want to save progress. The rest of the site stays public.
KEEP LISTENING
Play the episode directly from the official feed, open it on Spotify, or save it to your private Listen Later playlist.