Why do holiday movies look and sound so similar?
New coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) is tasked with shaping up a school basketball team. He means well, but is often inarticulate and struggles with anger issues. Nonetheless, he manages to take the squad all the way to the state championship. Set in 1954, the movie is inspired by a true story.
In this action comedy film, Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, an undercover detective who poses as a kindergarten teacher while chasing down an elusive drug kingpin. Kimble discovers a passion for teaching he never knew he had, and wins the hearts and minds of his class, plus the love and respect of fellow educator Joyce (Penelope Ann Miller).
Karate master Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) mentors teenager Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Maccio) in the martial art. Kind and humble, Mr. Miyagi teaches his young charge how to defend himself against bullies in a patient and compassionate manner.
Shy and awkward Charlie Kelmeckis (Logan Lerman), recently discharged from a mental institution after being treated for clinical depression, has difficulty making friends during his freshman year in high school. He finds solace in his English teacher, Mr. Anderson (Paul Rudd), a connection that enables the youngster to recognize his sense of worth and help him move forward. He eventually accepts the companionship offered by two seniors, who take the introverted Charlie under their wing and welcome him to the real world.
Dr. Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) is the psychology teacher who manages to unlock the mind of mathematics genius Will Hunting (Matt Damon). But it's a fraught and often painful process.
Hilary Swank plays the idealistic and young teacher Erin Gruwell, who inspires a group of at-risk students to embrace tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school. The 1999 book 'The Freedom Writers Diary,' written by students of the real Erin Gruwell, is a basis of the film.
Tough and uncompromising basketball coach Ken Carter benches his entire team for breaking their academic contract with him. But Carter's subsequently strict disciplinary training regime ultimately pays dividends, with the team reaching the state quarter finals. The movie is biographical, based as it is on real-life characters and events.
Woody Harrelson is Max Bruner, a teacher who becomes the source of support and encouragement for teenager Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld), a high school outcast whose fragile psyche threatens to derail her personal and academic life.
While it's the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1961 that inspires Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal) to take up rocketry and eventually become a NASA engineer, it's his science teacher Miss Freida J. Riley (Laura Dern) who encourages the young student to pursue his specialized vocation. The movie is based on the memoirs of the real-life Homer Hickam.
Denzel Washington portrays real-life American high school football coach Herman Boone, who guides his team through their first season as a racially integrated unit. Underpinning the plot is widespread segregation, racial slurs, and violence. The story itself is based on Boone's remarkable achievement of coaching the 1971 T. C. Williams High School football team to a 13–0 season and state championship, as well as becoming national runners-up.
This sports drama is based on a true story and stars Kevin Costner as track and field coach Jim White, who against considerable hurdles inspires a group of underachieving immigrant students to become one of the best cross-country teams in the region.
Michael Caine's tweedy alcoholic professor Dr. Frank Bryant helps mature student Susan "Rita" White (Julie Walters), a working-class hairdresser, discover her full potential after agreeing to tutor her in English Literature.
Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Housman) is an accomplished but hugely demanding contract law instructor. Harvard Law School student James Hart (Timothy Bottoms) has to learn fast how to deal with the professor's uncompromising attitude in the lecture theater while at the same time dating his tutor's daughter.
Morgan Freeman is Joe Clark, the principal of a rundown New Jersey high school who adopts tough disciplinarian measures in an attempt to improve the test scores of the students. Unless there's an improvement, the school will be placed in the receivership of the state government. Clark is dedicated and often tyrannical in his desire, but eventually wins the support and respect of his students. The movie is based on real events.
Eleven-year-old Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is coached by Dr. Joshua Larabee (Laurence Fishburne) as she prepares for the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition. Dr. Larabee's dedication to his student and belief in her abilities gets the youngster a place in the finals.
LouAnne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer), a former Marine, takes up a teaching position at a California high school where most of the students are African-American and Latino teenagers from deprived backgrounds. She struggles to connect with her class, but devises her own unique teaching methods to win over their interest and, ultimately, their respect. 'Dangerous Minds' is based on the true story of LouAnne Johnson and her tenure at Carlmont High School.
Paula Patton portrays Ms. Blu Rain, an alternative-school teacher who inspires 16-year-old Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) to learn to read and write despite the teenager's struggle against poverty and abuse.
Jack Black's failed down-on-his-luck guitarist Dewey Finn finds employment as a substitute elementary music teacher. He quickly recognizes his students' talents and begins imparting his knowledge and giving them the confidence to master their instruments and perform live in a band.
This drama is based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington), a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, Tolson organized his students into a debate team in an effort to place his club on equal footing with whites in the American South. He succeeded. The Wiley College debate team defeated the reigning national debate champions, the University of Southern California, depicted in the movie as Harvard University.
Robert Donat plays the title character, an aging classics teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school who recalls his career and his personal life over the decades, a timeframe that sees him become a more compassionate and wiser educator to the children whose lives he helped shape.
This French drama sees novelist François Bégaudeau play a fictional version of himself as a French language and literature tutor in a Paris inner-city school, where he struggles to maintain discipline and gain cooperation from his unruly and problematic students.
Maggie Smith's unrestrained and headstrong Jean Brodie teaches at a girl's school in Edinburgh in the 1930s. She concentrates her efforts on four junior students, who fall under the spell of their unconventional tutor. However, staff are disapproving of her unorthodox teaching methods and her influence on the girls.
Based on the true story of a high school mathematics teacher, Jaime Escalante, 'Stand and Deliver' stars Edward James Olmos as Escalante, who against all odds teaches a group of dropout students at an East Los Angeles high school calculus.
British Guiana immigrant Mark Thackeray (Sidney Poitier) accepts a teaching job at a tough East End of London school. His class is disruptive and disinterested, so he develops his own brand of discipline, forcing his students to treat him—and each other—with more respect. His physical and moral authority eventually wins them over.
Richard Dreyfuss is Glenn Holland, a dedicated and highly accomplished music teacher who attempts to compose his own music while shaping the musical minds of his students. His work, however, often conflicts with life at home.
Maverick English tutor John Keating (Robin Williams) inspires his students through his teaching of poetry. Furthermore, he encourages them to make their lives extraordinary, urging them with the Latin expression carpe diem, meaning "seize the day." Keating's methods are deemed highly unorthodox and even damaging, and he is fired. But his students have already bucked conformity, and salute their mentor as he departs.
Professor Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster of the wizarding school of Hogwarts and founder and leader of the Order of the Phoenix. His teachings have a profound effect on the young Harry Potter and his friends. Dumbledore was portrayed by Richard Harris and later by Michael Gambon.
Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), also known by his codename Professor X, is the mutant founder of the X-Men and the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Xavier makes his students endure a rigorous and punishing training regime. But they emerge physically and mentally better off as a result.
Sources: (Biography) (Esquire) (The Guardian) (The New York Times)
Teachers and professors are among those who can inspire and motivate us the most. No wonder, then, that many celebrated movies feature lecture-room heroes, men and women tasked with teaching students a range of subjects sometimes under tough and demanding situations. But what films top the class?
Click through and learn from cinema's best pictures featuring inspirational educators.
The true story of Roberta Guaspari, portrayed by Meryl Streep, who co-founded the Opus 118 Harlem School of Music, this movie follows Guaspari's battle to secure music education funding in New York City public schools. Meanwhile she teaches underprivileged children how to play the violin. The movie is based on the 1995 documentary 'Small Wonders.'
The best movies featuring inspirational educators
Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week with these famed mentors in cinema
MOVIES Films
Teachers and professors are among those who can inspire and motivate us the most. No wonder, then, that many celebrated movies feature lecture-room heroes, men and women tasked with teaching students a range of subjects sometimes under tough and demanding situations. But which films top the class?
Click through and learn from cinema's best pictures featuring inspirational educators.