Product Details

• Actors: Nick Nolte, JoBeth Williams, Judd Hirsch, Ralph Macchio, Allen Garfield
• Directors: Arthur Hiller
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: February 6, 1996
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302658527
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,141 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Teachers" is for teachers, September 28, 2002

By	k whitlock (tennessee) - See all my reviews

This movie is for and about teachers. "Teachers" lampoons a typical overcrowded urban high school and the group of burned-out, misfit teachers who work there. The school is being sued for graduating a student who can't read, and school administrators are more concerned about preserving the supposed-credibility of their school than with correcting the problem which led to the lawsuit.

Nick Nolte plays Alex, a former idealist who has grown bitter and cynical over the years. As the movie begins, he is a drunken womanizer who may or may not show up to class. He has been allowed to continue his dysfunctional ways because his behavior fits in with that of the other teachers. All this begins to change when his deposition for the lawsuit is taken by an attorney and former student whose life he had touched. She is appalled at his loss of ideals and challenges him to again make a difference in students' lives. When his interest in teaching reawakens, his attitude becomes a problem for the administration in their quest to squelch the lawsuit. They turn on him and try to make him a scapegoat for the school's numerous problems.

Many of the characters in "Teachers" are recognizable as people we have all known:

School Board Member - An overbearing bureaucrat whose main emphases are compliance and minimization of bad publicity.

Principal - A complete airhead whose most common response to any question is "I don't know". He hides in his office most of the time and defers all decisions to the assistant principal.

Assistant principal - A capable educator and former idealist who has become bitter and cynical over the years. His current emphasis is to survive each day with the fewest number of casualties. In the end, he conspires to make his friend Alex a scapegoat in the lawsuit in order to preserve the school's dismal status quo.

School secretary - A capable and unflappable matron who (along with the assistant principal) keeps the school running.

School psychologist - She's the craziest person on staff. In the opening scene, she goes nuts and attacks another teacher in the office in full view of students and faculty.

Gym teacher - Has a long history of having sex with students and getting them pregnant. He is passed from school to school by the school district to conceal his crime.

"Ditto" - A burned-out teacher who mimeographs worksheets for his students so that they can quietly work while he sits at the back of the room reading the newspaper. His proudest accomplishment is getting the award for "Most Orderly Classroom" several years in a row. He ends up dying behind his newspaper during class and no one even notices.

The school's best teacher - Richard Mulligan plays an escaped lunatic who masquerades as a teacher until he is caught. No one ever asks to see his credentials. In a short period he becomes the school's most beloved and most effective teacher. The unspoken message here might be that you'd have to be crazy to become a teacher.

Teacher union rep - A whining weasel who passes himself off as the teachers' best friend, but shamelessly sells Alex out in exchange for a meaningless concession from the school board.

This film is not an indictment against teachers per-se. Rather, it is an indictment against a community that would allow such an educational system to exist. Parent and community apathy seem to be the culprits here.

Consider how parents are portrayed in the film: First we learn of the parents who filed the lawsuit around which the film revolves. It is apparent they were less concerned about their son's education than about the money and/or notoriety to be gained from the lawsuit. (Surely they must have known their son couldn't read prior to graduation). Later we meet a set of divorcing parents who are more concerned about antagonizing each other than about meeting their son's needs. When Alex tries to help their talented-but-misguided son, they converge on the school to thwart his efforts. These are not the actions of parents concerned about education.

Community apathy has allowed the school system to become more concerned about its image than with education, which leaves teachers caught hopelessly in the middle. Without the support of parents, the school board, or the teachers union, they languish. It could happen anywhere, despite our obligation as a society to prevent it.

"Teachers" has a B-movie feel and the writing could be better. But it conveys a powerful message and is particularly interesting to teachers who can see some reality in it.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More real than you realize, December 10, 2004

By	B. Cline (Goddard, KS) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have to wonder if some of the reviewers have ever been a teacher or remember their school days. I have been a teacher for 17 years and saw this movie when in college. It was funny then and is very real to me now. This movie hits home in more ways than those outside the realm of education will ever know. (one of those walk a mile in my moccasins things)

As a teacher, I have seen most everything this movie depicts (all at one suburban school district that most would consider an excellent school). I have seen the crime. I have seen the humor. I have seen the excellent teaching. I have seen the very pathetic teaching. I've seen the "Ditto" teachers. I've seen the screwed up kids with the even more screwed up parents. I've seen the lack of concern for the true well being of kids from everybody. I've also seen the truly caring and excellent teacher raked over the hot coals for daring to care and as a result simply want to give up and quit (Nolte's character).

Don't minimalize this movie. If you want to see a rare and real glimpse of what goes on behind the doors of the education profession, take a look at this very entertaining film. The fact that it mirrors reality is both very sad and enlightening.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teachers -- An Attitude Adjuster, February 7, 2001

By A Customer

I purchased my first copy Teachers used a long time ago. I'd pull it out whenever, like the lead character, Alex, I began to feel that I "couldn't make a difference." Over the years I wore it out and came to ... (the website) to buy another copy.

This movie has an uplifting message that can inspire both educators and parents. It's a good watch.