Product Details

• Actors: Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Jay Thomas, Olympia Dukakis, William H. Macy
• Directors: Stephen Herek
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: November 12, 1996
• Run Time: 143 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (160 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304078102
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,335 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

An earnest and at times overblown story of a music teacher's impact on those around him, Mr. Holland's Opus is at times a genuinely touching drama in the vein of It's a Wonderful Life. Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) plays an aspiring composer and musician who takes a job teaching music at a local high school to save money while he composes his music. But when his wife (Glenne Headley) becomes pregnant, Glenn Holland must put aside his dreams and address the everyday realities of his life, from the melancholy and sometimes tragic fates of his students to the discovery that the son he cherishes is deaf. Building to a highly emotional climax in which the teacher sees the impact he's had on the world around him, Mr. Holland's Opus is a showcase for a fine Oscar-nominated performance by Dreyfuss and an engaging, heartwarming story. --Robert Lane

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Movie About Love and Love For Music, September 1, 2000

By	Matthew M. Yau "Voracious reader" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mr. Holland's Opus (DVD)

Recent showing of "Music of My Heart" starring Merryl Strepp as a substitute teacher striving to sustain a violin program for low-income kids in New York City reminds me of this all-time favorite classic released back in 1996. The bottom line is love.

Situated in Oregon in the fall of 1964, Glen Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) took up a job as a high school music teacher as his wife became pregant. Holland, now shouldered with added responsibility as a soon-to-be father, a composer, and a teacher, faced the immediate challenge of working with a diverse group of students: the naturally talented, the rebellious, and the physically impaired.

This is a movie about love and love of music. Glenn Holland is the central figure who strives to love his students and family through his devotion to music. Born deaf-toned, the dream of teaching his own son to become an eminent violinist inevitably bursts with much frustration. Glenn Holland is not perfect; in fact, interactions with his students through failures and triumphs gradually refine him to be a loving and well-respected man. Love propels him to reconcile his frustration for his son and breaks the ice in his relationship with his wife.

For over 30 years, this young composer has taught generations of students not only about music, but love, respect, faith, and confidence. The final reunion of his students features orchestration of "American Symphony" to pay the highest tribute to this self-sacrificing teacher.

This is a movie that will move every soul and make everyone's tears roll down the cheek. It's all about love, and love moves. After 4 years since I first watched the premiere, it still touches my heart and brings tears to my eyes when I see it again on my flight to Asia.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warm Plot, Rich Production, January 15, 2000

By	Franklin Howell (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mr. Holland's Opus (DVD)

The quality of Mr. Holland's Opus spreads evenly throughout its plot, its message, and its marvelous appreciation of music and the arts. In fact, this movie delivers both definition and demonstration of music appreciation as a whole, absent of selective bias. Devoid of senseless killings, violence, or notable language, Opus is a family movie without the corny overtones. For many it's a tearjerker.

But Mr. Holland's Opus unfolds an issue. It is a simple plea for an increase in music appreciation among society--particularly our young people. Mr. Holland's career is pressured more and more by the gradual, yet perpetual governmental cuts in school funding for the arts amid the US. In sharp contrast, the movie makes it clear that support for the sports programs in public schools remain firm and solid. Careful to avoid cursing this predicament or hurling insults toward society, this message is rather Hollywood's way of calmly saying, "Take a look," using the common life of an otherwise forgotten music teacher.

The central beauty of the movie is in the character of Mr. Holland himself. He is an ardent yet sensible lover of music. The viewer will find no arrogance or snootiness in Mr. Holland. It's not his style. Instead, Holland's concern for the progressive loss of interest in the arts is voiced simply, directly, and peacefully.

The movie delivers a powerful message through ordeals within his family. Struggling with the hardships of common fate (and some not so common), Holland learns new depths of love and companionship from both his wife and son. He is a man of emotions like anyone else. He looses his temper on occasions. But Mr. Holland is always in control of himself. He deals with pressures to the best of his ability as they occur.

Mr. Holland is a believable person. The viewer is free to place him into society with the rest of the world and to walk in his shoes for a spell. A superb job from the entire cast of characters, the journey is emotionally rewarding.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Performance of a lifetime for Richard Dreyfus, November 22, 2003

By	Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mr Holland's Opus [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Yeah, it's a little overblown and melodramatic, but it's also genuine, beautifully acted, and inspiring. Dreyfus is a music teacher at a local high school. He fancies himself a composer, and he is, but circumstances and fate keep him from devoting himself full time to that pursuit: his wife's unexpected pregnancy and the fact that the child born of that pregnancy is deaf. The end is predictably a rousing and emotional tearjerker - but still, it works just fine.