Class of 1984(1982)
***/****
The unruly group led by Peter Stegman(Timothy Van Patten) of Abraham Lincoln High are a severe nuisance to teachers and students alike and it will all come to a head as they finally victimize the wrong target who decides to strike back in Mark Lester's indictment on the plight of today's youth(well, in 1981 that is).
This gaggle of punks of Stegman's push the weaker kids around and it is quite a statement when green teacher Andrew Norris(Perry King) recognizes that fellow academian Terry Corrigan(Roddy McDowell, in one of his best latter career roles) carries a gun in his briefcase!
"Surveillance is the name of the game around here, Mr. Norris. "
This coming from the principal of the school for petesake! It's like a high school from hell where teachers worry more about surviving the day instead of "molding young minds"! Sure, many of the kids just want to learn, but with Stegman's brood causing trouble at every turn, it's hard for anyone to relax. The moment Norris walks into his class room, the kids are all cutting up and throwing paper wads while Stegman sits on his desk! Mr. Norris discovers that the punks(except Stegman) perpetrating his band classroom don't even belong there!
The punks steal lunch money from students and we see a kid selling drugs right out in the open. There's graffiti all over the walls of every room and halls..mostly featuring explicit content and detailed artwork. The gang beats Leroy the drug dealer to a pulp for selling dope "in their territory". These thugs seem to live and breathe to raise hell and cause mischief..everyone is a target that doesn't belong. Their sorry lives' purpose is to antagonize and fight.
Stegman, unstable and always one step from demolishing anything in his path(that or ordering his stooges to do so), actually has talent behind the piano, but his immature anarchic antics don't endear him to Norris.
McDowell's Corrigan is a miserable, cynical, boozing, extremely disheartened biology teacher who tries to persuade Norris "to play nice" when it comes to the dangerous students. Corrigan feels that he is a failure because his influence on the students that enter his class seems nil and void.
"To the lower animals..they never kill each other without good reason."
Corrigan says this while gulping some liquor he keeps around in class when he gets time to himself. When the punks skin his pets alive, spreading their blood all over his classroom, this ultimately sends poor Corrigan over the edge. This repulsive act certainly leaves it's mark on Corrigan who will now set his sights on getting even.
After snorting some angel dust sold to him by Stegman and his crew, a kid climbs a flag pole stoned out of his gourd, falling to his death. Michael J Fox portrays a good, tenderhearted youth who attempted to convince the kid not to buy the dope from Stegman, to no avail. As Arthur, his knowledge of the drug sell gets him in pretty deep shit with Stegman who orders a kid to stab him. We see later that Stegman's mom hasn't a clue how psychotic her son is, he has her wrapped around his finger.This is one of those movies where delinquent youths push adults too far, to the brinking point and beyond. Their unrelenting joy at causing those in their orbit harm shows in almost every scene in the movie.
"Life is pain. Pain is everything. You will Learn."
When they rape and abuse his wife, the point of no return is reached, and Norris will not stand by and take their bullshit any longer. He has become a mainstay at the police department, doing whatever he can to halt this gang's activity. Even though he saw them set fire to his car causing it to explode, it still doesn't get them in trouble. Norris tries every method at his disposal to get them out of his school and off the streets, but Stegman and his crew keep getting back out there due to "lack of evidence". There's an irony with the last half as Norris gets his revenge regarding "proof of wrongdoing" which might be gratifying for those who hate these fucking cretins.
During what was supposed to be his big night, a symphony he and his class worked their ass off for, Stegman and company pull out the stops to his enforce their will on Norris. Every avenue exhausted, Norris has little choice now but confront and kill every last one of these douchebags.
During the movie, we've had to tolerate these scumbags getting away with all their indecent behavior, hiding behind their age of 17, the law seemingly on their side, and seeing them get their comeuppance is certain to satisfy many a viewer. As one of his gifted students orchestrates the symphony, Norris is running about darkened halls and rooms trying to rescue his wife as the punks scurry about. This kind of movie is certain to ruffle a few feathers as it provides a legimate excuse for a man to kill high school kids who are threatening his life and wife's welfare. Blackboard Jungle this is not; it goes far darker and more disturbing. Director Mark Lester proclaimed that this was a cautionary tale worthy to take note. The gratuitous violence on display(the table saw damage and setting one victim on fire, his body's charred remains on display for extra impact)might be a bit much for some viewers to endure, but it sure worked for me.
Easily the best scene in the movie has a completely fed-up Roddy McDowell holding his class at gunpoint(!)forcing them to answer biology questions they would never in class before. After this, his life in ruins, a drunken Corrigan attempts, and fails sadly, to run Stegman and punks over with his car! Stegman, alas, is able to avoid being roadkill and has the last laugh on Corrigan.
I have to tell you, I thought Perry King was damn good in this movie. His character tries, really does, to be the kind of teacher that can do good for his students, and, through the shit that Stegman puts him through, has a transformation. In order to survive, sometimes even the most civilized person must find the savage within to overcome the obstacles one is faced or else. I mean, can we really blame him? His pregnant wife(Merrie Lynn Ross) is sexually molested, kidnapped, her life in potential danger, and he himself being chased by a wild pack of hyenas..what is a man to do with such odds?
The rape, while mild by some people's standards, was so effective to me because those involved were having such fun violating Norris' pregnant wife. It only enforces our rage to see him destroy those slimeballs in gruesome fashion for their crimes.
The unruly group led by Peter Stegman(Timothy Van Patten) of Abraham Lincoln High are a severe nuisance to teachers and students alike and it will all come to a head as they finally victimize the wrong target who decides to strike back in Mark Lester's indictment on the plight of today's youth(well, in 1981 that is).
This gaggle of punks of Stegman's push the weaker kids around and it is quite a statement when green teacher Andrew Norris(Perry King) recognizes that fellow academian Terry Corrigan(Roddy McDowell, in one of his best latter career roles) carries a gun in his briefcase!
"Surveillance is the name of the game around here, Mr. Norris. "
This coming from the principal of the school for petesake! It's like a high school from hell where teachers worry more about surviving the day instead of "molding young minds"! Sure, many of the kids just want to learn, but with Stegman's brood causing trouble at every turn, it's hard for anyone to relax. The moment Norris walks into his class room, the kids are all cutting up and throwing paper wads while Stegman sits on his desk! Mr. Norris discovers that the punks(except Stegman) perpetrating his band classroom don't even belong there!
The punks steal lunch money from students and we see a kid selling drugs right out in the open. There's graffiti all over the walls of every room and halls..mostly featuring explicit content and detailed artwork. The gang beats Leroy the drug dealer to a pulp for selling dope "in their territory". These thugs seem to live and breathe to raise hell and cause mischief..everyone is a target that doesn't belong. Their sorry lives' purpose is to antagonize and fight.
Stegman, unstable and always one step from demolishing anything in his path(that or ordering his stooges to do so), actually has talent behind the piano, but his immature anarchic antics don't endear him to Norris.
McDowell's Corrigan is a miserable, cynical, boozing, extremely disheartened biology teacher who tries to persuade Norris "to play nice" when it comes to the dangerous students. Corrigan feels that he is a failure because his influence on the students that enter his class seems nil and void.
"To the lower animals..they never kill each other without good reason."
Corrigan says this while gulping some liquor he keeps around in class when he gets time to himself. When the punks skin his pets alive, spreading their blood all over his classroom, this ultimately sends poor Corrigan over the edge. This repulsive act certainly leaves it's mark on Corrigan who will now set his sights on getting even.
After snorting some angel dust sold to him by Stegman and his crew, a kid climbs a flag pole stoned out of his gourd, falling to his death. Michael J Fox portrays a good, tenderhearted youth who attempted to convince the kid not to buy the dope from Stegman, to no avail. As Arthur, his knowledge of the drug sell gets him in pretty deep shit with Stegman who orders a kid to stab him. We see later that Stegman's mom hasn't a clue how psychotic her son is, he has her wrapped around his finger.This is one of those movies where delinquent youths push adults too far, to the brinking point and beyond. Their unrelenting joy at causing those in their orbit harm shows in almost every scene in the movie.
"Life is pain. Pain is everything. You will Learn."
When they rape and abuse his wife, the point of no return is reached, and Norris will not stand by and take their bullshit any longer. He has become a mainstay at the police department, doing whatever he can to halt this gang's activity. Even though he saw them set fire to his car causing it to explode, it still doesn't get them in trouble. Norris tries every method at his disposal to get them out of his school and off the streets, but Stegman and his crew keep getting back out there due to "lack of evidence". There's an irony with the last half as Norris gets his revenge regarding "proof of wrongdoing" which might be gratifying for those who hate these fucking cretins.
During what was supposed to be his big night, a symphony he and his class worked their ass off for, Stegman and company pull out the stops to his enforce their will on Norris. Every avenue exhausted, Norris has little choice now but confront and kill every last one of these douchebags.
During the movie, we've had to tolerate these scumbags getting away with all their indecent behavior, hiding behind their age of 17, the law seemingly on their side, and seeing them get their comeuppance is certain to satisfy many a viewer. As one of his gifted students orchestrates the symphony, Norris is running about darkened halls and rooms trying to rescue his wife as the punks scurry about. This kind of movie is certain to ruffle a few feathers as it provides a legimate excuse for a man to kill high school kids who are threatening his life and wife's welfare. Blackboard Jungle this is not; it goes far darker and more disturbing. Director Mark Lester proclaimed that this was a cautionary tale worthy to take note. The gratuitous violence on display(the table saw damage and setting one victim on fire, his body's charred remains on display for extra impact)might be a bit much for some viewers to endure, but it sure worked for me.
Easily the best scene in the movie has a completely fed-up Roddy McDowell holding his class at gunpoint(!)forcing them to answer biology questions they would never in class before. After this, his life in ruins, a drunken Corrigan attempts, and fails sadly, to run Stegman and punks over with his car! Stegman, alas, is able to avoid being roadkill and has the last laugh on Corrigan.
I have to tell you, I thought Perry King was damn good in this movie. His character tries, really does, to be the kind of teacher that can do good for his students, and, through the shit that Stegman puts him through, has a transformation. In order to survive, sometimes even the most civilized person must find the savage within to overcome the obstacles one is faced or else. I mean, can we really blame him? His pregnant wife(Merrie Lynn Ross) is sexually molested, kidnapped, her life in potential danger, and he himself being chased by a wild pack of hyenas..what is a man to do with such odds?
The rape, while mild by some people's standards, was so effective to me because those involved were having such fun violating Norris' pregnant wife. It only enforces our rage to see him destroy those slimeballs in gruesome fashion for their crimes.
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