X
- 1997
- TV-14
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 59 m
- 1997
- TV-14
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 59 m
Summary 15 months after being stabbed 9 times by a student at work as a high school teacher in NYC, Mr. Garfield is working in LA as a substitute teacher come full-time. He refuses to be a victim anymore.
Directed By: Kevin Reynolds
Written By: Scott Yagemann
- 1997
- TV-14
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 59 m
- 1997
- TV-14
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 59 m
One Eight Seven
41
6.9
Where to Watch
Summary 15 months after being stabbed 9 times by a student at work as a high school teacher in NYC, Mr. Garfield is working in LA as a substitute teacher come full-time. He refuses to be a victim anymore.
Directed By: Kevin Reynolds
Written By: Scott Yagemann
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
41
13% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
60% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
27% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
41
13% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
60% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
27% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Genuinely disturbing in its vision of fearless students and powerless teachers locked in struggle.
Though positioned as a glum expose of America's violent schools (a cause for hand-wringing at least as far back as 1955's The Blackboard Jungle), the story is overwhelmed by the throbbing score, music-video aesthetic (New York scenes are shot in cold blues and grays, while the L.A. sequences are a hazy, burnt-out yellow) and the exotic, colorful psychos who rule Garfield's classroom: It's a New York Times editorial by way of CLASS OF 1984.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 User Ratings
6.9
75% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
13% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
13% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 User Ratings
6.9
75% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
13% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
13% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Le meilleur film avec Samuel Jackson ou plutôt son second (après l’incroyable No Limit…) ; il s’y révèle en effet d’une stupéfiante intensité dans le rôle de ce professeur au bout du rouleau, à la fois désabusé et opiniâtre, désemparé et en même temps encore plein d’espérances.
Une victoire à la Pyrrhus pour lui et la prime du sacerdoce en bonus, car plus que tout, l’enseignement est sa passion. Sa passion, il la subit autant qu’il l’exerce dans ce bahut à raclures, ce zoo comme il en existe tant là-bas, chez nous (aussi) et de par le monde : ces endroits où il n’y a plus de respect, symboles de la déliquescence du système éducatif mis au point par les bisounours du vivre-ensemble.
La mise en scène remarquable de Kevin Reynolds, la photographie superbe et la musique électro envoûtante participent à cette ambiance d’un film scolaire qui sort clairement du lot, bien qu’il ne réinvente pas la roue en la matière.
Les interrogations et l’approche sociale reviennent cependant un peu trop en boucle (comme dans tous les films du genre) avec ici une lueur d’espoir pour les ‘gentils’ élèves ou plutôt le gentil ou la gentille élève qui s’extirpera du cloaque.
Quelques ellipses à propos de notre ‘super prof’ et quelques longueurs sont sans doute à déplorer mais le grand final remporte l’adhésion par sa puissance et confirme un film brillant.
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Jackson's performance is impressive: He effectively conveys every nervous and belligerent nuance, but his character eventually disappears beneath a morass of gimmicks, clichés, and political cynicism.
At the end, I know, Trevor has come unhinged. I accept that and believe it. But it feels like the movie lost the nerve of its original story impulse and sought safety in elements borrowed from thrillers. Its destination doesn't have much to do with how it got there.
Jackson bears the weight of the film in a constrained, introverted role (terrorised, pertinacious, innocent passion squandered), but a grand resolution and some melodramatic twists and set-pieces undercut the hard-nosed tone.
The most disheartening line in 187 is its last, written in bold type across the screen just before the credits roll: "A teacher wrote this movie." It's enough to make you weep, and not just because it's painful to think that this muddled and manipulative film was penned by someone in a position to mold impressionable minds. [30 Jul 1997, p.F1]
By the time the movie's ugly conclusion is reached, we are so numbed by the mindless degradation of it all that we couldn't care less who wins. We know we didn't. [01 Aug 1997, p.03E]
This is by far one of the very underrated hood dramas ever shaded by Hollywood. And the Oscar worthy performance by Samuel L. Jackson with the talented Clifton Collins Jr. shows it all in this depressing 90s East LA drama. Even though the movie's been written by an actual teacher, the script can be janky all around but still holds up quite nicely in film history showing the dark side of high school back in the 90s. No wonder why Rockstar Games thought of Samuel L. Jackson and Clifton Collins Jr. to reprise their personas for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.
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Awards
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Tokyo International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
