Posted 6 months ago
I have looked over carefully at the IMDb LIST showing many of Morgan Freeman's greatest films that he starred in, and I will say that they're all outstanding films. However, IMHO, there is one film that really did Freeman justice, and it wasn't on the list but it should have been, and that's his 1989 biographical movie, "LEAN ON ME". That's the one where he portrayed Joe Louis Clark, the tough, no-nonsense New Jersey educator who was picked to be the principal of Eastside High School, who used his unconventional and strict disciplinarian methods to deal with the drug deals and the gangs in the school, and helped the troubled students pass their basic reading and math skills tests, and keep the school from being taken over by the state.
His actions won him high praise from the students he helped, but it also made him some enemies from the parents of students that he expelled for being drug dealers and gangbangers and ordinary troublemakers who he felt weren't going to amount to anything anyways. He also drew the wrath of the Fire Dept. chief who didn't like that Clark was closing and chaining the doors to keep the gangs and dealers from coming backing into the school, which was a fire-code violation. But, as Clark stated, because the school didn't have any money to install fire alarms in the school, chaining the doors was their only alternative. And of course there was the Mayor, who despite the fact that he went along with the supervisor of the BOARD OF EDUCATION's suggestion to bring Clark in to do the job, and he desperately wanted Clark to succeed, he had to bow to political pressure from those who wanted to remove Clark. But it was the voice of the students that came through for him in the end.
So basically, what I was trying to say was, Freeman did both himself and Joe Clark justice in this film. Now, I'm not exactly sure if the real Clark acted the way that Freeman did in the film. Like if he ever called himself the "H.N.I.C=HEAD NIGGER IN CHARGE", the way that Freeman did when he was berating his faculty staff, or at the end of the movie when Freeman told the Mayor after he got the results the Students' Basic Skills Test(which they all passed, of course), that he and the state can "GO TO HELL!", but I think that we all get the general gist of it all, right?
His actions won him high praise from the students he helped, but it also made him some enemies from the parents of students that he expelled for being drug dealers and gangbangers and ordinary troublemakers who he felt weren't going to amount to anything anyways. He also drew the wrath of the Fire Dept. chief who didn't like that Clark was closing and chaining the doors to keep the gangs and dealers from coming backing into the school, which was a fire-code violation. But, as Clark stated, because the school didn't have any money to install fire alarms in the school, chaining the doors was their only alternative. And of course there was the Mayor, who despite the fact that he went along with the supervisor of the BOARD OF EDUCATION's suggestion to bring Clark in to do the job, and he desperately wanted Clark to succeed, he had to bow to political pressure from those who wanted to remove Clark. But it was the voice of the students that came through for him in the end.
So basically, what I was trying to say was, Freeman did both himself and Joe Clark justice in this film. Now, I'm not exactly sure if the real Clark acted the way that Freeman did in the film. Like if he ever called himself the "H.N.I.C=HEAD NIGGER IN CHARGE", the way that Freeman did when he was berating his faculty staff, or at the end of the movie when Freeman told the Mayor after he got the results the Students' Basic Skills Test(which they all passed, of course), that he and the state can "GO TO HELL!", but I think that we all get the general gist of it all, right?
(Edited)
Lean on Me added to the list!
To quote from the alternate persona of one of my favorite comedians, ANDY KAUFMAN: "T'ANK YOU VEDDY MUCH!" LOL!
I just wanted to say "thank you" to PAOK-KILKIS and NIKOLAY YERIOMIN(MYKOLA YERIOMIN) for "LIKING" the comments that I've made so far on this forum. I've tried to stay on point, and to not use offensive words or anything like that, you dig?
Nikolay Yeriomin (Mykola Yeromin), Champion
DIGGER, you're welcome.
I'm very active at liking the posts and comments here, but it's hard not to support helpful and/or nicely written comments. Yours usually are such. :)
I'm very active at liking the posts and comments here, but it's hard not to support helpful and/or nicely written comments. Yours usually are such. :)
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Gitte Løyche
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