To Sir, with Love II (1996) (TV)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Peter Bogdanovich

Writers (WGA):

E.R. Braithwaite (characters from book)
Philip Rosenberg (written by)

Release Date:

7 April 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

After thirty years teaching in London, Mark Thackeray retires and returns to Chicago. There, however...

Plot Keywords:

Institute | TV Sequel To Theatrical Movie | Teacher | Chicago Illinois | Sequel

Cast

Sidney Poitier	...	Mark Thackeray
Christian Payton	...	Wilsie Carrouthers
Dana Eskelson	...	Evie
Fernando López
Casey Lluberes	...	Rebecca Torrado
Michael Gilio	...	Frankie Davanon
L.Z. Granderson
Bernadette L. Clarke
Jamie Kolacki
Saundra Santiago
Cheryl Lynn Bruce	...	Emily Taylor
Lulu	...	Barbara Pegg
Judy Geeson	...	Pamela Dare
Daniel J. Travanti	...	Horace Weaver
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Beasley	...	Greg Emory
Christopher Birt	...	Mark Taylor
Antonia Bogdanovich	...	Lynn Guzman
Pauline Brailsford	...	Very British Woman
Dante Burress	...	Wilsie's Gang Pal
Delle Chatman	...	Florist Driver
Neil Flynn	...	Detective Dennis
Joe Forbrich	...	Rob Doerr
Jeffrey Baldwin Gibson	...	2nd Dignitary
Irma P. Hall	...	Old Woman
Mel Jackson	...	Tommie Rahwn (as Melton Jackson)
Doug Johnson	...	Bill Plummer
Joan Kohn	...	Helen Goldfarb
Paulette McDaniels	...	Secretary
Kenneth Northcott	...	1st Dignitary
David Pease	...	Mr. Yallick
Juan Ramírez	...	Det. Alvarez (as Juan Ramirez)
Russ Reed	...	Old Man
Nicholas Rudall	...	3rd Dignitary
Juan Sanchez Jr.	...	Tommie's Gang Pal
Eddie Bo Smith Jr.	...	School Guard (as Eddie 'Bo' Smith Jr.)
Jeff Still	...	Sergeant Giametti
Peter Talhame	...	Louis
Jackie Taylor	...	Mrs. Carrouthers
John M. Watson Sr.	...	Publisher (as John Watson Sr.)
Jason Winer	...	Leo Radatz
Kris Wolff	...	Billy Lapatynski
Cedric Young	...	Cabbie

Also Known As:

To Sir, with Love 2 (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:L | Netherlands:16 (video premiere) | UK:15 (video premiere) | Spain:7

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

TriStar Television

Trivia:

Both Lulu and Judy Geeson who played major parts in the original To Sir, with Love (1967) reprised their roles in this sequel.

Quotes:

student: They got their minds made up about us, Mr. Thackeray.
Mark Thackeray: Then change them.
student: Yeah, right! Maybe that would work where you're from or where you went. You know, you run off to England and you teach in some school and you REALLY think you're something, don't you?
Mark Thackeray: I AM something - everyone is.
student: Well, in this country you're nothin'. It don't matter how many schools you teach in... you and me, we walk down the street and all people are gonna see is black skin.
Mark Thackeray: What do you want them to see?
student: Me.
Mark Thackeray: Who are you? Do you see YOU the way you want to be seen? Then you must see character in yourself, discipline in yourself, determination in yourself - to survive - with dignity, no matter how tough the world around you is. Is that who you are? If not, is that who you want to be? If so, come... let's go walk down a street and see what we can GET them to see.

Movie Connections:

Follows To Sir, with Love (1967)

I bet against him, but Sir came through again

Someone who knows how much I adore Poitier's no nonsense demeaner and noble characterizations taped this film for me one evening when I informally voted that it would not be worth my while to make a b line home to see it. Though I appreciated the favor, the tape sat on my shelf for many a year. All I recalled about the production were the brief previews that served as ample warning that the film would aire. Truthfully, I was kind of Poitiered out. Nobody went around public speaking talking about his book and showing clips of his works as much as I did. I particularly enjoyed the Bill Cosby pairings of comedies, the "In the Heat of the Night" and "Shoot to Kill" cop flicks and the career founding race films that literally and figuratively were black and white. The first "To Sir with Love" was passable but finding difficulty joining the lofty ranks of the aforementioned 3 category favorites. With "Fame" and "Good Will Hunting" among my favorite school theme films and "With Honors" and "Breakfast Club" doing admireable jobs at rounding out that theme category, I found it hard to believe there was a place for a partially commited to Poitier project to have any impact. For all intents and purposes, I wrote this project off and kind of kept my distance from it the same way a boxing fan might refuse to go see a very old Ali take on Berbick. Almost a decade after first recorded I watched this "To Sir with Love 2" and was surprised to find that it has it own healthy niche'. The first few minutes shows the 80 year-old thesbian playing a teacher moving about the city with a theme song that sounds both dated and amateurish, however this cheesiness is only misleading and does not hint of the good stuff that follows if you stick with it. There are plenty of good teaching techniques peppered with periodic morale lessons. Blunted violence and self censored language may come across as humorous or unrealistic, however it does not take away from the overall message and in the end plays a major part in the movie's charm. For the umpteenth time, another score for Poitier, even though I thought he was done.