The Emperor's Club (2002)

An idealistic prep school teacher attempts to redeem an incorrigible student.

Director:

Michael Hoffman

Writers:

Ethan Canin (short story "The Palace Thief"), Neil Tolkin (screenplay)

Stars:

Kevin Kline, Emile Hirsch, Embeth Davidtz

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Kline	...	William Hundert
Emile Hirsch	...	Sedgewick Bell
Embeth Davidtz	...	Elizabeth
Rob Morrow	...	James Ellerby
Edward Herrmann	...	Headmaster Woodbridge
Harris Yulin	...	Senator Bell
Paul Dano	...	Martin Blythe
Rishi Mehta	...	Deepak Mehta
Jesse Eisenberg	...	Louis Masoudi
Gabriel Millman	...	Robert Brewster (as Gabe Millman)
Chris Morales	...	Eugene Field
Luca Bigini	...	Copeland Gray
Michael Coppola	...	Russell Hall
Sean Fredricks	...	Mr. Harris
Katherine O'Sullivan	...	The Nun

Storyline

William Hundert is a passionate and principled Classics professor who finds his tightly-controlled world shaken and inexorably altered when a new student, Sedgewick Bell, walks into his classroom. What begins as a fierce battle of wills gives way to a close student-teacher relationship, but results in a life lesson for Hundert that will still haunt him a quarter of a century later.

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Plot Keywords:

roman | classroom | cheating | headmaster | morality | 

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Taglines:

In everyone's life there's that one person who makes all the difference.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site - synopsis and picture gallery Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 November 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Palace Thief

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$3,846,780 (USA) (22 November 2002)

Gross:

$14,060,950 (USA) (24 January 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beacon Communications, Fine Line Features, Horsepower Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min 109 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The girls' prep school location was used as the boys' prep school in Scent of a Woman

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Goofs

As the boys are running into the building after Hundert breaks the car window with a baseball, a red headed boy near Hundert drops his bat twice.

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Quotes

[first lines]
William Hundert: As I've gotten older, I realize I'm certain of only two things. Days that begin with rowing on a lake are better than days that do not. Second, a man's character is his fate.

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Connections

References The Great Escape (1963)

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Soundtracks

"Funk 49"
Written by Jim Fox, Joe Walsh, Dale Peters
Performed by James Gang
Courtesy of MCA Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

VERY good movie

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I don't care if others think it was predictable - so what? Wasn't Jaws predictable? How about Alien? Once in a while a movie has a lesson in it - like this one. Even if it is a lesson that gets played over and over.

I really didn't care for the mildly romantic banter between Kline's character and his female interest. Maybe the purpose of the character was to show Dr. Hundert was not gay - but that seems awfully shallow to me. If this movie was not about a gay teacher, why did the writer feel obligate to prove the reverse? All in all though, this was a GOOD movie

• very good.