Shows with Powerful Teachers
by alden-ash | created - 16 Mar 2016 | updated - 18 Mar 2016 | PublicBy no means complete, this list is movies and TV programs with fictitious and real teachers, mostly pre-college, that impacted their students, and in turn, us.
(I did not include any shows with teachers that were also sport coaches whose main influence was through their sports.)
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1. The Magic School Bus (1994–1997)
TV-Y | 30 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
An eccentric teacher takes her class on wondrous educational field trips with the help of a magic school bus.
Stars: Lily Tomlin, Daniel DeSanto, Lisa Jai, Tara Meyer
Votes: 11,251
2. Head of the Class (1986–1991)
TV-G | 30 min | Comedy
A laidback teacher provides needed guidance about life for a special class of exceptional students.
Stars: William G. Schilling, Jeannetta Arnette, Dan Frischman, Robin Givens
Votes: 3,449
3. Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
A compassionate teacher returns to his inner city high school of his youth to teach a new generation of trouble making kids.
Stars: Gabe Kaplan, Ron Palillo, John Travolta, Marcia Strassman
Votes: 7,591
4. Dead Poets Society (1989)
PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles
Votes: 548,376 | Gross: $95.86M
5. Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
PG-13 | 117 min | Drama
A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Votes: 91,394 | Gross: $63.86M
6. Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
PG | 143 min | Drama, Music
A frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.
Director: Stephen Herek | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Jay Thomas, Olympia Dukakis
Votes: 41,901 | Gross: $82.57M
7. Stand and Deliver (1988)
PG | 103 min | Biography, Drama
The story of Jaime Escalante, a high school teacher who successfully inspired his dropout-prone students to learn calculus.
Director: Ramón Menéndez | Stars: Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan, Virginia Paris
Votes: 22,404 | Gross: $13.99M
8. Lean on Me (1989)
PG-13 | 108 min | Drama
The dedicated but tyrannical Joe Clark is appointed the principal of a decaying inner-city school he is determined to improve by any and all means.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Beverly Todd, Robert Guillaume, Alan North
Votes: 23,085 | Gross: $31.91M
9. The Emperor's Club (2002)
PG-13 | 109 min | Drama
An idealistic prep school teacher attempts to redeem an incorrigible student.
Director: Michael Hoffman | Stars: Kevin Kline, Emile Hirsch, Joel Gretsch, Embeth Davidtz
Votes: 17,968 | Gross: $14.06M
10. Dangerous Minds (1995)
R | 99 min | Biography, Drama
LouAnne, a retired US marine, becomes a teacher in a Californian high school. But her mostly Latino and black students from an impoverished and racially segregated locality do not easily embrace her.
Director: John N. Smith | Stars: Michelle Pfeiffer, George Dzundza, Courtney B. Vance, Robin Bartlett
Votes: 57,409 | Gross: $84.92M
11. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
PG | 142 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for their third year of study, where they delve into the mystery surrounding an escaped prisoner who poses a dangerous threat to the young wizard.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Griffiths
Votes: 695,005 | Gross: $249.36M
12. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Unrated | 114 min | Drama, Romance
An aged teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school recalls his career and his personal life over the decades.
Directors: Sam Wood, Sidney Franklin | Stars: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills
Votes: 11,667
13. School of Rock (2003)
PG-13 | 109 min | Comedy, Music
After being kicked out of his rock band, Dewey Finn becomes a substitute teacher of an uptight elementary private school, only to try and turn his class into a rock band.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Jack Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack, Adam Pascal
Votes: 332,438 | Gross: $81.26M
14. October Sky (1999)
PG | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen
Votes: 98,296 | Gross: $32.48M
15. Good Will Hunting (1997)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 1,073,031 | Gross: $138.43M
16. The Great Debaters (2007)
PG-13 | 126 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.
Director: Denzel Washington | Stars: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker
Votes: 63,259 | Gross: $30.23M
17. Freedom Writers (2007)
PG-13 | 123 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves and pursue education beyond high school.
Director: Richard LaGravenese | Stars: Hilary Swank, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Glenn
Votes: 85,830 | Gross: $36.61M
18. The Ron Clark Story (2006 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 90 min | Biography, Drama
A small-town teacher relocates to one of the country's toughest classrooms.
Director: Randa Haines | Stars: Matthew Perry, Judith Buchan, Griffin Cork, Jerry Callaghan
Votes: 12,468
19. Music of the Heart (1999)
PG | 124 min | Drama, Music
After Roberta Guaspari separates from her husband, she receives encouragement from her mother to take up a job of a music teacher at the Central Park East School in East Harlem.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Meryl Streep, Cloris Leachman, Henry Dinhofer, Michael Angarano
Votes: 13,413 | Gross: $14.86M
20. Knights of the South Bronx (2005 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 89 min | Drama
A business man decides that he wants to teach school in the inner city and chooses a tough school in the South Bronx. He teaches the children how to play the game of chess, and along the way they learn a lot about life.
Director: Allen Hughes | Stars: Ted Danson, Malcolm David Kelley, Brian Markinson, Kate Vernon
Votes: 1,112
21. Pay It Forward (2000)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance.
Director: Mimi Leder | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt, Jay Mohr
Votes: 124,544 | Gross: $33.52M
22. Blackboard Jungle (1955)
Approved | 101 min | Crime, Drama
A new English teacher at a violent, unruly inner-city school is determined to do his job, despite resistance from both students and faculty.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Margaret Hayes
Votes: 9,926
23. Front of the Class (2008 TV Movie)
PG | 95 min | Biography, Drama
Brad Cohen who, despite being challenged by Tourette's Syndrome at a very young age, defies all odds to become a gifted teacher.
Director: Peter Werner | Stars: James Wolk, Treat Williams, Dominic Scott Kay, Sarah Drew
Votes: 8,928
24. To Sir, with Love (1967)
Approved | 105 min | Drama
Idealistic engineer-trainee and his experiences in teaching a group of rambunctious white high school students from the slums of London's East End.
Director: James Clavell | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Christian Roberts, Suzy Kendall
Votes: 20,519 | Gross: $42.43M
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