Dangerous Minds (1995)

An ex-Marine turned teacher struggles to connect with her students in an inner city school.

Director:

John N. Smith

Writers:

LouAnne Johnson (book), Ronald Bass (screenplay)

Stars:

Michelle Pfeiffer, George Dzundza, Courtney B. Vance

6 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michelle Pfeiffer	...	Louanne Johnson
George Dzundza	...	Hal Griffith
Courtney B. Vance	...	Mr. George Grandey
Robin Bartlett	...	Mrs. Carla Nichols
Beatrice Winde	...	Mary Benton
John Neville	...	Waiter
Lorraine Toussaint	...	Irene Roberts
Renoly Santiago	...	Raul Sanchero
Wade Dominguez	...	Emilio Ramirez
Bruklin Harris	...	Callie Roberts
Marcello Thedford	...	Cornelius Bates
Roberto Alvarez	...	Gusmaro Rivera
Richard Grant	...	Durrell Benton
Marisela Gonzales	...	Angela
Toni Nichelle Buzhardt	...	Nikki

Storyline

Louanne Johnson is an ex-marine, hired as a teacher in a high-school in a poor area of the city. She has recently separated from her husband. Her friend, also teacher in the school, got the temporary job for her. After a terrible reception from the students, she tries unconventional methods of teaching (using karate, Bob Dylan lyrics etc) to gain the trust of the students.

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Plot Keywords:

teacher student relationship | ex marine | pregnancy | high school principal | reference to dylan thomas | 

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Taglines:

She Broke The Rules... And Changed Their Lives.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

"This Is The Life", is a song that features on the film's original soundtrack, and is performed by 'Wendy And Lisa' In the 1980's, both of these artists were from Prince's band 'The Revolution', and even acted alongside him, in his movie, "Purple Rain". If you listen carefully to the music for "This is The Life" and "Purple Rain", you will notice, that they both have exactly the same music in their intro.

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Goofs

When Louanne walks in on the first day Nikki (girl in the overalls) is sitting, the next scene she is standing, then back to sitting.

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Quotes

Louanne: What should i tell them? If they dont want to die remember to knock?

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Connections

Spoofed in Late Night with Seth Meyers: James Spader/Glenda Jackson/Brad Leone/Jeff Friedl (2019)

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Soundtracks

Four Play
(Sample)
Written by George Clinton (as George Clinton Jr.), Glenn Goins, Bootsy Collins
Performed by Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corporation
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

convincing drama & wonderful story

Last year I saw this film at our English class which was written by LouAnne Johnson and directed by John Smith.

In the film, Michelle Pfeiffer starred LouAnne Joihnson, a teacher who starts working in a high school where students don't listen to their teachers and only do the things that they like. So LouAnne has to break the rules and by doing so, she changes their lives. For all this students start to love her.

Dangerous Mind is an excellent and common film which doesn't need special effects to catch our attention, because only with the characters, the simple clothes they wear and the wonderful story, as well as a nice sound track, we can get hooked.

I recommend people to see this film because it has things that can happen in our lives and the drama the film has is very convincing.

Gisella Villarreal, Cutral Co, Neuquen, Argentina.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 August 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

My Posse Don't Do Homework

Filming Locations:

Burlingame High School - 1 Mangini Way, Burlingame, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$23,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,931,503, 13 August 1995

Gross USA:

$84,919,401

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$179,519,401

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hollywood Pictures, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Via Rosa Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1