Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)

A frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.

Director:

Stephen Herek

Writer:

Patrick Sheane Duncan

Stars:

Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Jay Thomas

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Glenn Holland
Glenne Headly	...	Iris Holland
Jay Thomas	...	Bill Meister
Olympia Dukakis	...	Principal Jacobs
William H. Macy	...	Vice Principal Wolters (as W.H. Macy)
Alicia Witt	...	Gertrude Lang
Terrence Howard	...	Louis Russ
Damon Whitaker	...	Bobby Tidd
Jean Louisa Kelly	...	Rowena Morgan
Alexandra Boyd	...	Sarah Olmstead
Nicholas John Renner	...	Cole at 6 Years Old
Joseph Anderson	...	Cole at 15 Years Old
Anthony Natale	...	Cole at 28 Years Old
Joanna Gleason	...	Adult Gertrude
Beth Maitland	...	Deaf School Principal

Storyline

Glenn Holland is a musician and composer who takes a teaching job to pay the rent while, in his 'spare time', he can strive to achieve his true goal - compose one memorable piece of music to leave his mark on the world. As Holland discovers 'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans' and as the years unfold the joy of sharing his contagious passion for music with his students becomes his new definition of success.

---

Plot Keywords:

teaching | high school | 1990s | deafness | high school teacher | 

---

Taglines:

A symphony of life.

---

Genres:

Drama | Music

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English American Sign Language

Release Date:

19 January 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mr. Holland's Opus

Filming Locations:

Oregon, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$23,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$92,254, 19 July 1996

Gross USA:

$82,569,971

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$106,269,971

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hollywood Pictures,Interscope Communications,Polygram Filmed Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

143 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Every person in the film that portrayed a deaf person is deaf in real life.

---

Goofs

One scene has the snow melting on the grass. The grass was brown. Portland grass is green during fall winter and spring and only brown during the summer dry months. They either painted the grass brown to look like areas where the grass is brown in the winter or the scene was in taken in the summer.

---

Quotes

Glenn Holland: [Mr Holland can't get the band to march properly] Left, right, left, right, left...
Bill Meister: [Blowing his whistle] STOP! Take a knee!
Bill Meister: [the football players start laughing] All right, START RUNNIN'! Hats ON! And don't stop until ya hear this whistle!
Bill Meister: [Starts walking with Glenn] Glenn... I take it you were never in the Army.
Glenn Holland: [laughing] Well, that's a stupid question!

---

Crazy Credits

Saturday Night Fever (1977) scene courtesy of Paramount Pictures

---

Connections

Referenced in Home Improvement: Mr. Wilson's Opus (1996)

---

Soundtracks

I GOT RHYTHM
Written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin

User Reviews

How I wish I had my own Mr. Holland

What a wonderful movie. I just watched it and am in awe of Richard Dreyfuss' amazing acting. Only being 15 but an avid music lover myself, I sat there wishing I had a teacher like Mr. Holland that inspired me like so many of the students in the movie, that made learning fun by connecting with the students, by doing everything Mr. Holland did. The stories of the students were real and believable. I connected with the girl that played the clarinet, Gertrude Lang, because sometimes I even feel that I'm never good at anything.

Every person of every age can appreciate and love this movie. At the end, when Mr. Holland's goodbye party was discovered in the gym and he took the stage, I was crying.

What a wonderful movie. History-wise, music-wise, and story-wise.