THE SUBSTITUTE
US, 1996, 114 minutes, Colour.
Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, Diane Venora, Mark Anthony, Glenn Plummer, William Forsythe.
Directed by Robert Mandel.
The Substitute is an average American violent thriller. While it begins with the CIA in action, it moves to the task force's being disbanded and the veterans being left stranded in what to do with their lives. Tom Berenger is one of the trained action elite who goes to see his girlfriend, Diane Venora, and has to take her place as the substitute teacher when she is set upon by a gang. His investigations of the drug dealings within the school move to an unmasking of the principal (Ernie Hudson) as the controlling criminal.
There are a lot of expected sequences - especially with the black and Hispanic students and their violence and lack of interest in education, the confrontation with the particular dealers, students, sympathetic teachers, criminal principal. The film echoes the themes of such education films as The Principal and Dangerous Minds. (All of these films were parodied in Hart Bochner's High School High with John Lovitz - especially the resolution with the principal as the criminal.)
1. An average action American thriller? The portrait of American schools and their violence, drugs?
2. The credibility of the characters and the plot, CIA operatives, going into the schools, confronting drug issues, the criminal world of LA?
3. The action sequences, the opening, Los Angeles? The contrast with homes, schools? The musical score?
4. The title and its reference to Tom Berenger and his work in taking on the role of a teacher?
5. The opening and the action tone, the CIA and the covert operations, their being disbanded, the change of political climate in the '90s?
6. The operative and his being at a loose end, return to Los Angeles, with his girlfriend? A chance to review his past life? Shaping a future?
7. The girlfriend and her role in the school, as a teacher, her relationship with the students? With the principal?
8. Her jogging, the violent confrontation with Jerome, her being mugged, her being hospitalised? The drugs and the consequent violence? Her boyfriend's visit and learning about the school?
9. The substitute and his visiting the principal, taking his girlfriend's place? Using his computer skills to give alternate information? His tough stances, the classroom, the roll-call, the predictable reaction of the students? His illustrating his strength and toughness? His being able to communicate with them from his Vietnam experience? The effect and winning over some of the students? His detective work? The clashes with the principal? The discovery about the drugs, the suspects?
10. The variety of personalities on the staff, their indolence or their help? Glen Plummer as the sympathetic teacher, his giving information, his being in the wrong place, his death?
11. LA and drug issues, the role of the principal and the police? Making the links, discovering the storage, the final confrontation with the principal and the drug-dealing gang of students?
12. The elements of To Sir With Love and the variations on this theme? The dedicated teacher, trials and tribulations, winning over the students?
13. The American elements of the Lean on Me type of story where students respond to tough stances?
14. A portrait of the US in the '90s - a true picture or a heightened picture for an action thriller?
