The Principal Review

MPAA Rating: R
Released: 1987

The Principal stars James Belushi as a hard-hitting, hard drinking teacher that is transferred to a ghetto school that shares more in common with a war zone than it does an academic facility. But not all the students of the inner city school are so happy to see their new principal, particularly Victor Duncan, a drug-dealing thug that holds ultimate control over the school and its population.

Rick Latimer (James Belushi) is a suburban high school teacher that is experiencing a bit of a midlife crisis. He's the type of guy that neglects his apartment, owns a fairly empty refrigerator, drinks chocolate protein powder with soda since the milk sours (and uses beer when the soda runs out), ogles attractive female students with binoculars in the classroom… you know, the typical all-American male.

During a night at the bar with friends he spies his recently divorced ex-wife with her new lover, who happens to be the attorney that represented her during their divorce. Rick decides to calmly address this offense by "borrowing" a baseball bat hanging over the bar, chasing the attorney outside and smashing his car. For whatever reason the local school board finds such behavior to be rather inappropriate, so having had enough of their hot-tempered teacher they decide to "promote" him to a principal position in the worst possible inner city school: Brandel High.

Rick's first day at his new school is fairly exciting, for he gets the chance to witness defiant and vulgar students, white trash being run down with a car, fist fights and more drugs than a Columbian cocaine factory. But he doesn't allow such chaos to put a damper on his day; he even gives it the old college try to assist a student that hid in a gymnasium to evade a Hispanic gang of pursuers. Following the student into the empty gym, Rick assures the kid that his pursuers have already sped on by, so he can come out safely. The student offers no response, but Rick is not discouraged. He continues to offer the sort of compassionate and understanding advice that we expect of our teachers:

Rick: Alright, you wanna be a f**king sissy that's your prerogative.
Student: I ain't no sissy, motherf**ker.
Rick: Oh no? How come you were running so fast?
Student: You'd run too if you were on their s**t list.
Rick: Hey, I'm on everybody's s**t list, man. I just can't run that fast.

Some kids are kinda thickheaded, though, so Rick is forced to gracefully accept that he can't help the misguided teenager:

Rick: Hey, you're full of s**t, kid.
Student: No, you're full of s**t. You're that f**k-up teacher from Willoby, and that's the only reason your sorry ass is in this place. So f**k you, man. Don't try to be no principal with me, man, cause I don't need your sorry s**t.

Such a failure would fluster many weaker principals, but nooo… not Rick. You see, he's a manly man and this reluctant hero becomes all the more determined to clean up this inner city school, aided by Jake Phillips (Louis Gossett Jr.), the school's chief of security, as well as some other testosterone-fueled teachers.

Victor Duncan (Michael Wright), a drug dealer that holds virtual control over the school, isn't too thrilled with Rick's crusade to clean the school from crime and drugs. Oh, sure, Rick tries to help him, but Duncan is just one hard nut to crack:

Duncan: If you're trying to reach me, I'll just cut your hand off.
Rick: I got another one.
Duncan: Look, why don't you just do yourself a favor and return to your white-bred, suburban cesspool land while you still gotta chance, alright?

It probably comes as no surprise that Rick fails to heed Duncan's advice; it's a natural conclusion that as Rick continues to spark a sense of hope and pride in his students, a showdown with Victor Duncan becomes an inevitability.

I loved The Principal as a kid and I still do today. It's not a work of art, and could even fall into the guilty pleasure category, but everything about it just worked well for me. There's far more action in this film than most dramas of similar nature, but James Belushi ably pulls it off. There's something cool about watching him ride his motorcycle right into the school hallways to mete out some justice to violent punks. Sure, it's not terribly realistic, but it's thoroughly entertaining nonetheless.

The Principal isn't for everyone, but if you are the type of moviegoer that enjoys watching films about toughened teachers or principals attempting to get through to difficult city kids, it's definitely worth giving this one a shot. Apparently there are many fans of such films too, for The Principal was followed by The Substitute series, Dangerous Minds, Lean on Me and other related films.

Movie rating: 8 stars

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