The Substitute
                                                                                                              
Director: Robert Mandel
Year: 1996
Rating: 5.0
Having seen a few clips of this on FB Reels, I wasn't expecting Goodbye, Mr. Chips, but thought To Sir with a Right Hook might be in the neighborhood. Well, a little bit except for the huge kill count and Rambo wiping out a drug gang. This is an insane movie on almost every level and yet by 1990s action films, pretty normal. It mainly takes place in your typical inner city high school where all the students take their studies seriously, are well-disciplined and respectful of their teachers. Ok, not exactly. This indulges in every racist movie trope there is. They are wild, throw stuff at the teacher, play their music loud, have children, have no future, know no history, don't know much biology and belong to gangs. Of course, all they need is tough love and being tossed out of second floor windows by the teacher. After they try and kill him.




Tom Berenger and his group of mercenaries (Luis Guzman, William Forsythe, Raymond Cruz, Richard Brooks) have just screwed up a secret mission to Cuba and been put out to pasture. They settle in Miami where Berenger's girl friend (Diane Venora) teaches at the before mentioned school. The school is run by a bunch of gang bangers headed by Marc Anthony. The Principal is Ernie Hudson. The girlfriend is a problem for the gang and they break her kneecap. So, they need a substitute teacher. In steps our hero, Berenger who wants to clean it all up. He enlists his mercs to help out. He walks away at the end with the floors littered with dead bodies, weapons, drugs and hope. It is really stupid and every time the girlfriend showed up it slowed to a crawl, but to give it credit, I was not expecting this. Sadly, as he leaves, no one sings to him. Because most of them were dead.

A friend who taught me right from wrong
And weak from strong
That's a lot to learn
What, what can I give you in return?
To Sir, with love