The Principal (1987) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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Transcript

00:12hey everyone welcome back to another cult movie review with me Bo on the film scene

00:19investigation channel thanks for checking out the video in today's review i'm going to be taking a

00:27look at the 1987 drama the principle before we get into it guys if you haven't already

00:35please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated so the

00:44principle from 1987 was directed by the filmmaker christopher kane and starred the actor jim

00:52belushi in his first lead role while belushi had indeed appeared alongside some big name talent in

01:01other films he was generally considered to be a supporting actor when it came to the principle

01:09this was belushi's first real opportunity to lead a movie and showcase his dramatic side along with his

01:19comedic talents when it comes to the supporting cast the movie included the likes of lewis gossip

01:27jr actor michael wright and the actress ray dong chong whom i'm all familiar with i knew actor michael

01:37wright from a season three episode of miami vice and of course who could forget ray dong chong's

01:44performance in the arnold schwarzenegger classic commando so when it comes to the film's plot it

01:52followed the newly promoted school teacher ricky latimer who was played by jim belushi taking over as

01:59principal of brandell high school brandell was a school that was run down situated in a very dangerous part

02:10of the neighborhood and yeah just had a very notorious reputation it was it was basically a dump and

02:19no one in their right mind would actually want to teach there you see ricky wasn't exactly thrilled with

02:28the idea of being sent to brandell but given his recent behavioral issues his school's governing board

02:36decided to transfer him latimer was getting over a failed relationship and well his behavior had become

02:47a nuisance and so the board felt it was best that he vacate and no longer tarnish their reputation latimer

02:56already knew about brandell high and how much of a dump it was but given that this was a new

03:04opportunity

03:05for him to actually become principal and be given more responsibility yeah he took the position

03:12even though latimer knew about the school's bad reputation it wasn't really until he showed up

03:20outside the school gates and discovered just how poorly run the school was you had trash everywhere

03:28graffiti on the walls disrespectful students gangs everywhere open drug use i mean this was a school

03:37without any serious discipline and latimer knew that he had a real challenge on his hands now ricky was able

03:48to form a solid relationship with the school's head security guard jake phillips who was played by actor

03:55lewis gossett jr jake did his best to keep the students in line but given the lack of resources the

04:06school had

04:07his efforts basically went nowhere he wanted to make a difference but with so many kids on the rampage

04:17it was pretty much impossible to maintain any discipline at brandell high school while ricky wasn't exactly

04:27thrilled with the idea of being the principal of such a run-down school given that he was there now

04:34and

04:35he was in charge ricky decided to make a series of policies to completely overhaul the school and make a

04:44positive impact as the movie progressed we saw ricky enforce some of his new policies like stopping open

04:53drug use and forcing all the students to attend class but as you can imagine the new policies weren't

05:02exactly popular with the various gang members in and around the school the head gang leader victor

05:11duncan who was played by actor michael wright took exception to these new policies and targeted the

05:18principal in an effort to drive him out of brandell duncan was a dangerous individual i mean he was a

05:28guy that you wouldn't want to mess with and he was basically feared by all the other students yet when

05:35it

05:35came to the principal he took no notice he stayed resilient and continued on in his pursuit to overhaul

05:44the school things would get serious though when ricky was ambushed in a sneak attack by victor and his men

05:54ricky was attacked from behind he didn't even have a chance to really defend himself before he was left

06:01completely battered and bruised up until that point you know only angry words had been exchanged between

06:09the two but with this attack well victor had taken things to the next level in victor's eyes it was

06:21his

06:22school he ran things and there was gonna be no newly appointed principal that was gonna get in his way

06:31but the vicious attack by victor and his men only seemed to spur the principal on it made him even

06:41more

06:41determined to push through his new policies the movie culminated with victor and his men roaming the

06:50school in an attempt to find and kill the principal latimer knew he was in trouble and he did his

06:58best to

06:59keep out of sight but eventually he was found and held at gunpoint a fight would then break out between

07:07the two in the school hallway a final showdown between two guys who were not going to back down

07:15at first victor had the upper hand i mean he was the younger and stronger of the two but ricky

07:24was

07:24eventually able to fight back ricky had had enough there was no more mr nice guy and we saw the

07:33principal

07:34knock victor out in front of all the students who were watching on suddenly the big bad gangster victor

07:42duncan was a laughing stock and no longer feared among the other students it was fairly predictable

07:51that eventually victor duncan would get his comeuppance but um yeah the way it was handled yeah i

07:58enjoyed it you know one of my favorite scenes in the entire film was the class assembly sequence where

08:05we saw the principal announce his intentions to reform brand l high no more graffiti no more drugs

08:15no more disrespect no more bad behavior just no more you had ricky up on stage all alone trying to

08:25keep some semblance of order while hundreds of disinterested kids just watched on the scene

08:34really established just how big the school was i mean there were hundreds of students in this assembly

08:41and it kind of showed the enormity of the challenge that ricky was facing i don't know how many extras

08:50were

08:51used for this scene but it seemed like well over 300 i mean there were just tons of kids there

08:58i thought the scene was um filmed very well and it also gave us the introduction to the victor

09:06duncan character ricky tried to assert some authority but victor wasn't listening i mean he was not

09:16in a mood to follow any orders a fight would eventually break out between all of the students

09:23which was somewhat predictable given the hostile atmosphere inside the hall suddenly these kids

09:31had an audience and uh yeah they wanted to show off and so they did yeah there was just simply

09:40no respect or discipline for any of these kids to follow it was a great scene with a very chaotic

09:49ending

09:50when it comes to jim belushi and his performance i must say i thoroughly enjoyed it he brought his

09:59natural charm and swagger to the role and for me he didn't really seem out of place as an authority

10:08figure

10:10going into this film i didn't really know what to expect from jim belushi as the limited times i

10:20have seen him on screen it's usually to do with some sort of comedy or sitcom with the principal while

10:29the

10:29comedy was still there it was very muted and i think the filmmakers made the right choice to rein in

10:38the

10:38comedy and focus more on the drama i also liked the relationship between ricky and jake you know two

10:47guys that had each other's backs while they attempted to clean up brandell the two had some good on-screen

10:56chemistry together that felt genuine and not forced so yeah that was a definite highlight for the film

11:04i'm also really glad that the filmmakers didn't pursue a love story between the principal

11:11and ray dawn chong's character ms orozco given ricky was on the rebound from his divorce i assumed that we

11:21might get this forced relationship between the two but luckily it was left alone and i think the film was

11:29better off for it i mean there was enough going on already in the story with victor duncan and all

11:37the

11:37various gang members causing havoc at brandell we didn't need this forced you know romantic subplot

11:45so yeah i'm really glad we didn't see it when it comes to the actor michael wright i thought he

11:52did a

11:53pretty decent job as the antagonist victor duncan his character was a complete psychopath who lacked empathy

12:04for anyone but himself with his dark clothing and his uh sinister voice i thought michael wright owned the

12:16role and i was very impressed i guess there could be an argument made that the victor duncan character

12:26was a little too mature to be hanging around high school but yeah i overlooked it

12:34and i'm glad that the victor duncan character would end up surviving and just got took to jail at the

12:41end because i feel if the principal had indeed you know gone over the top and actually killed victor

12:49in front of all the students that would have been pretty ridiculous so i'm glad they kind of reigned it

12:56in a bit there and so dislikes for the principal from 1987 my biggest dislike for this film would have

13:07to be the scene in which the principal saved the history teacher ms orozco from being sexually assaulted

13:15in her classroom we saw the history teacher ms orozco get attacked by one of her students who was wearing

13:24a

13:24mask and ricky heard what was going on and attempted to save her now in terms of the storyline itself

13:32i had no issues with you know the principal coming to the aid of the history teacher and saving the

13:39day

13:39no problem whatsoever my issue came with the fact that we saw the principal drive his motorcycle through

13:48the various school corridors and up some staircases he then smashed the classroom door that was locked

13:56with his bike and yeah he came hurling through the classroom and i must say i did find that

14:04pretty ridiculous this was a serious scene you know with a history teacher being sexually abused i mean

14:11there's nothing you know funny about that she was pinned to her desk this crazy student in a mask was

14:17all

14:17over her and yeah of course it made sense that ricky would come and attempt to save his colleague

14:24just just the way it was done the way it was executed with him you know smashing through the gut

14:31it just tonally it fell off and in a way it kind of took away from the seriousness that had

14:41been built up

14:42with the sexual assault the filmmakers shouldn't have been so bombastic with the execution you know the

14:51knight in shining armor kind of deal because you know the principal could have just gone on foot

14:58did we really need all this big elaborate stunt work i mean i don't know it just took me out

15:05of the film

15:06and as soon as i saw that i was like oh really we're doing this listen i understand that this

15:15movie was

15:17targeted to a specific audience in mind i mean this movie the principal was aimed at the

15:23you know newly emerging mtv generation you know and the filmmakers wanted to create this big

15:32dramatic moment to you know likely keep the audience interested yes ricky was an experienced

15:41motorcyclist i mean there's no denying that you know he knew how to handle a bike many scenes we saw

15:48him

15:48riding around the streets but having him ride up staircases and bursting through locked doors

15:57was somewhat of a stretch i mean this was something that a stuntman would do and let's face it ricky

16:04was no stuntman

16:05that and so ratings for the principal from 1987 i'm going to be rating this movie a solid 4.5

16:16out of 10

16:18the principal is very much a movie of its time very mid 80s with the fashion styles and soundtrack

16:28that kind of reminded me of the tv show miami vice with some of the musical montages no joke belushi

16:38was a

16:39major major highlight for this film and i actually thought the supporting cast complimented his zany

16:47performance pretty well overall this is a serious movie with some comedy elements added in but i thought

16:55that the the filmmakers did actually a pretty good job balancing out the tone accordingly i don't

17:02think the movie would have become the success it did if it were an outright comedy if you're a fan

17:09of 80s cinema and you haven't seen the principal yet i'd recommend it as overall yeah it's it's definitely

17:18worth a watch and well that's all from me today guys i hope you have enjoyed this review of the

17:24principle from 1987 i'll be back next week of course with another cult movie review don't forget to like

17:32and subscribe and of course take care guys see you next week

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