''The Principal'' is a 1987

action comedy The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the America ...

film starring Jim Belushi, Louis Gossett Jr. and

Rae Dawn Chong Rae Dawn Chong (born February 28, 1961) is a Canadian-American actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1978 musical drama film ''Stony Island (film), Stony Island'', and in 1981 starred in the fantasy film ''Quest for Fire (film), ...

. Written by Frank Deese and directed by Christopher Cain, it was filmed in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, and at Northgate High School in nearby Walnut Creek and distributed by Tri-Star Pictures on

Panavision Panavision Inc. is an American motion picture equipment company (law), company founded in 1954 specializing in cameras and photographic lens, lenses, based in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk a ...

. Belushi reprised his role as Rick Latimer in the 1991 film '' Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe''.

Plot

One night, after spotting his ex-wife Kimberly in a bar with her divorce attorney, alcoholic high-school teacher Rick Latimer fights with him, culminating in Rick bashing the hapless man's car with a baseball bat. Rick is arrested for the incident. Finding that Rick's behavior tarnishes the school district's image, the board of education decides to transfer him to Brandel High. In this crime-ridden and gang-dominated institution, unruly kids are sent after being expelled from other schools. Initially, Rick is just as lost, incorrigible, & hopeless as the students of "Brand X" (the nickname everyone derisively calls the school). Believing he can repair his image by cleaning up the school, Rick holds an assembly and declares his intentions: "No more." No more drugs, no more running in the hallways, and no more being late to class. During his speech, Victor Duncan, the leader of the school's dominant gang, derides Rick in front of everyone, then walks out. This sparks a small riot, which earns Rick the enmity of the teachers and Jake, the school head of security and a graduate of Brandel. Eventually, Rick manages to enforce his policies, getting rid of the drugs being dealt in the bathrooms, and clearing out the hallways — but not always successfully. As the students are now forced to go to class, some of the more unruly ones become increasingly disruptive, including troublemaker White Zac, who eventually attempts to rape one of the teachers, Ms. Orozco. She throws a chair through one of her classroom windows, alerting Rick to her distress. He then rides his motorcycle into the school and chases down White Zac, beating him unconscious and stuffing him into a trash can. Victor, meanwhile, continues to assert his influence on the school, going so far as to brutally beat Emile, a former member of his gang who warms to Rick's teaching style and starts learning. Rick later finds him hanging by his ankles after being thrown through a skylight in the school. Rick himself is also ambushed and beaten while Victor's gang defaces his motorcycle. Arturo and his friends in shop class repair the motorcycle and paint "El Principal" on the gas tank and Rick's helmet. After a confrontation in the lunch room, Victor threatens Rick, warning him that if he shows up the next day, he is going to die. Rick scoffs and walks away as Victor continues to threaten him. The next day, after classes have been dismissed, Victor and his crew sneak into the school. While Jake goes to chain the doors, Rick attempts to call 911 but discovers that Victor's crew has cut the phone lines. A game of cat and mouse ensues. Jake gets locked in a storage closet by one of Victor's crew, while Rick hides in the girls' shower room with a baseball bat, waiting for Victor. After a brief chase, Victor and Jojo corner him. While holding Rick at gunpoint, Victor orders Jojo to cut him. Jojo refuses to kill Rick, telling Victor that killing him would bring the police down on the crew and that they all would be convicted of

first degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

and sent to prison for life. Victor shoots and kills Jojo, but before he can shoot Rick, Arturo intervenes and strikes Victor with Rick's baseball bat. The distraction leads to a showdown in the school halls between Victor and Rick. Initially, Victor seems to have the upper hand, but Rick overpowers him and beats Victor senseless, throwing him through the schoolhouse doors. Victor's defeat greatly shocks the rest of the school, who witness the fight. Several students cheer Rick on, much to the chagrin of Victor's gang members. After a small fight breaks out, Rick again declares, "No more!", which stops the fight quickly. The police finally arrive, and Victor is arrested and taken away. A student derisively asks Rick, "Hey man, who the hell do you think you are?!". Rick responds, "I'm the principal, man!" and rides away on his motorcycle.

Cast

* Jim Belushi as Principal Rick Latimer * Louis Gossett Jr. as Jake Phillips, Head Guard *

as Hilary Orozco, History Teacher * Michael Wright as Victor Duncan, Gang Leader and Drug Dealer * Reggie Johnson as Joe "Jo-Jo" * Jeffrey Jay Cohen as Zac "White Zac" Mawby * Kelly Minter as Treena Lester * Esai Morales as Raymundo "Raymi" Rojas * Troy Winbush as Emile "Baby Emile" * Jacob Vargas as Arturo Diego

Box office

''The Principal'' was moderately successful commercially, grossing a total of $19,734,940 domestically.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 10 critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the film has a score of 37% based on reviews from 8 critics. Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F. In 2014, the movie was one of several discussed by Keli Goff in '' The Daily Beast'' in an article concerning white savior narratives in film.

References

External links