The Couchpotatoes I only watched this movie based on the high rating it got on IMDb. And I got fooled again. Because it is certainly not as good as they want to make us believe. Morgan Freeman is a good actor, we all know that, and here in Lean On Me he is also good but the script is just not good enough. It's one of those movies with a message. Or a lot of messages in this case. And it does look so cheesy at moments it becomes annoying. The poor uneducated kids in a terrible school bullied and controlled by drug dealers that get cleaned out and then suddenly fights back to become successful. Sorry but it's so cheesy I was wondering how it got such a high average on IMDb. It's okay to watch once but that's about it.

Desertman84 Lean On Me is a film loosely based on the story of Joe Louis Clark,an educator known for his unorthodox means,who was assigned to become high school principal of Eastside High School.He was given the impossible task of reforming the school as it is at the risk of being overtaken by the state government.It stars Morgan Freeman,who portrays Clark,in his ascent to stardom.John G.Avildsen,who is known for underdog films in movies such as The Karate Kid and Rocky,is the director of the movie.Back in 1987,Joe Louis Clark was assigned to become the principal of Eastside High School,the worst known school in the state that is located at Paterson,New Jersey.The students have done poorly at the state test of minimum basic skills since their average scores hovers around 33% - way below the 75% minimum passing rate.The students have been known to be using drugs and involved with gang violence.When he arrives at the school,the radical Clark reprimands the entire faculty for their inability to control the students and their failure to do their job.Then,he dismisses hundreds of students that are identified as drug dealers and abusers as well as troublemakers.Despite his tyrannical approach and hard-line policies that he implemented that caused a lot of tension and alienation from his fellow faculty members and parents of the students,Clark was able to achieve results as he was able to straighten out Eastside High School later in time and he was able get the school's basic-skills test scores up.This led him to have the the job at the institution permanently. Although his tyrannical approach and hard-line policies alienate many members of the staff and the community, his uncompromising campaign gets results.This make him popular to the dismay of his critics and powerful enemies.Morgan Freeman provided a great portrayal as Joe Louis Clark that the viewer of the movie would somehow overcome the film's flaws such as predictability and having a formulaic screenplay.Aside from that,it was also cheesy.Although the viewer knows that that Clark will be able to achieve the impossible task of reforming Eastside despite his unorthodox methods and the tensions that were created by the people - students and faculty members - in the school,one will definitely enjoy and get entertained by his interesting peroformance.I could have given this film a rating of 8 BUT Freeman was simply excellent and remarkable that the viewer will definitely care more about his character as well as the actions he has taken instead of the flaws of the film as a whole.

callanvass (Credit IMDb) The dedicated but tyrannical Joe Clark is appointed the principal of a decaying inner-city school that he is determined to improve.This is a very important film about education. Some might find Principal Joe Clark to be an arrogant person, but I believe you have to look beyond that. The man was willing to fight for education and equal rights, regardless of the controversy. He wanted to make sure people quit dropping out and focus on the right people. Sure, he rubbed people the wrong way with his tyrannical style, but the man was extremely effective and a good person. Morgan Freeman gives Joe Clark justice with his memorable performance. He is mesmerizing at times and carries a good film into a great one. This movie would have been good with an above average lead, but Freeman makes all the difference in the world. This is an excellent movie that will make you teary eyed, laugh and saddened. It is a movie of many emotions8/10

D_Burke Morgan Freeman's performance, as Principal Joe Clark, is hands down the best thing about "Lean On Me". It could even be considered today to be one of Freeman's Top 5 most iconic performances, easily ranking alongside "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994), "Se7en" (1995), and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004).Freeman effectively displays a take-charge attitude with his performance that the real life Joe Clark most likely had when he took over the real Eastside High School in Patterson, New Jersey. His best scene is when he first addresses the Eastside students in the auditorium, and swiftly expels the repeat troublemakers indefinitely. Following his rousing speech, one student, Kaneesha Carter (Karen Malina White), remarks, "Mr. Clark don't play!" You really can't disagree.The beginning of the movie shows the thriving educational institution Eastside High School was in the late 1960's, when Joe Clark first taught there. 20 years later, the promising early days of Eastside were long gone, as the school gradually decayed into a dangerous, run-down inner city public school.The first 20 minutes of "Lean On Me" shows what still ranks as one of the most intense and (somehow) least exploitative depictions of a typical day in a bad inner city public school. Guns N Roses' classic "Welcome To The Jungle" is the most fitting song. It may not be fun and games, but it's enough to bring you to your kneesHallways fights occur daily, drug dealers frequently visit, and bars cover the windows. Even a young kid getting trapped in his locker only results in a custodian shaking his head in apathy. Just like "A Tale of Two Cities", where French peasants are drinking wine off the Paris streets, things are bad!Much to the reluctance of Patterson Mayor Don Bottman (Alan North), Dr. Frank Napier (Robert Guillaume) convinces Joe Clark to take over as principal of Eastside High, and attempt to restore its former glory. Clark, who was fired from the school 20 years ago due to budget cuts, reluctantly agrees. However, Clark takes charge in a way Dr. Napier never expected.Mr. Clark's unorthodox methods of discipline are probably still the subject of hot debate. Was his expelling the troublemakers on his first day the right thing to do? I think so, especially given the opening credits. However, a number of angry parents, especially Leonna Barrett (Lynne Thigpen), think otherwise.Lynne Thigpen was a great actress, and she did well in her role here as a community member who is against Mr. Clark from the start. However, her character lacked definition. We know she's a parent of someone who attended Eastside High, but we never see her child. It's implied that her child was expelled, but she seems way too dedicated a community member to let her child fall through the cracks.Most importantly, her character seems completely unaware of the mess that Eastside High was before Mr. Clark became principal. Was she ever in the high school, let alone when a fight occurred? Thigpen did what she could with the character, but Ms. Barrett needed to be more established.Similarly, all the teachers we see appear more dedicated than Mr. Clark gives them credit for being. That's not a bad thing, but we never see any inept or corrupt teachers. We just see Mr. Clark unjustly fire music teacher Mrs. Elliot (Robin Bartlett), and even more unreasonably suspend Mr. Darnell (Michael Beach), the latter of whom Dr. Napier even describes as "a good, strong young Black teacher".Did Mr. Clark fire teachers like them in real life? I don't know, but he may have. However, the real Eastside High must have had corrupt teachers who took part in the drug trade, had sex with students, or did similarly inappropriate and illegal things. These kinds of behaviors do happen in high schools across America, especially decaying inner-city public schools. The latter schools just have more tolerance for it.When you see Mr. Clark immediately fire a good teacher for not teaching students the school song, it makes him out to be a bully. If you saw him throwing a teacher out of school for selling drugs, that action would be more justifiable, and the audience would be better able to sympathize with him.Then there's the case of putting locks and chains on the doors. Mr. Clark orders the school security guards to do this after an altercation with a suspended student who came back into school with a knife in his hand. This order gets Mr. Clark in trouble with both the mayor and Fire Chief Gaines (John Ring), who correctly declare the action a fire hazard.You can understand Mr. Clark's motivation for putting on the chains: there are dangerous people outside, and one of their friends can just push open the doors and let them in. Plus, the school doesn't have the budget for doors that unlock automatically in case of emergency. On the other hand, the Fire Chief has a point too. This conflict is probably what got the real Mr. Clark in trouble, and you can tell because it's very complicated. There are easy solutions to this problem, but like many problems in America's educational system, they are not attainable ones.There is a lot "Lean On Me" does right, beginning with casting Morgan Freeman and Robert Guillaume. It's also inspiring to see the students who stay in Eastside High School warm up to Mr. Clark, and appreciate his disciplinary actions as "tough love".However, the antagonists in this movie caused the most inconsistency, seemingly not even acknowledging a lot of the good Mr. Clark did, which unquestionably outweighed the bad. If these characters actually stepped out of the movie and watched the opening credit sequence, they may have changed their minds. Then again, Mr. Clark seemed to be the only character who saw the big picture. It's hard to say.