Parker Lewis One of the most gripping scenes in The Principal is when Jim Belushi's Principal saves a teacher from being raped by a student. Without hesitation he revs on his motorcycle up the steps and saves the day - the filming and editing of this scene was impressive, and props to the director Christopher Cain and editor Jack Hofstra.The Principal needs to be a TV series. Each week's episode could be self-contained, or there could be a season long story arch. The Principal can weed out the bad apples and ensure students really want to learn. The Principal can also be up against the bureaucracy and suits and superintendents, and fighting against The Man.

Cinema_Love This movie is about a simple guy that become principal in a tough school. That's what he always wanted but in a city he does not belong with criminals and drug dealers. James Belushi is the perfect choice in this movie, he was very young at that time in 1987, he was like 32 years old. But he looks 40. Plus, he got the help of the security agent of the school (yeap, only one agent) in the name of Louis Gossett Jr. (Iron Eagle). Gossett Jr. & Belushi have so much chemistry together, you forget about the script and the negatives of the film. Belushi is yet simple but effective, he's convincing in his role, and the ending is very violent but needed to happen ! B+

sddavis63 The basic story was told (and much more effectively, I might add - perhaps because it was based on real people and events) a couple of years later in "Lean On Me." This movie is a fictional account of roughly the same chain of events - a teacher gets assigned as principal to an inner city school that's become a haven for gangs and drug-dealing and he sets himself to the task of cleaning it up. Perhaps because it's not based in reality, at times "The Principal" comes across as a bit too extreme, and at times it even seems a bit silly, to be honest. Some of the characters - especially Miss Orozco (Rae Dawn Chong) also seem to be a bit of a puzzle. I'll explain my confusion over her later.I will say that James Belushi did well with this part. He played Rick Latimer - the down and out teacher who gets assigned to Brandel High School because there's no one else to go there and basically the Board of Education is throwing him away. That's the reality of Branden. Neither the students nor the teachers have anywhere to go. That, by the way, is my confusion over Miss Orozco. Why was she there? She seemed to be a pretty good, young teacher who clearly (as the movie finally points out) does have options. Her character seemed out of place because she didn't belong in that school; the attack on her seemed out of place because it really didn't serve to push forward the main story; her budding friendship (romance - it wasn't really clear) with Latimer seemed out of place. That's an aside, mind you. Again - Belushi did well as Latimer. For a down and out teacher, it seemed a bit strange that he would set himself to the hard work of trying to clean up the school, but the characters in this admittedly aren't that believable.The story works, though. It's a good story. It inevitably draws you in and gets you rooting for Latimer. It's all pretty clear-cut in terms of good guys and bad guys. There are no real moral dilemmas to confront you because everything is so clear-cut. You just watch, and you stay interested. You know there has to be a final confrontation coming between Latimer and Victor (the drug-dealing student who "ruled" the school until Latimer arrived) and you basically wait for the final confrontation between the two. That final confrontation is for part of the time suspenseful, but in the end it also turns rather silly. Latimer's "my turn" after Victor gives him a pretty good beating made me chuckle a bit.It's not a bad movie. It's too simple and straightforward and it has some extraneous material and some extraneous characters, but it's not bad. Even enjoyable, for the most part. (7/10)

elshikh4 Education lives a problem. I don't think it's related to certain age or place. So that's why movies talk about it non-stop. Every movie has a case of stubborn idealistic teacher, and a mess that varies between poor underachievers and frank criminals.The icons of the kind aren't many across the way. In the 1950s (Blackboard Jungle – 1955) came out as very important one and almost a milestone. In the 1960s there was (To Sir With Love – 1967). In the 1970s somehow the sport movies exploited the formula, comically, leaving the serious case of school out of cadre with movies like (The Longest Yard – 1974), (The Bad News Bears – 1976), (Slap Shot – 1977),..etc. Then at the 1980s we came back to school in (The Principal) yet in a whole different way.This movie approaches the case through an angle that gathers between the commercial look (war with crime, action scenes, comic remarks) and the rule of meet violence with violence; which was – and still is – a pretty bold matter in movies of that kind. However it ended up as a bit unserious movie which deals with scarily serious subject. While it provides a swamp of a school, classic situation for its stubborn idealistic lead to face, rather to fight, many examples for the poor underachievers (single underage mom, a bright yet gangster student, Latino delayed in reading..) and frank criminals (a drug dealer, a rapist..), even loyal assistants (a tough janitor, a nice teacher..), it – in the same time – shows and handles everything and everyone as just a thrilling B-movie fare.All the characters are underdeveloped. Strangely the only well made, well portrayed, character was the janitor / security manager (Jake Phillips), done greatly by (Louis Gossett Jr.) in his finest hour after (An Officer and a Gentleman – 1982)'s success. The rest you know by the similarity with other – more deep – movies. Simply we didn't go, or have the time to go, through the characters, despite how troubled they all are; which would have been a feast for another "drama". (James Belushi) is always the lovable Jim. Back then he did well in comedies or action comedies like (Red Heat), (K-9). And here he wasn't away from his area.The worst acting, or the worst anything, this movie has; came from the head of rebels, or the movie's villain for that matter !, (Victor) played by (Michael Wright). That guy, by the way he was written and acted, represented the worst of the B-movies' making. He's a professional drug dealer, with absolute evil and no background. The way he punished one of his gang, for leaving it and making friends with the principal, was too sophisticated, looking borrowed from horror movies or maybe drastic Blaxploitation ones. (Wright) as an actor has no middle; he's whether a badass, utterly confident, Dracula or a sudden pathetic wimp with terrified look in his eyes. Moreover, he doesn't get to kill the principal while having him under his pistol at the climax, according to being scared, yet he's so ready to kill his henchmen for not doing it (???!). Sure that exaggeration and contradiction weakened the conflict, and pushed the movie out of being believable.The last one-on-one sequence was more suitable for a Dirty Harry movie. And with an end like (Who do you think you are ?! / He's the principal *MAN* !), the action movie concludes nicely, but not the social commentary though. Unlike the endings of Dirty Harry's movies, where the long-shot and the lead walking sorry embody sadly declarations such as (the system doesn't work), this round the end with the lead riding his motorcycle, so proudly, after finishing the bad guys; must remind you more of the old westerns where the noble cowboy wins and struts over his strong horse heading to the sun.. and stuff like that. As you see; this is more refreshing happy end !On the other hand, aside from (Belushi) and (Gossett Jr.), there are some cool dialog (F**K YOU ! / They told me that you can't make a complete sentence here in Brandel !), and little fair action. Although the principal is another Blackboard Jungle's fighter mixed with the original cowboy, and its modern image; namely the 70s maverick cop, but the highest singularity this movie achieves isn't that mix inasmuch as showing that lead as someone who scares, gets confused, and feels helpless. So while John Wayne didn't use to ride motorcycles or fear of his enemies, you'll never see Dirty Harry drinking in a bar or reproaching an elevator's door for a failure he had either. That portion of human delicacy was a good different point. It did distinguish that hero and its movie to some extent.It carries out the message of being defiant instead of disappointed, in a way most of the thriller actions deal by. And in terms of having the message of "meeting violence with violence" in schools, it is less melancholic, more "feel good" than (187) 10 years later. Finally, some say that despite poor box office, (The Principal) managed by the years to turn into a cult classic. I believe it is a classic, however as an entertaining B flick, where the (dirty.. ) part ruled, and the (sir..) part / the problem of education, seemed like a cover or subplot.