All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I caught Teachers (1984) one night while channel surfing through Showtime. It was already five minutes in but imagine my surprise when I saw the image of a dignified educator lunging at an old man by a ditto machine, blue ink spraying all over both and the astonished crowd. When the woman is finally retrained and thrown out of the office, vice principal Rubell (Judd Hirsch) smarmily remarks "she's the school psychologist".Thus the precipitating events of this corrosively funny satire begin. We're introduced to Mr. Jurel (Nick Nolte), a cynical yet avuncular history teacher who goes through the motions at work if he manages to show up at all. He has the respect of the kids and the administration (who is under scrutiny for graduating an illiterate student) tolerates him. When asked to fill in for the burnt out psychologist, Jurel slowly starts to reveal his idealism, hidden underneath so much snark and sour. His main sources of inspiration are student and spirited troublemaker Eddie Pilikian (Ralph Macchio) and Lisa Hammond (JoBeth Williams), a lawyer/former student who leads the legal charge against the school district.Director Arthur Hiller wanted to repeat the critical and box office success of the Oscar nominated The Hospital (1971) with Teachers. Both movies focus on highly regarded institutions who have been atrophying and deserved a good kick in the pants. Additionally both are incredibly dark and feature some promising drama from their leads. Unfortunately Teachers wasn't such a hit critically as the sudden shifts in plotting and mood made it too hard to gage. For a drama these issues could be glossed over but in a comedy, specifically a black comedy, such crimes are unforgivable.I love this movie because it presents some of the most systemic problems that exist in an urban public school, albeit exaggerated and askew. There are dreadful teachers whose crimes in this film range from being unable to control their pupils to instigating sexual relations with them. The principal is an no-nothing nitwit who's ignorance about the day-to-day operations of the school may be his saving grace and the competent educators are actively trying to obfuscate the truth behind the school's low performance.Out of the many loose treads that the story weaves, the story of Herbert (Robert Mulligan) is by far the most entertaining. Jurel provides dimensions, Rubell caters the lunacy, but Herbert provides the pure joy and inspiration of being a teacher. He's also certifiable; an outpatient from the local mental hospital who likes to play dress-up in his history class. Even so, his classroom becomes one of the few bright spots in the darkened corridors of the school. Educators should be so lucky to have the gravitas and temerity of Herbert aka Mr. Van Ark.Teachers isn't the movie that convinced me to become an educator and life long learner. There is no such movie. But Teachers is the movie that convinced me that you have to be a little crazy to be an educationalist. There is a quiet dignity to dedicate your life to children and young adults. Not everyone is cut out to raise and instruct one child let alone a classroom full of pupils. It is for this reason, and the very real issues partially exposed in Teachers that our educators are to be treated with respect. After all, they're nuts!http://theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com/

great comedy and some good drama, One thing to Point out from the First review was the the Machine was a stencil duplicator or mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo) is a low-cost printing press that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper.Along with spirit duplicators and hectographs, mimeographs were for many decades used to print short-run office work, classroom materials, and church bulletins. They also were critical to the development of early fanzines because their low cost and availability enabled publication of amateur writings. These technologies began to be supplanted by photocopying and cheap offset printing in the late 1960s.Mimeographs did Smell something awful. I am trying to remember if we used them in the early 80'sI know we did in the 70's. Comments on a Movies about teachers and Schools can be Educational.

When I first saw this movie shortly after it came out I thought it was a little over-the-top, despite the many memorable comic moments. Having had a chance to see it again many years later on cable I find it has more depth than I had seen in it originally. It is definitely a critique of public education, but it does not set up any easy enemies. Everyone here is complicit in a failing system - the unions, the school board, the lawyers, parents, complacent teachers, go-along- to-get-along administrators, &c &c. It is also touching to see how many of these people are not bad people, but are just trying to make a flawed system work (in this respect I find Judd Hirsch, as the put-upon assistant principal, the hidden gem of the movie). Having seen it again after all these years I find it provocative and, surprisingly, touching, especially Nolte's final peroration. And the best part,after all these years, is still Richard Mulligan, as the certifiable lunatic who turns out to be the best teacher in the whole damn school (a brilliant touch on the part of the writers) !!!!!

Except for the shock of JoBeth Williams idiot-level strip tease, plus a few other sharp digs about school teachers you and I have hated or loved, I can't think of a single reason to pay any attention to this Arthur Hiller glob of pretentiousness. Whatever Hiller did to elicit what Judith Crist said was "arguably George C. Scott's finest screen performance" in The Hospital, he didn't do it here for Nick Nolte or Williams or anyone else involved. What we're left with is a stale attempt to expose the darker workings of an American high school, but unlike The Hospital and its wonderfully scorched-earth approach to the runnings of a major healing center, Teachers just makes you want to vote for vouchers--and get your money back from the place you rented this dreck.