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- Dead Poets Society. Released: 1989. Rated: PG. Memorable quote: “Carpe Diem! Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” Dead Poets Society was one of Robin Williams’s first drama movie roles, and what a role it was.
- Lean on Me. Released: 1989. Rated: PG-13. Memorable quote: “Self-respect permeates every aspect of your existence. If you don’t have respect for yourself, you’re not gonna get it from anyone else.”
- Critical Thinking. Released: 2020. Rated: TV-MA. Memorable quote: “We start by showing up.” One of the newer movies about teachers on our list, 2020’s Critical Thinking is a movie based on a true story of the Miami Jackson High School chess team, the first inner-city team to win the U.S. National Chess Championship.
- Dangerous Minds. Released: 1995. Rated: R. Memorable quote: “I believe one should fight for what one believes. Provided one is absolutely sure one is absolutely right.”
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks. 1. Dead Poets Society. Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
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- TV-PG
- Precious (2009) Inspiring teacher: Paula Patton. More than any other profession, teachers have the power to transform lives for the better. And Lee Daniels’ heartbreaking (and ultimately heartwarming) inner-city drama makes that point with blunt force.
- Akeelah and the Bee (2006) Inspiring teacher: Laurence Fishburne. Rare is the underdog tale that inspires audiences without succumbing to sappiness. But this heart-tugging indie about an 11-year-old girl from South Central L.A.
- School of Rock (2003) Inspiring teacher: Jack Black. The devilishly funny Jack Black soars as a rock ‘n’ roll Mr. Chips in director Richard Linklater's delirious grade-school comedy about an oafish, heavy metal-loving teacher who cons his way into a substitute-teaching gig at a stuffy private school and proceeds to help his class of buttoned-up kids let loose and embrace the sonic power of Led Zeppelin et al.
- Dangerous Minds (1995) Inspiring teacher: Michelle Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer bushwhacks her way through thickets of clichés to deliver a blistering performance that's as ferocious as it is genuinely moving.
How we chose the most inspiring teacher movies. For this list, we focused on films with messaging about overcoming the odds, movies that feature teachers who help their students realise their full potential – either through tough love or by teaching them a new way of looking at the world.
- Critic
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) Based on James Hilton’s novella of the same name, Goodbye, Mr. Chips is told via flashbacks (kinda like The Irishman). In the introductory scene, the teacher Mr. Chipping is shown taking a nap before audiences are taken on a journey through his career.
- Educating Rita (1983) Educating Rita is the kind of movie where both the student and the teacher owe a lot to each other. Bored with life, the 26-year-old hair stylist Rita chooses to go back to college where she is tutored by the alcoholic professor Dr. Bryant (Michael Caine).
- To Sir, With Love (1967) For the immigrant Mark Thackeray (Sydney Poitier), teaching is a last resort. He initially wanted to be an engineer but having failed to get a job for 18 months, he settles for work at a high school in London.
- The Great Debaters (2007) Based on an American Legacy Magazine article written by Tony Scherman, The Great Debaters follows Professor Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) as guides students at Wiley College to the national debate championships where they defeat the record-setters, Havard.
1. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Sam Wood, 1939) “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” is a wonderful nostalgia story about the highs and the lows of being a teacher. The film begins in 1928 in the home of retired school teacher Mr. Chipping (Robert Donat).
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41 titles. 1. Akeelah and the Bee (2006) PG | 112 min | Drama, Family. 7.4. Rate. 72 Metascore. A young girl from South Los Angeles tries to make it to the National Spelling Bee. Director: Doug Atchison | Stars: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Keke Palmer, Curtis Armstrong. Votes: 21,166 | Gross: $18.81M. 2. American History X (1998)
