Lean on Me (1989)

(On TV, April 2022) There is a highly formulaic nature to the way Lean on Me is presented – the tough-as-nails principal taking on the challenge to reform an inner-city school that everyone has written off as hopeless. He shocks students, surprises teachers, annoys parents, and gathers support even as firefighters (!) and parents of bad kids league against him. There have been a number of films along those lines throughout the 1980s–1990s (Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds, etc.) but even coming late to Lean on Me, I can recognize that this is the Big Kahuna of the genre – slickly made, easy to like, featuring good actors enjoying the material and a schematic structure that focuses on the essential even if it means steamrolling a few troublesome questions along the way. The standout performer here remains Morgan Freeman, tearing into a character that would be practically unbearable had he been played by a lesser actor. The first thing any viewer will notice in watching Lean on Me is how nearly every single scene in its first act is juiced-up for maximal impact: the headstrong principal walks in, spits out some tough-love rhetoric, slaps hands and imposes change. Ne’er-do-wells are sent home, hard-working students and teachers are protected, and the principal embodies the management principle of taking responsibility for his actions. More than that, the rhythm is sustained at a high pace throughout that opening half-hour – it’s bang, bang, bang one big moment after another. There’s something interesting, then, in that unlike many films, the complexity of the plot increases as the film goes along, the consequences of the protagonist’s decisive actions creating complications that then take over the back-half of the film. It’s all good fun, but if you’re raising your eyebrows at the way the protagonist goes about things and making enemies, the film isn’t really interested in addressing your concerns or showing a softening of his attitude (or showing how academic improvement is performed) – the protagonist is always right, remains right and will not be challenged: the world changes to accommodate him rather than the inverse. While that does make for a fun power fantasy that lasts about as long as the closing credits, a sober second look at the film isn’t nearly so giddy. Still, on a first viewing, Lean on Me does make an impact, and it explains why it’s still in heavy rotation even thirty-some years later.