To me, this movie is perfection.

How sad is this?

Good movie but grossly overrated

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

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/

„Teachers" is a interesting forgotten movie from the 80's . It's a movie that wants to be more than just a comedy set in school , but also doesn't want to become another serious movie about school . It tries to be something in-between . I appreciate the effort , because it makes the movie quite unique. Still , in the end the movie fails . It's too silly for most of the time to be treated seriously and to serious to watch it as a comedy. The movie also suffers from chaotic screenplay which puts too many things in the movie and is not focused on the main subject . For example – the car subplot , the crazy guy subplot , the drugs subplot. All those things are distracting , cheesy and quite unnecessary.The movie isn't afraid to criticize the system and is right with many things it points out . "Teachers" were made in 1984 in USA . When I'm writing this words it's year 2013 and many things hasn't changed at all . Not only in USA , but also in my country. The movie also captures the relationships between students and teachers really well . I also like the message it sends – being a teacher is a big responsibility , because it can change lives of both student and teacher. It's not a work in the fabric , because we're talking about people here , not products. It takes passion and courage to teach despite bad payment.The movie has some big names in it – Nick Nolte as the main hero , Ralph Macchio ("Karate Kid") and Morgan Freeman (with cool hairstyle). There is quite a lot of 80's trademark comedy and some nice pop songs . All those things are good , but can't change the final verdict.With a much better screenplay this could have been a classic. It's still definitively worth watching , but I just can't rate it high. It's one of those wasted opportunities .I give it 4/10.

I wish I could find this film cheaply at the 5 dollar or less bargain box DVD, because I would snatch it up as one of the funnest films of the 80's.I have seen this flick several times on tape and in fact, once showed this to a high school class I was subbing in. I think, judging from their blah reaction, the parody escaped them.This is a parody upon some of the worst stereotyped teachers in education. We know in the US once a teach you keep on until that golden retirement. I never believed an older, tenured and high paid teacher was as good as a new hire, young and enthusiastic.If you can find this flick on DVD for less than 12 dollars buy it. I'd say since it is dated, two to five dollars would be about right.

Like the movie trivia says...this movie was taped at Central High School in Columbus. And it(The school building)has since been remodeled and COSI now uses it.The Central HS building was owned by Columbus Public Schools. They allowed the movie crew(Whoever that may have been)to use the building.Not realizing what the movie was going to be about. Basically putting down the school systems. Saying that the school systems were passing kids that couldn't even read. Even though it was not based off of that school district.They were not happy when the movie came out depicting the school systems.