"After a botched mission in Cuba, professional mercenary Shale and his crew Joey Six, Hollan, Rem, and Wellman head home to Miami, Florida, where Shale is reunited with his fiance Jane Hetzko, who is a history teacher at Columbus High School in Miami. Some of Jane's students happen to be members of a street gang known as the "Kings of Destruction" (KOD), led by Juan Lacas, who has been terrorizing Jane. After Jane's kneecap is broken by a big seminole named Bull, she tells Shale that she believes Lacas ordered the attack, so Shale goes undercover as Jane's substitute, and initially, Jane has no idea that Shale is doing this. At the school, Shale meets principal Claude Rolle, librarian Hannah Dillon, and english and drama teacher Darrell Sherman. It turns out that Lacas is one of Jane's students. As Shale investigates the attack on Jane, he discovers that drugs are being circulated into the school... (IMDb)
I watched this very good action thriller last night. The movie was directed by Robert Mandel, the man who did the classic F/X in ´86.
The cast is great: Tom Berenger, Raymond Cruz, William Forsythe, Luiz Guzman, Diane Verona, Ernie Hudson, Marc Anthony, Richard Brooks and Cliff De Young. The younger cast (students and gang members) also did a good job.
If you like violent high school films like Class of 1984 (1982) or The Principal (1987), i highly recommend this movie to you.
I found it funny that this movie has three(!) made-for-tv sequels starring Treat Williams.
Something about the whole 'adult undercover at highschool' really appeals to me as a genre! This was no exception. I liked it.
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
i liked this one a lot as well atomik,berenger's a great actor who always gives it his all,really like him in the likes of this,sniper and as sgt barnes in platoon. also ernie hudson who's most well known for ghostbusters but i really liked a lot in 80s hillbilly thriller trapper county war (if you've not seen it atomik track it down,excellent little redneck thriller) is also great here.
i've seen substitute 2,wasn't in the same class as the first but it still entertaining enough,treat williams is a pretty decent actor,flashpoint,d.b cooper and deep rising he's always fun to watch.
i'm going to have to give this another watch,been a long time since i last watched the substitute.
[ 11. February 2012, 15:25: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Ernie Hudson is great! I own quite a few his 80s films and he always delivers:
The Octagon, Underground Aces, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Going Berserk, Two of a Kind, Ghostbusters, Joy of Sex, California Girls and Ghostbusters II.
We talked about Trapper County War earlier but i still don´t own the movie.
Treat Williams is a good actor. You mentioned Flashpoint and i also recommend Prince of the City and tv-movie Third Degree Burn.
