Genre Grandeur – Dead Poets Society (1989) – Encore Review 2 – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – 80’s Teen Movies here’s a review of Dead Poets Society (1989) by Me.

Thanks again to Todd of The Forgotten Filmz Podcast for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s genre has been chosen by Keith of Keith & the Movies and we will be reviewing our favorite French New Wave Films

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Oct by sending them to newwavekeith@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Keith!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“Carpe diem, seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” – John Keating

Number of Times Seen – Too many to count (Theater in ’89, cable, video, DVD, 3 Jul 2014, 15 Aug 2019 and 29 Sep 2020)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – A English teacher in a New England prep school does all he can to inspire his students.

My Take on it – This is a movie that has always inspired me ever since I first saw it in the theater 31 years ago.

It’s story and plot is quite amazing and remains inspirational and poignant no matter how often one watches it.

This, largely has to do with the choice to give the lead role to Robin Williams, who shows how excellent a dramatic actor he can be, especially given the fact that he is usually cast in comedic roles.

The interactions between the students and teacher in this film is amazing and allows us to really believe this kind of connection between them that grows as the story moves along.

This allows us to care even more about the characters because we can invest so much emotion into all that transpires here.

This is probably one of the best teacher-student relationship films that can make anyone wish they had a teacher like this who could inspire them so much.

It manages to touch upon so many aspects of the teacher-student connection and is quite poignant throughout.

The film’s supporting cast is also great and enhances the story so much because we can feel the camaraderie between these characters which, in turn, makes things even more powerful to watch unfold.

The film does a great job of giving each of the students their own unique story line which shows that despite their differences, they all can be equally inspired by this teacher.

The film’s closing scene is quite emotional and I always begin to shed a tear during it.

This film was nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor that year and somehow failed to win any of those awards besides Best Screenplay, which is a shame.

Bottom Line – Amazing film that works on so many levels. Williams, normally a comedic actor is superbly cast in the lead role and this is among his very best performances in his career. The way that the students and teacher interact throughout the course of the film is quite inspiring and allows us to care so much about them as things move along. This is perhaps one of the very best films about a teacher-student relationship and is quite poignant in all that it does. The supporting cast is superb and we can really feel the camaraderie between them which makes things feel so powerful throughout. Love the way that they are able to find succint storylines for each of the students which helps show how unique they all are yet they are all still equally inspired by this teacher. The closing scene is quite emotional and always makes me shed a tear. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – At the premiere, Kurtwood Smith saw a family with the father domineering his son very much like his own character in the film. After the film Smith noticed the family leaving and saw that the father was crying. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (slight upgrade from original review)