“Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything.”
– Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) on The West Wing
Affirmative stories are nothing new. Stories that try to uplift audiences through the overcoming of adversity have brought about films like Brian’s Song (1971), Glory (1989), and A League of Their Own (1992), but there’s nothing like stories involving teachers and their students. Dramas like Dead Poets Society (1989), action comedies like Kindergarten Cop (1990), comedies like School of Rock (2003), and, of course, the one that would overtake popular culture in the ‘90s thanks to a hit single from Coolio (*and* its parody by Weird Al), Dangerous Minds (1995). Whether based on real events or born out of the imagination, these stories would go on to inspire others to get involved in their communities and, with luck, change things for the better. Though not celebrating an anniversary, the 36-year-old Lean on Me, directed by John G. Avildsen (Rocky; The Karate Kid) and written by Michael Schiffer (Crimson Tide; The Peacemaker), a film viewed as a classic in its own right, is being given a bare-bones high-definition upgrade with a Blu-ray edition from Warner Archive.
L-R: Lynne Thigpen as Leonna Barrett and Morgan Freeman as Joe Clark in LEAN ON ME. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo not representative of restoration.
When Eastside High School in New Jersey finds itself on the brink of being taken from the control of Mayor Don Bottman (Alan North) (in an election year, no less) if Eastside doesn’t improve it’s horrifically low test scores on the Basic Skills Test, he’s convinced by Superintendent Dr. Frank Napier (Robert Guillaume) to bring educator Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman) to Eastside as principal. With the school overrun by violence and drugs, Clark is going to need every bit of his “Crazy Joe” reputation to turn things around in the single year he’s given as a timeline, turning dedicated educators and passionate parents into possible enemies.
The following review is based on a retail copy of Lean on Me provided by Allied Vaughn Entertainment. Unfortunately, other than the information that this edition uses a BD-50 disc, meaning it’s a dual-layer disc that can hold 50 GB of data, there’s no official information on the HD edition provided by Warner Archive. Instead, the only information that can be found is a post on the official Warner Classics Facebook page that says this edition is a 1080p HD master from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. Compared to the 1998 DVD which has a 4:3 ratio (and was modified to fit televisions of the era), this new transfer is incredible and comes across as brand-new. Not only is the film in the proper 16:9/1.85:1 widescreen ratio (thereby restored to its original theatrical presentation), but the clarity of the image is like nothing we’ve seen before. In the majority of scenes, the details are sharper, resulting in significant definition of costumes, production design, art design, and other minutia on screen. Where the DVD possesses a great deal of grain, much of this film is absent it without the sensation of losing any of Victor Hammer’s cinematography. The colors of Eastside are mundane and muted in the early period of the film when Joe is working on reverting the heavily-graffitied walls back to their untagged look in contrast with the vibrant and exciting palettes around the time Joe leaves which illustrate not only the late ‘60s vibe of the era but the energy that Joe brought to the classroom. The grain reappears only in sequences like when Joe takes Thomas Sams (Jermaine Hopkins) to the roof and the camera is close on the two as Joe, quite uncomfortably, pushes Thomas to make some declarations of change. This is less about the quality of the picture as it likely relates to the magnification capabilities of the tech at the time, the grain being a constraint of focus.
Unfortunately, this release, as good as it looks, does experience a few moments in which the sound doesn’t match what is expected of modern home stereos. The opening sequence in which we’re introduced to Joe and Frank as coworkers at Eastside who are fighting for union representation (only for Joe to find out he got thrown under the bus for the rest to get their deal), the audio seems strangely just slightly out of sync. Not enough to throw the disc out, but enough to create the sensation that something feels off. Likewise, in the sequences in which Joe addresses the crowd of Eastside students in the auditorium, whether at the start of his tenure or later in the film, the audio can’t seem to decide whether it’s going to present Joe as speaking through the front or the back speakers and, even then, the audio gets split in such a way that he feels distant in one moment and omnipresent in another. Again, this could be something that is baked into the film in the way it was recorded initially and just came along with the restoration. That said, it’s not a deal-breaker on the relative enjoyment of the film as a whole due to its infrequency.
Of all the things that frustrate, though, there’s an absence of new material for this release short of the new HD presentation. There’s a theatrical trailer in the 4:3 ratio and optional English subtitles, but no commentary, no featurettes, no newly-found materials of any sort. Perhaps a boutique will pick up this title from Warner Bros. Pictures and give it a little extra love as has happened with other non-Archive titles, and then we can get something that encourages reinvestment in the classic drama.
Watching director Avildsen’s 1989 based-on-a-true-story drama Lean on Me was an influential moment in my life as it made me want to become a teacher. Many moments through my life, including being a young child playing on a blanket in the corner of a classroom as his mother taught college courses, contributed to my desire to teach. However, it wouldn’t be until seeing Freeman as the authoritative Joe Clark that I would see the value in the profession as a means of helping others to become the best version of themselves, the intent I worked to uphold in my near-decade of being in the profession. Of course, that’s not how education is viewed these days. Instead of recognizing it as a pathway to personal advancement, it’s more often made about politics and money. The classroom should be a place where kids are pushed beyond their comfort zones and into areas of thought they hadn’t considered, to see viewpoints that aren’t necessarily their own, to embrace empathy rather than arrogance as a starting position to engage others. Most colleges didn’t become radical or liberal, they just provided a space to learn about people, places, and things outside the safety of the bubble most families inflate around their children. That most people (this person included) didn’t learn about the Tulsa Massacre until Watchmen (2019) premiered on HBO tells you all you need to know about the way in which U.S. history is covered in America. This doesn’t even touch on the epidemic of Residential Schools on the native populations of North America, the rise of Christian Nationalism, and other elements of American history that are candy-coated in order to raise a nation more comfortable with making Idiocracy (2006) a reality. You want a controllable populace, make education harder to achieve by, among other things, disenfranchising people into thinking they don’t deserve one. To use another work of fiction as a comparison, there’s a reason the bad guy in The Book of Eli (2010) is seeking a Bible; he knows the power of words in an environment where reading is no longer necessary and the right words can build nations. How malleable are people when they can’t think beyond what they presume is the obvious? For instance, and I can’t tell if it’s satire or not, some may think dryers can evolve. It’s giving flat earther 2.0.
L-R: Morgan Freeman as Joe Clark and Beverly Todd as Ms. Levias in LEAN ON ME. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo not representative of restoration.
A rewatch of Lean on Me does bring about the same sense of appreciation for individuals who work in education, who sacrifice their time and energy to ensure that the next generation is as smart (or smarter) than the last. Even as they battle administrations large and small as they constantly chip away at funding while raising demands, remove federal resources and decry the failures of educational institutions, there are still people that show up everyday to teach, to instruct, and to raise up. I’m sure there are students that I failed and there are moments that I know I could’ve done a better job to ensure that each student felt seen and heard, even if their perspective was different than my own or their classmates’. But, if like this version of Joe Clark, I managed to inspire even one to know their possessed greatness — job done.
In terms of this release, if you’re a fan like me, ultimately, the visual presentation is worth the investment, even with the audio issues and lack of bonus materials.
Lean on Me Special Features:
- Theatrical trailer
- English subtitles
Available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive May 27th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Warner Bros. Pictures Lean on Me webpage.
Share this:
Categories: Home Release, Recommendation
Leave a Reply