Dangerous Minds
DVD cover of Dangerous Minds
Directed by	John N. Smith
Produced by	Don Simpson Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by	Ronald Bass Novel by LouAnne Johnson
Starring	Michelle Pfeiffer
Music by	Wendy & Lisa
Distributed by	Hollywood Pictures
Release date(s)	August 11, 1995
Running time	99 min.
Language	English Spanish
IMDb profile

Dangerous Minds is a 1995 drama film based on a biography written by, and about the life of, LouAnne Johnson that tells the true story of a retired Marine who leaves her career to become an English teacher at a well-off high school attended by bused-in students from a ghetto. The film, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, focuses on the challenges of growing up in the inner-city of East Palo Alto, California and of the efforts of a dedicated teacher to allow her class to learn to believe in themselves. Image File history File links Promotional poster for Dangerous Minds This is a copyrighted poster. ... Donald Clarence Simpson (October 29, 1943 - January 19, 1996) was an American film producer. ... Jerome Leon Bruckheimer (born September 21, 1945) is an American film and television producer in the genre of action, drama, and science fiction. ... Ronald Bass (March 26, 1942 – ), born Ronald Jay Bass and sometimes credited as Ron Bass, is a prolific U.S. screenwriter. ... Michelle Pfeiffer (born April 29, 1958) is an American actress. ... Wendy and Lisa are a musical duo comprised of musicians Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin that formed in the mid 1980s. ... The Hollywood Pictures Sphinx logo Hollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Companys subsidiary movie studios. ... August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... // March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation November - After a six-year hiatus, the James Bond film series resumes with the successful GoldenEye. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the U.S. military responsible for providing power projection from the sea,[1] utilizing the mobility of the U.S. Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces to global crises. ... The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S... A teacher writes on a blackboard in an American college. ... Main article: Secondary education High school is a name used in some parts of the world, and particularly in North America, to describe the last segment of compulsory education. ... A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background are united in a given culture or religion live as a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, in milder or stricter seclusion. ... Michelle Pfeiffer (born April 29, 1958) is an American actress. ... East Palo Alto (often called EPA) is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. ...

The film became a box office success grossing a total of US$ 179,519,401.00 in its worldwide revenues and went on to inspire a number of films including Freedom Writers and High School High. It also spawned a short-lived spinoff TV series, which featured Johnson's further adventures at the school. The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... For other uses of Freedom Writers, see Freedom Writers (disambiguation). ... High School High is a 1996 comedy about an inner city high school in the Los Angeles, California, area, starring Jon Lovitz, Tia Carrere, Mekhi Phifer, and Louise Fletcher. ...

Synopsis

When a retired U.S. Marine, LouAnne Johnson, arrives at Parkmont High School with poor racial minorities from East Palo, California, she finds a class of tough, street-wise kids, involved in gangs and drugs, whom Johnson quickly dubs the "rejects from hell." Her initially meek demeanour, small stature, and white skin earn her the nickname "white bread" from her students. Determined to have them trust and respect her, she quickly changes her presentation, wearing leather jackets, teaching karate to her students and cursing in the classroom. Creating her own curriculum for her "socially challenged" but otherwise extremely bright class, she starts having them read college-level texts, using Bob Dylan lyrics to teach poetry. Johnson rewards her students for hard work by giving them chocolate bars, toy prizes and trip to an amusement park. Along with helping her students with school work, she also provides emotional support to several students, including a pregnant girl, a boy who's in debt, and a teen who's caught in gang trouble. Although she intends to leave at the end of the year, the students quote the lyrics of the songs that they learned and insist that she's their "light" and refuse to let her leave. Touched, she agrees to stay. Leather jackets A leather jacket is a type of clothing, a jacket made of leather. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Look up Profanity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In education, a curriculum (plural curricula) is the set of courses and their contents offered by an institution such as a school or university. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941), is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician, and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... Germany Pavilion, part of the Epcot Center theme park in Orlando, Florida Amusement park (also called theme park) is the generic term for a collection of rides and other entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a fairly large group of people. ...

Trivia

• "The school" was based on Carlmont High School, though the movie was actually filmed at Burlingame High School, 15 miles from the school where Johnson originally taught at.
• The appearance of Skye Bassett, playing the minor character Jodie, in the movie, and her eventual death some time after its premiere, is described in Dave Eggers' novel A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

Carlmont High School is a secondary school located in Belmont, California, United States. ... Burlingame High School is a public high school in Burlingame, California. ... Dave Eggers at the 2005 Hay Festival Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. ... A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (or AHWoSG) is a memoir by Dave Eggers released in 2000. ...

Music

The rap-based music score is written by Wendy & Lisa, who also wrote one of the theme songs, "This Is The Life." The movie also featured the hip-hop Grammy Award winning song "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio. Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Wendy and Lisa are a musical duo comprised of musicians Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin that formed in the mid 1980s. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Gangstas Paradise is a rap song by Coolio (born Artis Ivey) from the movie Dangerous Minds (1995) (starring Michelle Pfeiffer). ... Coolio (born Artis Leon Ivey, Jr. ...

Box Office totals

• Total Domestic Grosses - $84,919,401.00
• Total Overseas Grosses - $94,600,000.00
• Total Worldwide Grosses - $179,519,401.00^[1]

Cast

Michelle Pfeiffer (born April 29, 1958) is an American actress. ... George Dzundza (born July 19, 1945) is an actor who is best known for his role as Sgt. ... Courtney B. Vance as Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver in Law & Order: Criminal Intent Courtney B. Vance (born March 12, 1960 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American actor. ... Robin Bartlett (born April 22, 1951, in New York City) is an American actress. ... Wade Domínguez (born May 10, 1966 - died August 26, 1998) was an American Hollywood actor, model, singer and dancer, best known for his role as Emilio Ramírez in Dangerous Minds. ... Renoly Santiago (born c. ... Paula Maria Santos Garcés, born on March 20, 1974 in Medellín, Colombia is a movie and television actress. ... Ivan Sergei on The WB series Charmed Ivan Sergei (born May 7, 1972 in Hawthorne, New Jersey) is an American actor best known for his work in television. ... Beatrice Winde (January 5, 1924 - January 3, 2004) was an American actress. ... Camille Winbush (born February 9, 1990 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress. ... John Neville was a UK Theatre and film actor, popular in the 1950s but enjoying a resurgence in the 1980s as a result of his starring role in Terry Gilliams The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. ...

See also

• Dangerous Minds (TV series)
• Dangerous Minds (Soundtrack)

Dangerous Minds was a American drama Television series that aired on ABC network between September 1996 and March 1997. ... Dangerous Minds is a music-soundtrack album from the 1995 motion picture film, Dangerous Minds. ...

References

External links

• Dangerous Minds at the Internet Movie Database
• Dangerous Minds at Michelle Pfeiffer, The Face
• Website of LouAnne Johnson