Dead Poets Society
From AwardAnnals
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| Director(s) | Peter Weir |
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| Distributor | Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone |
| Honors | |
| Robin Williams stars as an English teacher who doesn’t fit into the conservative prep school where he teaches, but whose charisma and love of poetry inspires several boys to revive a secret society with a bohemian bent. The script is well meaning but a little trite, though director Peter Weir (The Truman Show) adds layers of emotional depth in scenes of conflict between the kids and adults. (A subplot involving one father’s terrible pressure on his son—played by Robert Sean Leonard—to drop his interest in theater reaches heartbreaking proportions.)… | |
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
Robin Williams stars as an English teacher who doesn’t fit into the conservative prep school where he teaches, but whose charisma and love of poetry inspires several boys to revive a secret society with a bohemian bent. The script is well meaning but a little trite, though director Peter Weir (The Truman Show) adds layers of emotional depth in scenes of conflict between the kids and adults. (A subplot involving one father’s terrible pressure on his son—played by Robert Sean Leonard—to drop his interest in theater reaches heartbreaking proportions.) Williams is given plenty of latitude to work in his brand of improvisational humor, though it is all well-woven into his character’s style of instruction. —Tom Keogh
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Peter Weir’s entry in the “coming of age” teen movie genre, Dead Poets’ Society is a more than usually emotive tale of one teacher and the students he inspires. Robin Williams plays the radical English teacher in a stuffy New England prep school who tries to make a difference. His unconventional methods and love of poetry make him a hit with the repressed teens under his tutelage, and they in turn form a secret society for the pursuit of freedom, truth, beauty and other bohemian ideals. Much soul-searching ensues, not least from the doe-eyed Neil (Robert Sean Leonard) whose sensitive aspirations to pursue a career in the theatre are scuppered by his prosaic father with tragic consequences.
True, the script is clichéd at times and the battle between adults and teens is hackneyed, but no one can deny the emotional power of the “Captain My Captain” scene, where the class defiantly stand on their desks, or the moment when Williams inspires his class with the motto “Carpe Diem”. Indeed it is the relationship between Williams and his pupils that enables Weir to raise the film above what could have been over-sentimental slosh, with Williams’ trademark improvised monologues injecting humanity (even in a relatively serious role) into the central character. The result is an inspirational story that stands up to repeat viewings. —Kristen Bowditch
Barnes and Noble
Unconventionality and nonconformity are often desirable qualities, but attaining them occasionally carries some risk, especially when the society around you seems to value them insufficiently. That’s the message of this earnest, uncompromising drama, which won the 1989 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and reminded viewers just how effective veteran funnyman Robin Williams could be when applying his considerable talents to a dramatic role. Under the direction of Peter Weir, Williams abandoned his sometimes annoying, hyperkinetic performance style to play iconoclastic English teacher John Keating, who labors overtime to fan the flames of creativity and freethinking in his New England prep school students, most of whom seem destined for Ivy League colleges and soul-deadening careers. Captivated by Keating’s ebullience and enthusiasm, outgoing student Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) revives the aged school’s secret club, the Dead Poets Society, and enlists among its members the deeply withdrawn Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke). The story is predictable up to a point, but it has a shattering climax that even today, more than 15 years after the film’s theatrical release, retains the power to shock and dismay audiences. The young actors are uniformly excellent in their sharply drawn characters, and Kurtwood Smith is outstanding as Neil’s domineering father, but it’s Williams who makes this Society worth joining. The film soars whenever he’s on camera, and even the most jaded home viewer will be moved by the influence his character wields over the impressionable students. Ed Hulse
