
David Greene is brought into a prestigious 1950s school to help their football team to beat the school's old rivals. David, however, is from a working class background, so he isn't really "one of them", but he's very successful at making friends. David is a Jew, and has to keep this a secret from his friends for fear of being rejected.... (Full plot summary below)
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David Greene is brought into a prestigious 1950s school to help their football team to beat the school's old rivals. David, however, is from a working class background, so he isn't really "one of them", but he's very successful at making friends. David is a Jew, and has to keep this a secret from his friends for fear of being rejected.
Leave your thoughts about School Ties.
| San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDoubtless better than it deserves to be, thanks to Fraser, whose Costner-esque dash serves as an antidote to the dated material. Director Robert Mandel, best known for the flashy techno-thriller "F/X," brings a surprisingly sensitive touch to this earnest story of intolerance. Meant to serve as a "Gentleman's Agreement" for the '90s, it's actually got much more in common with "The Outsiders" or even "Pretty in Pink." The moral is the same whether you're a greaser, a tomboy, a gentile or a Jew. You've got to be you. |
| Film4Film4 StaffFraser, O'Donnell, Damon and Affleck would all go on to have much hyped careers, and occasionally make better films than this overbearingly worthy classroom drama. |
| Common Sense MediaRandy WhiteStirring movie may be too heavy for some tweens. |
| eFilmCritic.comScott WeinbergWell-intentioned (and only occasionally mawkish) tale of college-boy anti-semitism. |
| Deseret News (Salt Lake City)Chris HicksIt's all far too predictable and mired in cliches and stereotypes. |
| Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanPlaying Mr. Perfect, Brendan Fraser — yes, Encino Man — proves a smart and likable actor, alive to what’s going on around him. Sidney Poitier proved you could keep your integrity even in a role like this, and Fraser does too. |
| Entertainment WeeklyTy BurrIn illuminating how upper-class bigotry can encompass both the actively fascist and the politely passive, School Ties is actually one of the more realistic — and least insufferable — entries in the recent prep-school genre. |
| USA TodaySusan WloszczynaDavid's habit of grabbing, berating or otherwise challenging anyone who insults him gives School Ties a muscular quality not usually found in films about this subject. |
| MovieholeClint MorrisThe stellar cast are brilliant. Brendan Fraser knocks the audience for six. |
| Washington PostJeanne CooperThere's a dramatic imbalance to Dick Wolf and Darryl Ponicsan's screenplay. By making David a saint, they make his bigoted tormentors ultra-despicable. It's so easy to identify who's in the right that it's hard to remember this wrong may exist in us. |