The gimmick is reverse desegregation, with 200 white kids bussed into an all-black high school of 3000 along with a resentful black teacher who thought he’d put the ghetto behind him, only to be dragged back into the inner-city vortex to hold the lid down as Vice Principal. Made fast and cheap, largely with tv talent, this could have worked as rabble-rousing exploitation (something American International Pictures might book in Drive-Ins) or as funky black-centric comedy, but as serious, issue-oriented fare, this just doesn’t cut it. (Younger viewers should note that the film looked just as obvious & dated when it came out as it does now.) Fun for early peeks at dewy young Jeff Bridges and doughy not-so-young Rob Reiner as two of the new students, alas none of the black kids bring enough personality to stand out from the crowd. You can see how things might have worked in a little scene where our frustrated lead Calvin Lockhart uses a trashy bestseller to add a sexy angle to his remedial reading group; and there’s a discomforting bit of needless violence that makes its mark when a pretty blonde girl is attacked in the bathroom for being a bit too popular. Other than that, it’s earnest, standard-issue social-problem tv fare. (It longs for the days when THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE/'55 seemed relevant/progressive.) And so dreary to look at. No doubt, everybody wanted to get out fast as possible. Even the sets could barely take time to get properly dressed.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: At one point, one of the students mentions how you can’t expect every black kid to become another Bill Cosby or O.J. Simpson. Yikes!
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