Review of The George McKenna Story (1988) by Kevin R — 13 Jul 2014

Are you afraid of our children?

George McKenna is a first time principle that has been assigned to George Washington high school in the Los Angeles ghetto. The students are out of control, the teachers are below par, and the inmates run the asylum. McKenna comes in with his ideals but quickly learns change takes patience and he needs to impact one student at a time until they all buy in.

"What you have is a damn fine son!!!".

Eric Laneuville, director of The Client List, Naughty or Nice, LA Confidential, Bad Girls, Secret Whiteness, The Knife and Gun Club, and Bad Girls, delivers Hard Lessons. The storyline for this picture is fairly straightforward and on par with most films in this genre (Lean on Me). The acting is pretty good and the cast includes Denzel Washington, Lynn Whitfield, Earl Billings, Akosua Busia, and Gregg Dandridge.

"I can't read.".

"We can change that.".

"I don't want to.".

We actually had a visitor over I knew was a huge Denzel Washington fan so I had this on for her when she came over. We watched it and found it fairly predictable and straightforward. It was fun watching Denzel try to prove he could be the lead character in a film (this was one of his first ever lead performances). I would say this was about average and as you'd expect from the genre. I wouldn't go out of my way to see this but Denzel was solid in this film.

"What's your problem, they're not following fast enough?".

Grade: C+.