Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)

Director: Stephen Herek (also directed "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure")
Writer: Patrick Sheane Duncan
Composer: Michael Kaman (also did music for the "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon" franchises)

Cast:
Glenn Holland- Richard Dreyfuss
Iris Holland- Glenne Headley (RIP 2017)
Coltrane "Cole" Holland- Nicholas John Renner (age 6)/Joseph Anderson (age 15)/Anthony Natale (age 28)
Coach Meister- Jay Thomas (RIP 2017)
Principal Jacobs- Olympia Dukakis
Vice Principal Wolters- William H. Macy
Notable Students
Louis Russ- Terrence Howard
Gertrude Lang- Alicia Witt/Joanne Gleason (adult) Hall
Rowena Morgan- Jean Louisa Kelly
Bobby Tidd- Damon Whitaker/Forrest Whitaker (adult) 

Award Nominations:
OSCAR- Best Actor- Richard Dreyfuss (lost to Nicholas Cage for "Leaving Las Vegas")
Golden Globe- Best Actor- Richard Dreyfuss (lost to Nicholas Cage)
Golden Globe- Best Screenplay- Patrick Sheane Duncan (lost to "Sense & Sensibility")

Write-up:

Introductory Notes

I really need to get more in the habit of using this blog more often... there have been a few movies I've rewatched lately that I hadn't written about previously that I'd like to make time for. 

This is one of them. I watched a couple of weeks ago and I figured there were enough talking points and things I picked up for the first time that i don't want to wait too long to write anything. 

Why I love this movie-- first off, it's one of those inspirational teacher films I'm just a big sucker for. I don't know what it is, but I enjoy them so much. It's a subgenre I realized I liked and decided to see as much as I could. Kinda like how I had to see all the Brat Pack/John Hughes movies because I liked "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller" so much... none of the other ones I'd seen, I liked nearly as much, but at some point, I'll get around to writing about "Sixteen Candles," "Pretty in Pink" and "St. Elmo's Fire." 
I think this was in the running for my top 100 movies, but maybe I wanted to get a little more variety so I didn't... watching it again, I don't know what I was thinking passing it over.

Also- I checked out the nominations that it got and couldn't believe it didn't win anything. Richard Dreyfuss did win an Oscar another role, but still... he was AMAZING in this movie. Plus, he got passed over for NIcholas Cage... not to knock Nicholas Cage, but somehow I doubt "Leaving Las Vegas" left nearly this much of an impact. I think the only reason he won over him was because he's a Coppola and the results were fixed in his favor.
And the Screenplay thing... Sense & Sensibility is an old classic remake dozens of times. Why not give it to something brand new that its likes won't be seen again? I just don't get it...

Another big reason I like this movie... it's about music and it's a time capsule of past decades. Makes you think about how much times have changed. 
Sadly, music and arts programs are suffering more cuts as the years go by. My thoughts in complete sarcasm: "God forbid the school cut any major sports programs :cough: football :cough:" 

Me randomly gushing about bits of trivia I found out and also actors I discovered had been in other things I'd seen...

One cool thing I found in the trivia: Michael Kaman (whose name I did recognize from the "Die Hard" credits... I maintain so much random trivia, it's ridiculous) was so inspired by working on this movie that he actually started a non-profit to donate musical instruments to underpriviledged children. We need more people like him in the world.

For other things I'd picked up... I'm one of those people who recognizes faces, even if they have the smallest roles, and I look it up on imdb to see if my instincts are right. The first few times, I remember recognizing Terrence Howard and Forrest Whittaker... funny thing I discovered today: in high school, the character was portrayed by Damon Whittaker and as an adult he was played by Forrest- who's 9 years older than Damon. The two of them look so identical, it's crazy.
This time, my mind was blown over the adult version of Gertude Lang who appears in the last scene of the movie, which is a big reunion scene where Mr. Holland receives a tribute from all of his former students who'd since graduated. She looked so familiar to me, so I looked her up. Her name was written as Joanna Gleeson. To me, Gleeson makes me think of Brenden Gleeson who played Mad-Eye Moody and I'm thinking "she's not a ginger, so she can't be related to him"... her maiden name is Joanna Hall. I looked through her credits and had a huge ah-ha moment. She played the Baker's Wife in the "Into the Woods" production where Bernadette Peters played The Witch-- also she won a Tony for that role. She's also been married to Chris Sarandon since 1994. Anyway, long rant over... I love that production so much and it's cool to see her in a different capacity. 

Back to the Movie at hand...

I gotta stop gushing and actually talk about the movie... SPOILERS will follow immediately...


The essential story is that Mr. Holland is a struggling musician who wants to one day be remembered for writing one epic song- hence the titular opus. 
But to make ends meet, he needs to take a teaching position. In his words, he said he got a teaching degree to fall back on, but never expected that he'd need to use it. In his case, he teaches musical theory and appreciation as well as instructing his band how to play their instruments. 
The movie follows him from when he starts in 1965 all the way to 1995... when the school decides they need to cut the entire music program to save money. There'd been talk of budgets and saving money throughout the money and certain things that take place are a direct result of that. There are a couple instances of irony displayed in the money and this is one of them. Naturally, he ends up falling in love with this position and sorry to have to leave it. But he isn't just fighting for his job in the final moments- he's fighting for the future of youth and how they need their minds enriched by music and the arts. 

Another irony manifests in his family and becomes a major plot point. 
There are a lot of compliments about how people with disabilities are cast in movies. A popular one is why characters confined to wheelchairs are portrayed by actors who can walk. And shows like "Speechless" were revolutionary because they had characters with cerberal palsy that were played by people with that condition (kinda sad that was cancelled- I saw it once a few times, but each time I really enjoyed watching it).
The irony how Mr. Holland loves music and lives for it... but when he and his wife have a kid, they discover later on that he's deaf. All of the actors who played Cole as well as the people in the school he went to, they were portrayed by deaf actors. 
None of the other actors went on to do anything major except Anthony Natale, who played the oldest incarnation of Cole Holland. This was an interesting find even though I never watched the series. "Switched at Birth" had characters that were deaf and he was a production assistant on the show, so his knowledge from living with this condition helped make that show more authentic. 

It's a big shock when the Hollands find out that Cole is deaf. Probably more to Mr. than Mrs., devestated that Cole will never be able to appreciate music the same way he does. The scenes where the two of them are struggling with how to deal with his deafness are a little difficult to watch and they still turn my stomach to this day, but this is something that happens in real life that a lot of people struggle with. Having that dose of reality shown so well is great. 
One of few complaints I have about the movie-- there's the 4th of July parade scene where Mr. Holland is leading the marching band and it's this big epic thing. The parade has a fire engine that sounds its horn and everyone is covering their ears and Iris checks on Cole to find that he's sleeping through it. Something about how this one scene is portrayed doesn't work for me. This movie takes place, presumably, in a small town and I assume they have this parade every year. They should know about the fire engines in the parade and not be so shocked by it making noise... and they shouldn't have brought their kids to the parade if they wouldn't handle the loud noises. But when the camera slows down to show Cole asleep in his stroller... the first time I saw it, I didn't understand why this was so dramatic where Iris was taken aback about it. When his diagnosis is revealed, it makes sense, but without knowing what to expect, I thought the problem was that he'd suddenly died. That's what scared the hell out of me about that scene. (Plus, I also have an aversion to incessant sirens... when I was younger, but also a couple years ago at a beach where a distant fire engine blared for what had to have been 5 minutes straight and I was so freaked out long after it stopped that I couldn't wait to leave). But what made her immediately think he couldn't hear it? Was so crazy to consider that he slept through it? I mean, the chances are slim to none, but still... it was almost dramatic how that was orchestrated. 

A major part of the movie is Mr. Holland dealing with Cole's deafness and coping with it. When first diagnosed, the first person they saw told them how Cole will use gestures to attempt to communicate and not to use them back because they won't help him in the hearing world. Iris insists after an episode that they need to enroll him in a school for the hearing because she needs to be able to talk to him. She also makes a comment that that first guy was an idiot because he thought of deaf people as mentally handicapped. I never really thought about it like that. I thought the guy meant that the gestures he'd try to use were incorrect because he hadn't been taught properly yet. 
But yeah, I think back in the 60's, people with deafness really weren't understood or appreciated the way they are now, so it had to have been realy difficult. 
Of course, Mr. Holland throws himself into teaching, so he doesn't really spend a lot of time with his own family and doesn't know how to communicate with his son well. 
One significant moment is 1980 after John Lennon was killed. He's very upset about it, but doesn't think Cole will be able to because he can't hear music. They have an argument (with Iris translating) where a lot of frustration boils to the surface. Cole tells him how he must think he's stupid because he doesnt know who John Lennon is or what music is and he could teach him what music is like, but won't. 

Personally, this was the first time I'd heard about John Lennon being killed. My knowledge about The Beatles was very limited at the time. It still isn't great, but I do know a lot more than I used to. Somehow, that was the one scene I always remembered. And later in the movie, at Christmas time, Cole put on some records and sat on one of the speakers and his parents came down the staircase to find him chilling to the music. Even if he only picks up the vibration of it, that was kinda cool. 
Mr. Holland later conducts at a concert that has people from the school of the deaf in the audience and he incorporated flashing colored lights in the show to make them a part of it. And of course he does a tribute to Cole, singing and signing "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon. He prefaces this by saying the deaf in the audience will be thankful they won't be able to hear him sing it. Yeah, he doesn't have the best voice, admittedly... 

One major part in all of these inspirational teacher movies is how the teachers impact their students. The movie begins with the principal giving him a hard time for not giving 110% to his students and how she'd never seen a teacher break for the doors at the end of the day with as much gusto as his students. 
Then he starts to make an impact. Teaching Gertude how to play the sunset on her clarinet. Helping Louis Russ find the beat. Encouraging Rowena to aim high and go for her dreams.

One reason I wanted to watch this movie came from Rowena's story arc. He casts her in the school play where they're doing a Gershwin revue. In other words, a lot of classics. I don't know what is about this song, but this movie and the 2009 Fame remake- "Someone to Watch Over Me" is performed by someone in the movie and the teacher always asks them what they think the song is about because they don't seem to be singing it from the right perspective. 
Don't know why, but that song came to mind a lot for me a few weeks ago and I guess I wanted to revisit it. Rowena was singing it with a smile on her face, but after Mr. Holland explains what the song is about, she loses the smile and starts to put her heart in it. 
That's why I liked Harry Connick Jr. as an American Idol judge- he was more honest than the judges on the show had been in quite some time. And he always asks the contestants what they think the songs are about because that is essential to giving a good authentic performance. 
Taking current events into account, there was a storyline here that could have derailed this whole movie. It's hinted at that Rowena has a crush on him and even asks him to run off to NYC with her. He even names a song he's writing for her. If anyone heard about any of this, they would have launched an investigation and had him fired even though he was innocent.

The final scene where all of the students come together to wish him well and he gets to perform his opus with former students in the band... that's a great scene.
I know this is a fictional story, but I always groan that the movie ends with the performance and fades to black... because I want to know what happened to the other characters. What does Mr. Holland go on to do after he loses his job? Cole is doing well at a school for the deaf, where I think he is teaching. But I feel like other story arcs need to be concluded. Maybe that's just me wanting more. 

It's cool seeing the years go by and seeing the newsreels showing current events. But I almost feel like they skipped over too much time. We go from 1965 to 1970 to 1980 to 1995. I didnt think to calculate how much screentime is spent in each time period, but we really didn't get to see much of the 80's. It's also cool to see the fashion change from decade to decade. It starts with the girls wearing skirts and the teachers being adverse to Mr. Holland using rock music to demonstrate his points to skateboards and boomboxes. 

Speaking from personal experience, music has always been a big thing in my life. With my own music teachers, I remember my music teacher in elementary school having to travel to classrooms because of budget cuts that caused him to lose his classroom. It's been a long time, but I don't remember much about his teaching style, but he was a fun teacher. 
I went back to music in high school with concert choir. I also participated in all of the musicals with a company... I never got cast in any of the roles, something I'm still bitter about because they always went to the same people. As talented as they are and how much I admire them, I still kinda hate the favoritism, even if they were the best for the role. I really liked Ms. Cloak and gave a lot of effort in class. But it was annoying how everyone else, except the lead actors in the shows, treated it like study hall and would spend a lot of time talking when we need to be rehearsing. There was one year where it was the winter concert coming up and we still had a lot of rehearsing to do and she was very upset with the class for talking so much and saying we aren't even cloes to being ready for the show. 
Admittedly our drama class kinda turned into study hall after a while too, but it sucks being in class with people who don't really care to put in a full effort. 

Makes me think about one scene early in the movie where he's grading tests and the scores are terrible and he reads some of the "best" answers aloud. So it does take a little effort on both sides and trying to meet each other on the same level to really make progress. And obviously a lot of progress is made.