David Greene is a working-class teenager in Pennsylvania during the 1950s, who is given an unusual football scholarship to an exclusive Massachusetts prep school for his senior year as the school's starting quarterback.
David becomes the team hero and wins the attentions of beautiful debutante Sally Wheeler. But in the afterglow of a victory over the school's chief rival, the ties of his newfound friendships are broken when jealous classmate Charlie Dillon reveals the secret David has tried to conceal - he is Jewish.
David soon finds himself fighting a battle alone after Sally and his teammates turn against him, and it all comes to a head when David is falsely accused of cheating during a history exam. Due to the school's honor code, the history class must sort through prejudices and feelings of jealousy to find out the truth.
"School Ties" is an excellent movie that everyone should check out. The story is compelling, but the real reason to watch is a chance to see a stellar cast.
Brendan Fraser was probably the biggest name at the time and he actually does quite well. However, check out this list.. Matt Damon, Chris O'Donnell, Cole Hauser, Anthony Rapp, Randall Batinkoff, Ed Lauter, Zeljko Ivanek, Amy Locane, and Ben Affleck if you watch closely.
Matt Damone is brilliant as the jealous teammate that can't live up to the achievements of his older brother and eventually crumbles under the pressure.
But my favorite character is Fraser's roommate played with heart by Chris O'Donnell.
"School Ties" takes timeless themes.. prejudice, peer pressure, expectation, honor, tradition, and teen angst and weaves them all into an interesting film. I truly believe that several careers were launched or confirmed with this movie. Also, if you enjoy movies with beautiful cinematography, there are some great shots to be appreciated throughout.
I've often seen "School Ties" compared to "Dead Poets Society", but for me they are quite different films .. though they do have a similar type of message.
Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
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It's been awhile since I've watched this one. So, I'll have to give it another go before I can give my honest opinion of it. But, from memory, I remember it not being too bad. Brendan Fraser was still a rookie in the acting world when this movie came out, come to think of it, most of the cast was. Fraser did "Encino man" right before this one. So coming off of that weird movie to do a dramatic movie like this was really pretty admirable. But again, just based off my shady memory, I think I was most impressed with Matt Damon's performance. But again, another viewing could, or could not change that.
Posts: 1802 | From: Planet Druidia | Registered: Jan 2009 | Site Updates: 3
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At this point I thought Brendan Fraser was a terrific actor. Unfortunately he has chosen many bad roles and has been crucified for it, but when he plays a serious and good role he is scarily good. I have always been a fan of School Ties. A truly great film.
Posts: 2586 | From: Defrauding the company from abroad | Registered: Jan 2010 | Site Updates: 24
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this is one of the few times i thought matt damon fit the part perfectly, a little ivy league creep.
Posts: 1605 | From: Lake Chicamocomico | Registered: Feb 2011 | Site Updates: 0
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I adore Fraser. And I tend to forget about this movie and the great cast, because it's not a movie that seems to air often, or come up. It's a great movie, and haven't watched it in years.
I agree Matt Damon... such a weasel in this one! Great performance though.
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cindymancini
Selling underpants to geeks since 1984...
Member # 679
posted
This is one I missed the first time around. I now have it in my queue on Netflix.
I'm especially interested to see this film after finding out some of it was shot in the next town over from where I live...how didn't anyone know this at the time??
Hmmm...looking forward to seeing it! Thanks for the great write up Valley! Posts: 2234 | From: Shopping at the Galleria! | Registered: Jun 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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