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Lean on Me / Film synopsis
In this fact-based film, a New Jersey superintendent, Dr. Frank Napier (Robert Guillaume), watches helplessly as East Side High becomes the lowest-ranked school in the state. With nowhere else to turn, Dr. Napier enlists maverick ex-teacher Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman) to take over as principal of the declining school.
In this fact-based film, a New Jersey superintendent, Dr. Frank Napier (Robert Guillaume), watches helplessly as East Side High becomes the lowest-ranked school in the state. With nowhere else to turn, Dr. Napier enlists maverick ex-teacher Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman) to take over as principal of the declining school. Unfortunately for Clark, before he can focus on improving the student body's state exam scores, he has to somehow rid the school of its gang and narcotics problems.

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Mar 3, 1989 · It is a fiction film about a character who is so troubled, obsessed and angry that the film is never able to say quite what it thinks of him.
Rating (23,019)
Lean on Me is based around the experiences of Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman), who becomes the principal of a destitute New Jersey high school plagued with violence, ...
A review of "Lean on Me", a 1989 film about a high school principal who was put in charge of a school that was struggling with multiple issues.