BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Scott LeBrun This is a pretty good '80s vehicle for James Belushi, who gets to show off both comedic and dramatic chops as Rick Latimer, a teacher who, in a drunken state one night, flies into a rage upon seeing his ex-wife with another man (her attorney, no less). After beating the hell out of the mans' car with a baseball bat, his superiors decide to "reward" him with a principal gig. The catch is that the gig is at the city's most crime ridden inner city high school. Now, Latimer may have his faults, but being a more or less good guy he's incensed at what he sees and decides that he's going to clean up the school, no matter what. Offering some assistance is the schools' head of security, Jake Phillips (Louis Gossett Jr.). Rick takes special interest in students such as young mother Treena (Kelly Jo Minter) and the sincere Arturo (Jacob Vargas), who's only now learning to read. Meanwhile, the biggest piece of criminal scum at the place, Victor Duncan (Michael Wright) tries to scare off Rick, but Rick won't have any of it, and the stage will be set for a final showdown at some point. "The Principal" does score high marks for good intentions, even as it recalls earlier films such as "The Blackboard Jungle" and "Class of 1984" (other films in this genre, of course, include "Stand and Deliver", "Lean On Me", and "Dangerous Minds"). It's reasonably absorbing and tells a decent story, which was written by Frank Deese, a real life teacher who also plays a small role in the movie. What makes it work as well as it does are the variety of entertaining characters, both likable and unlikable. Belushi is in fine form and does seem to be improvising at some points. Gossett Jr. is solid as a rock and the sexy Rae Dawn Chong has the role of impassioned teacher Hilary Orozco. Wright is completely convincing as the antagonist, largely because he mostly underplays the part. Playing other students are Esai Morales as the poetic Raymi Rojas, J.J. Cohen as scuzzy white creep White Zac, and the engaging Troy Winbush as "Baby" Emile, the gang member who has a change of heart. Director Christopher Cain also creates some very effective suspense in the ultimate confrontation between principal and criminal. Best of all, while there is some serious subject matter in the material, Cain and company never get heavy handed in the attempt to create some sort of "message movie", and mix the exploitative ingredients with the serious ones to make an entertaining package in general. By the end, you can't help but cheer the principal on. Seven out of 10.

sddavis63 The basic story was told (and much more effectively, I might add - perhaps because it was based on real people and events) a couple of years later in "Lean On Me." This movie is a fictional account of roughly the same chain of events - a teacher gets assigned as principal to an inner city school that's become a haven for gangs and drug-dealing and he sets himself to the task of cleaning it up. Perhaps because it's not based in reality, at times "The Principal" comes across as a bit too extreme, and at times it even seems a bit silly, to be honest. Some of the characters - especially Miss Orozco (Rae Dawn Chong) also seem to be a bit of a puzzle. I'll explain my confusion over her later.I will say that James Belushi did well with this part. He played Rick Latimer - the down and out teacher who gets assigned to Brandel High School because there's no one else to go there and basically the Board of Education is throwing him away. That's the reality of Branden. Neither the students nor the teachers have anywhere to go. That, by the way, is my confusion over Miss Orozco. Why was she there? She seemed to be a pretty good, young teacher who clearly (as the movie finally points out) does have options. Her character seemed out of place because she didn't belong in that school; the attack on her seemed out of place because it really didn't serve to push forward the main story; her budding friendship (romance - it wasn't really clear) with Latimer seemed out of place. That's an aside, mind you. Again - Belushi did well as Latimer. For a down and out teacher, it seemed a bit strange that he would set himself to the hard work of trying to clean up the school, but the characters in this admittedly aren't that believable.The story works, though. It's a good story. It inevitably draws you in and gets you rooting for Latimer. It's all pretty clear-cut in terms of good guys and bad guys. There are no real moral dilemmas to confront you because everything is so clear-cut. You just watch, and you stay interested. You know there has to be a final confrontation coming between Latimer and Victor (the drug-dealing student who "ruled" the school until Latimer arrived) and you basically wait for the final confrontation between the two. That final confrontation is for part of the time suspenseful, but in the end it also turns rather silly. Latimer's "my turn" after Victor gives him a pretty good beating made me chuckle a bit.It's not a bad movie. It's too simple and straightforward and it has some extraneous material and some extraneous characters, but it's not bad. Even enjoyable, for the most part. (7/10)

Spikeopath Rick Latimer (James Belushi) is a high-school teacher with some social issues. Hard drinking and soon to be divorced, Latimer flies of the handle when he spies his ex out having a drink in a bar with another man. Up before the school board, who have tired of his combustible attitude, Latimer is informed that he has finally got the Principal position he has long since courted. Trouble is is that it is at Brandel High, a notoriously troubled school where violence and crime are part of the curriculum. Taking up an attitude of fighting fire with fire and working from his motto of "No More," Latimer hopes to bring order and respect to the school. But with only Security guard Jake Phillips (Louis Gossett Jr) as an ally and the thuggish school kingpin Victor Duncan (Michael Wright) after his blood, Latimer will do well to just survive the first week.The formula of such movies like The Principal is now seen as old hat, post the release of Christopher Cain's movie you can trace a line from Lean On Me in 1989, to The Substitute 1996 and on to One Eight Seven the following year. Prior to The Principal the topic is a bit more thin on the ground, we can probably laud the excellent Blackboard Jungle from 1955, while 1984 saw Mark L. Lester tap into the video nasty zeitgeist of the early 80s with his trashy Classs Of 1984. So plenty of film's, and similar types like Stand And Deliver, from which to choose should you require a night in with a teacher intent on straightening out those ruffians; whilst ensuring the good kids get the education they deserve. So why choose The Principal then?Well James Belushi's fans don't need much convincing here, an always likable star who knows the limits of his talents, the film gives him the chance to mix serious drama with his comedy bent. This played out with immeasurable cool too. Latimer is one bad ass teacher, he drinks hard, plays hard, whirls his baseball bat and rides a motorcycle. He's no Dolph Lungdren (Detention) or a Tom Berrenger (The Substitute), but Belushi can carry off the tough side of Latimer, whilst showing his fallibility's via little comedy moments as he wonders just what the hell he is doing here. Belushi is admirably supported by Gossett Jr, a believable tough security guard if ever there was one, while a lot of the film's strength is drawn from the developing relationship between the two men. Of the rest of the cast it's Michael Wright who stands out as head thug Victor. Already at the time of release a cult actor thanks to his turn in The Wanderers, Wright is supremely cool and terrifying into the bargain. When he shouts "I expel you," you start to pack your bags, that is unless you are Principal Latimer of course.As ever with a film of this type there are complaints that it's full of stereotypes, but were they in 1987? Director Cain is for sure not addressing the then fledgling problems of education and crime amongst African-American and Latino school kids. But he is not shying away from the issue either. That the most unsavoury point in the film sees a white youth perpetrate crime on a black teacher tends to get over looked by snarky PC critics. Make no bones about it tho, this is more macho than the rest, again this is something that has upset many a critic who prefers the "reach out to the kids" approach in something like Morgan Freeman's excellent, but tonally different, Lean On Me. Oh yes sir, this is taking a different tack, but I for one appreciate having a different angle from which to view such subject matter. Some hooligans can be saved by reaching out to them, but lets not kid ourselves that some of them don't need more than just a telling off from The Principal. Yes the film is also very 80s, none more so than with the soundtrack where we get a mix of the bad; some American Heartbeat sounding fluffer, and the great; Strafe's pulse rocking "Set It Off". Not setting out to win awards or moralise about an ongoing problem, The Principal goes for a tough and gritty approach for this semester. Amen to that sir. 8/10

preston8 Sad to say, this dreadful film is a sickeningly violent reflection of American schools today where discipline is questionable and students are obviously more interested in drug deals than in getting an education. Having grown up watching films made in Hollywood's "golden era" I am wondering why the producer ever felt this story was worth producing. As a former screenwriter at MGM and a screen writing instructor at a Dallas college for over thirty years, I can only say, as I have for a long time, that contemporary films lack the quality and appeal of those made before 1979.Killings, stabbings, murders, car crashes and buildings being blown up do not constitute entertainment for me and in the case of this particular disaster, the actions of trashy slum teenagers have no appeal at all. TV viewers should be warned about the objectionable content of this film which should appeal only to trashy ghetto teenagers.