In September 1955, 17-year-old working-class David Greene receives a scholarship to exclusive prep school St. Matthew's Academy because of his grades and football prowess. Before arriving at school, David gets into a fight with a motorcycle gang who insult his Jewishness.
Upon arrival, he meets roommate Chris Reese and other teammates, Rip Van Kelt, Charlie Dillon, Jack Connors, and team manager, Mack McGivern, popular students from well-to-do WASP families. He learns of the school's honor code system, and becomes aware of widespread anti-Jewish sentiment at the school. He chooses not to reveal his ethnicity.
David becomes the football team's hero and attracts débutante Sally Wheeler, whom Charlie claims as his. After defeating St. Matthew's rival, an intoxicated teacher accidentally reveals to Charlie that David is Jewish. Charlie tells the rest of the football team and David challenges him to a fight, resulting in a bloody nose for Charlie.
Sally and most other students turn against David for his ethnicity. David's classmates harass him, with only Reese and another unnamed student remaining loyal. Finding a Swastika and the words "Go home, Jew" above his bed, David publicly demands whoever made the sign to meet him outside the following night. No one shows up, and David calls out the students' cowardice as they watch from their dorm windows.
Pressured to get into Harvard, Charlie uses a crib sheet in an exam. David and Rip Van Kelt spot him but say nothing. After the exam, Charlie accidentally drops the cheat sheet which is found by teacher Mr. Gierasch, who tells the class he will fail them all if the cheater does not come forward. He instructs the students to convince the cheater to turn himself in.
David threatens to turn Charlie in if he does not confess. Charlie tells David about the pressure he is facing, apologizes for conspiring against him, and unsuccessfully attempts to buy his silence. Just as David is about to reveal Charlie as the cheater, Charlie publicly accuses David. They try to fight, but Van Kelt tells them to leave and let the rest of the class decide who is being honest. Both agree, although Reese tries to convince David not to because the rest of the class will be prejudiced against him. The majority of the class blames David out of antisemitic prejudice, while Reese, the unnamed student, and Connors, going against his self-professed antisemitism, argue that it is unlike David to cheat and lie. The class votes to convict David, and Van Kelt to tells him to report to headmaster Dr. Bartram to confess.
David goes to Bartram's office and says he is the cheater. Unbeknownst to him, Van Kelt had already told Bartram that the offender was Charlie. Bartram tells David and Van Kelt they should have reported the offense, but he absolves both. David angrily says that he will use this school as a springboard to further his education, the same way the school uses him for football.
As David leaves the headmaster's office, he sees Charlie, now expelled from St. Matthew's, leaving the school. Charlie says that he will be accepted to Harvard anyway and that years later, everybody will have forgotten about this incident, but David still will be a Goddamn Jew. David laughs him off and says Charlie will still be a prick, and walks away.
Cast
Brendan Fraser as David Greene, a standout working-class Jewish student and football quarterback
Matt Damon as Charlie Dillon, a prefect, football player, and rival to David
Chris O'Donnell as Chris Reese, a prefect, David's roommate and football teammate
Andrew Lowery as Mack McGivern
Randall Batinkoff as Rip Van Kelt, head prefect and football team captain
Cole Hauser as Jack Connors, a good football player but slacker student
Amy Locane as Sally Wheeler who attends a neighboring all-girl boarding school and is David and Charlie's love interest
Peter Donat as Dr. Bartram, headmaster of St. Matthew's
Željko Ivanek as Mr. Cleary, house master and French teacher
Kevin Tighe as Coach McDevitt, St. Matthews' head football coach
Opening scenes are of the Bethlehem Steel Plant shot from the 900 block of E. 4th Street, Zion Lutheran Church from the top of St. Michael's Cemetery looking northwest to 1000 block of E. 4th Street, and a car turning on to Buchanan Street from Atlantic Street in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.[1] The Mobil Station, Chip's Diner and the Roxy Theatre were filmed on Main Street in Northampton, Pennsylvania. The opening credits scene in front of Danas Luncheonette and some scenes inside were filmed in Lowell, Massachusetts.[4] The middle dinner and dancing scene was filmed at the Lanam Club in Andover, Massachusetts.[1]
Release
Box office
The film was a commercial failure, only grossing $14.7 million at the box office against a budget of $18 million.[2] Despite this, the film provided some of the first major cinema lead roles for many of its cast, including Fraser, Affleck, Hauser and Damon.[5][6][7][8][9]
Critical reception
School Ties has a 61% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 41 reviews with the consensus: "Led by an A+ cast, the road to School Ties is paved with good intentions that are somewhat marred by the honorable yet heavy-handed message against intolerance."[10]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[11]
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