Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds (1995) is John N. Smith's classroom drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM. An ex-Marine starts teaching English to a class that has no use for her rules.

LouAnne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer) leaves the military and takes on a group of tough teenagers at a rough California high school. Her first day falls apart: the kids won't listen, won't trust an adult, and have already given up on themselves. So she throws out the lesson plan, teaches grammar through Bob Dylan lyrics, bargains for every student one at a time, and pushes into their lives further than any manual would allow.

The film is drawn from the memoir of the real LouAnne Johnson, and Coolio's closing track Gangsta's Paradise ended up a bigger hit than the movie itself. Stream Dangerous Minds (1995) online on iFILM.