Lean on Me (1989) on Netflix
Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, faces a state takeover unless three quarters of its students pass a basic skills test. Joe Clark, a former teacher there, becomes principal.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.4/1025,085 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes68%
Trailer
Plot summary
Drug use and crime have spread through Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, and most of its students cannot pass basic skills testing. Mayor Don Bottman learns that state administration will take over the school unless seventy-five percent of the students pass the minimum basic skills test. Superintendent Dr. Frank Napier suggests Joe Louis Clark, a former Eastside teacher working as an elementary school principal, and Bottman reluctantly hires him. Clark expels three hundred students he identifies as drug dealers, users and troublemakers, paints over graffiti-covered walls, and requires students to learn the school song.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Lean on Me (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- It is based on the story of Joe Louis Clark, an inner city high school principal in Paterson, New Jersey, whose school, Eastside High, was in danger of being placed into receivership of the New Jersey state government unless students improved their scores on the New Jersey Minimum Basic Skills Test.
- On September 13, 2018, a television series based on the film was reported to be in development at The CW, written by Wendy Calhoun for Warner Bros. Television Studios, with LeBron James, Maverick Carter, John Legend, Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorius also set to executive produce.
- The title refers to the 1972 Bill Withers song of the same name, which is also used in the film itself.
