Summer School (1987) on Netflix
Freddy Shoop, a gym teacher at Oceanfront High, has a Hawaii summer planned. Vice Principal Phil Gills blackmails him into teaching remedial English instead, to a class of underachievers.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.6/1024,383 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes58%
Trailer
Plot summary
Freddy Shoop teaches physical education at Oceanfront High, a beach city school in the Los Angeles area, and he counts on long summers off. He has a trip to Hawaii booked with his girlfriend Kim. On the last day of the year, Vice Principal Phil Gills hands out paper slips to students who must attend summer school for remedial English: easily distracted Pam House, football jock Kevin Winchester, pregnant Rhonda Altobello, geeky Alan Eakian, Denise Green, intimidating Jerome Watkins, and horror-obsessed Dave Frazier and Francis Gremp, known as Chainsaw. When the assigned teacher wins the lottery and quits, Gills corners Shoop and blackmails him into the job or he loses tenure. Kim leaves for Hawaii alone. Next door, Robin Bishop teaches American History, and Shoop takes an interest, though she is dating Gills.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Summer School (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Summer School is notable for containing the only completely unreleased Danny Elfman film score to date, the one score by the composer that has never been released.
- "Mind Over Matter" was released as a single off the soundtrack and became a top 10 dance hit in the US. The song had originally been recorded by Debbie Harry, but label disputes caused her recording to go unreleased and Daily was chosen to sing it instead.
- James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", Blondie's "Rapture" and Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time" all appear in the film but do not appear on the soundtrack album.
- During an audience Q&A, Dean Cameron said he would be open to a sequel or possibly even a remake, and suggested Shia LaBeouf or Zach Braff as a new Chainsaw, the role he played.
- The film was lined up to be made again in early 2012, when Adam Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions signed on for a remake.
