One Eight Seven

"When schools become war zones and both sides start taking casualties, what then?"

1997 1h 59m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 674

DramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When a Brooklyn high school student writes the police code for homicide, 187, inside a textbook owned by teacher Trevor Garfield, Garfield feels threatened. The principal dismisses the incident, but the same student stabs Trevor soon after. Fifteen months later, a physically and emotionally scarred Trevor relocates to California and takes up substitute teaching. To his dismay, his new school is as full of dangerously undisciplined students as his old one—including four Latin Americans and a European American claiming membership in tagging gang K.O.S. (Kappin' Off Suckers)—driving him over the edge.

“When schools become war zones and both sides start taking casualties, what then?”

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Cast

Samuel L. Jackson
Trevor
John Heard
Childress
Kelly Rowan
Ellen
Clifton Collins Jr.
Cesar
Tony Plana
Garcia
Karina Arroyave
Rita
Lobo Sebastian
Benny
Jack Kehler
Hyland

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kevin Reynolds
Writers: Scott Yagemann
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 29% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

215+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Directed by Kevin Reynolds, shot by Ericson Core. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Stephen Semel shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Samuel L. Jackson and John Heard and Kelly Rowan carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "When schools become war zones and both sides start taking casualties, what then?".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kevin Reynolds directs. Ericson Core behind the camera. Stephen Semel cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 29% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
229 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4215+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Kevin Reynolds, shot by Ericson Core. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Editor Stephen Semel shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Samuel L. Jackson and John Heard and Kelly Rowan carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "When schools become war zones and both sides start taking casualties, what then?".
9IMDB entry: tt0118531 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Ericson Core
Editing: Stephen Semel
Production design: Stephen Storer
Costume design: Darryle Johnson
Makeup / hair: Marietta Carter-Narcisse
Sound: Bill W. Benton
Stunt coordinator: Eddie L. Watkins
Runtime: 119 min · 1h 59m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $20,000,000
Box office: $5,716,080
Return: 29% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: One Eight Seven (1997)

Also by

Kevin Reynolds

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-07-08
★ 6/10
This features a strong effort from Samuel L. Jackson but is really quite a depressing film to watch. He is "Garfield" - a teacher who survived a vicious knife attack at his previous school in New York, but who is still determined to persevere and so moves to another in Los Angeles. The teenage kids there are a pretty disparate bunch, not really interested in education and certainly not interested in authority. Except, maybe, "Rita" (Karina Arroyave) who wants to succeed despite the pressures from her peers. From the outset, "Garfield" has a challenger in the young "Cesar" (Clifton Collins Jr) and most of the film is spent teeing up the ultimate denouement between the two men, in what is really a rather unfulfilling fashion. Kevin Reynolds provides us here with a pretty savage indictment of an education system that could hardly be more indifferent to the needs of it's staff or it's students. Indeed the state of the buildings, the safety of just about everyone and the attitudes of the students seems to be wrapped in a self-perpetuating film of neglect and fear of law suits. Jackson presents us with a measured performance, but his character is a bit sterile. The sub-plot with his fearful colleague "Ellen" (Kelly Rowan) tries to inject a little humanity, but even that cannot penetrate the otherwise dark, gloomy and bleak storyline that may well be based in truth (it was written by a schoolteacher) but makes for a curiously downbeat and unmemorable piece of drama.

Production companies