Plot
English professor John Keating inspires his students to a love of poetry and to seize the day.
Release Year: 1989
Rating: 7.8/10 (121,145 voted)
Critic's Score: 79/100
Director:
Peter Weir
Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke
Storyline Painfully shy Todd Anderson has been sent to the school where his popular older brother was valedictorian. His room-mate, Neil, although exceedingly bright and popular, is very much under the thumb of his overbearing father. The two, along with their other friends, meet Professor Keating, their new English teacher, who tells them of the Dead Poets Society, and encourages them to go against the status quo. Each, in their own way, does this, and are changed for life.
Cast: Robin Williams
-
John Keating
Robert Sean Leonard
-
Neil Perry
Ethan Hawke
-
Todd Anderson
Josh Charles
-
Knox Overstreet
Gale Hansen
-
Charlie Dalton
Dylan Kussman
-
Richard Cameron
Allelon Ruggiero
-
Steven Meeks
James Waterston
-
Gerard Pitts
Norman Lloyd
-
Mr. Nolan
Kurtwood Smith
-
Mr. Perry
Carla Belver
-
Mrs. Perry
Leon Pownall
-
McAllister
George Martin
-
Dr. Hager
Joe Aufiery
-
Chemistry Teacher
Matt Carey
-
Hopkins
Taglines:
He was their inspiration. He made their lives extraordinary.
Release Date: 9 June 1989
Filming Locations: Everett Theatre - 47 West Main Street, Middletown, Delaware, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $16,400,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $340,456
(USA)
(4 June 1989)
(8 Screens)
Gross: $235,900,000
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The 10th biggest grossing film of the year at the US box office, and the fifth highest overseas. It surpassed two other blockbuster Disney releases
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and
The Little Mermaid.
Goofs:
Factual errors:
The first meeting of the Dead Poets Society in the cave is at night but there is light through the hole in the ceiling.
Quotes: John Keating:
Mr. Meeks, time to inherit the earth.
User Review
A powerful antidote to conformism
Rating: 10/10
There are certain films that get under your skin, never to come out. They
change your life, subtly altering your perceptions of reality, almost always
for the better.
Dead Poets Society is one of those few films.
I saw the movie back when I was in High School. I had a teacher who told us
that we really needed to watch it; in fact, it was our "homework" for the
day. We didn't need to bring back a report, or talk about it in class. All
he asked from us was to watch it, make up our own mind about it, and that
was it. As you can imagine, many friends of mine didn't watch it at all; I
did. And yes, I feel I changed a bit from there on.
Back when you are young, you never really stop to think what in the world
you are doing with your life. You simply live for the day, hope your grades
will be enough to pass, and that's it. Long term thinking involves maybe
flirting with a girl. Nothing more. What this film showed me was that we
have the responsability and the joy of being alive in this planet. That we
are dust, and we will go back to it, so we have precious little time to make
a difference. That we have a moral obligation to "seize the day, and make
our lives extraordinary" (my favorite quote in all movie history). That the
world, basically is ours. That the only limitations are within ourselves,
and that we owe it to us to fight, to rebel against conformity, to change
what we hate and keep what we love. That living in this world is a beautiful
responsability, and that only cowards dare not to change it for the
better.
The fact that the cast was basically my age, and was passing through the
same dilemmas and situations I was facing made it all so much more
powerful.
So here I sit, 12 years from that day. I still don't think I have seized the
day completely. But I keep on trying; I always will. I wonder how many
people were transformed by this gem of a movie; I hope
many.
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