To Sir, with Love
To Sir, with Love is a 1967 British drama movie directed by James Clavell and was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by the author E. R. Braithwaite. It stars Sidney Poitier and features Christian Roberts, Judy Geeson, Suzy Kendall, Patricia Routledge and singer Lulu making her movie debut. James Clavell also wrote the screenplay of the story, which is quite different from the novel.
| To Sir, with Love | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | James Clavell |
| Screenplay by | James Clavell |
| Based on | To Sir, With Love 1959 novel by E. R. Braithwaite |
| Produced by | James Clavell John R. Sloan |
| Starring | Sidney Poitier Judy Geeson Christian Roberts Suzy Kendall The Mindbenders Patricia Routledge Lulu |
| Cinematography | Paul Beeson, British Society of Cinematographers |
| Edited by | Peter Thornton |
| Music by | Ron Grainer |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $625,000[1] or $600,000[2] |
| Box office | $42,432,803[3] or $22 million[2] |
A 1996 television movie sequel, To Sir, with Love II, was released nearly three decades later, with Poitier in the same starring role.
Plot
changeThe movie is about a teacher from British Guiana who deals with social issues of problematic, undisciplined and anarchic students in a run-down school in the East End of London.
Release
changeThe movie was internationally very successful at the box office, and made $42,432,803 at the box office out of a movie budget of $640,000.[3] It was the sixth highest grossing movie of 1967 in the United States.
To Sir, with Love got very positive reviews, as many movie critics and moviegoers enjoyed it. To Sir, with Love holds an 89% "Fresh" rating on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews.[4]
The movie ranked number 27 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.[5]
Poitier especially benefited from that movie's success, considering he agreed on only $30,000 for his movie role in exchange for 10% of the box office and thus earned more than $4,200,000, which was one of the most impressive payoffs in movie history.
The novel's author E. R. Braithwaite hated the movie, particularly because the novel's interracial relationships and racial issues were not included in the movie's screenplay, although the royalties from the movie made him wealthy.
Soundtrack
changeThe movie's title song "To Sir with Love", sung by Lulu, peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States for five weeks in the autumn of 1967 and ultimately was the best-selling single in the United States of that year.
References
change- ↑ "An author at home in Hollywood and Hong Kong". Dudar, Helen. Chicago Tribune. 12 April 1981: e1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A Blue-Ribbon Packager of Movie Deals Warga, Wayne. Los Angeles Times 20 April 1969: w1.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "To Sir, With Love, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
- ↑ "To Sir, with Love, Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
- ↑ EW Staff (28 August 2015). "50 Best High School Movies". Entertainment Weekly.
