Teachers Have Long Legacy in Film

Summer is over, the kids are back in school, and a movie about a teacher has become a surprise box office hit.

''Dangerous Minds'' -- starring Michelle Pfeiffer as an ex-Marine who uses karate and Bob Dylan songs to reach tough, urban students -- is rooted in a Hollywood tradition that has often produced Oscar-caliber acting, writing and directing.

These films celebrate the unique bond between teacher and pupil.

In movies as in life, a teacher plays many roles for a student: substitute parent, friend, mentor, social worker, authority figure, rebel and rival.

But mostly teachers and students inspire and can bring out the best in each other.

The teacher help students find and express themselves, survive and mature and discover the joy of learning. And the students add extra meaning to their teachers lives.

''The Blackboard Jungle'' (1955) set the pattern for movies about teaching at inner-city public schools. It is also the first use of rock 'n' roll on a soundtrack.

Written and directed by Richard Brooks, the film deals with social problems we still face today, only worse, including absent parents, racial and ethnic hatreds, and gang violence.

Brand new teacher Glenn Ford won't give in to an uncaring system, cynical colleagues, unmotivated students and a gang that physically attacks him and threatens his pregnant wife.

''I've been beaten up, but I'm not beaten,'' he says.

His perseverence and faith in kids is finally rewarded when a simple fairy tale stirs his class to think and to take his side against a knife-wielding delinquent (the late Vic Morrow), inspires even his most jaded colleagues to try harder and convinces a promising student (Sydney Poitier) to go on.

''Stand and Deliver'' (1988) is the true story of a teacher who elevated his school and enriched his students' lives.

Edward James Olmos plays Jaime Escalante, who left a lucrative job in industry to teach high school math in East Los Angeles. Olmos earned an Oscar nomination as a funny, compassionate and caring teacher who preaches hard work and discipline.

Believing that students rise to the level of one's expectations, Escalante challenges his class of low-income, mostly Hispanic students to take a difficult, college-level calculus test.

The task exacts a toll. The kids sacrifice free time, good jobs and long-time friendships, while Escalante ignores his family and suffers a heart attack shortly before the test.

Two days later, he is back in class, setting a quiet, powerful example for 18 students. All 18 pass the test only to have their results questioned by a disbelieving testing service.

A system that conspires to keep minority students in their place is the adversary in ''Conrack'' (1974), a film based on author Pat Conroy's brief stint as a substitute teacher at a small, rural, segregated elementary school in South Carolina.

John Voight plays a former racist turned humanist who clashes with his conservative superiors when he tries to enlighten kids who have never heard of Babe Ruth or celebrated Halloween.

Intolerance and misundertanding threaten an ex-teacher and his only current pupil in ''The Man Without a Face'' (1993).

In his directorial debut, actor Mel Gibson plays a mysterious recluse who quit teaching after an accident left him physically and emotionally scarred.

His self-imposed exile is interrupted by a lonely, fatherless boy desperate to pass an exam to enter an exclusive military academy so he can escape his mother and sisters.

They slowly build a friendship based on mutual need, trust and respect. The boy realizes his dream and the teacher rediscovers his true calling, although the narrow-minded, suspicious community physically separates them.

For years, teaching was among the few professions accepted as careers for women in life and on film.

In ''The Corn is Green'' (1945), Bette Davis plays a self-reliant, pioneering spinster determined to bring enlightenment to a poor, coal-mining village in turn-of-the-century Wales.

She devotes two years to preparing her most promising student to compete for a scholarship and a chance to climb out of the mine. Her only reward is to see him move on without her.

Maggie Smith won an Oscar as an unconventional, eccentric history teacher in Scotland who stirs passions in everyone she meets in ''The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'' (1969).

She is pursued but never caught by a pious, intellectual music teacher and an earthy, married art instructor.

A headmistress hounds Brodie for her radical politics, unorthodox methods and spellbinding influence on ''her girls,'' who worship, imitate, despise and ultimately betray her.

Yet, she remains ''a teacher--first, last and always.''

The same is true of Robert Donat's shy British schoolmaster who spends 60 years shaping young minds and watching generations of boys become men in ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1939).

Like Smith, Donat earned his only Oscar for playing someone who finds fulfillment in helping others reach their potential. His only moment of personal happiness comes on a rare holiday when a ''strong-minded'' woman teaches him to believe in himself.

But in the end, it's the thousands of boys who have passed through his classroom that give his life meaning. ''Remember me sometimes,'' he says. ''I shall always remember you.''

The art of teaching isn't limited to the classroom.

Coaches, governesses, drill instructors, and martial and performing arts trainers often have relationships to their charges that parallel the student-teacher bond.

Wise, old Yoda trained Jedi knights for 800 years before being challenged to instruct impatient Luke Skywalker in the ways of ''The Force'' in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980).

''Help you I can,'' he tells Luke, explaining that being a Jedi knight requires the ''deepest commitment, the most serious mind,'' qualities lacking in young Skywalker.

Luke says, ''I'll try.''

''No,'' Yoda says, demanding only the best from his pupil. ''Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.''