10 Things to Know About 'Teachers' (1984)

10 Things to Know About Teachers

10 Director Arthur Hiller Keeps His Writer Involved

Director Arthur Hiller likes to have as much help as possible with his movies. Thus, he likes to keep his screenwriter close at hand for on set punch ups. For Teachers, Hiller had screenwriter Bill McKinney on set from beginning to end, a rarity among Hollywood directors.

9 Filmed at a Real High School

Teachers director Arthur Hiller wanted authenticity for the location of Teachers. Thus, location scouts sought a real High School to film in and ended up choosing one close to the heart of writer Bill McKinney. The school was in Columbus, Ohio, hometown of writer Bill McKinney, and at the time was recently vacated in favor of a newly built school in the area. Before the school could be torn down, the producers of Teachers moved in and made their movie there.

8 An Extra Opposed the Filming

A member of the local Columbus School Board voted against leasing the school to the filmmakers for the making of Teachers, and still ended up appearing in the movie. Pauline Radebaugh was one of two school board members who voted against the movie filming in this Columbus School. She then was invited to watch the film in production and was subsequently invited to appear as an extra in the film. You can see Radebaugh as a school board member extra in the film.

7 Laura Dern as Diane Warren

Laura Dern makes an early career appearance in Teachers as a High School student who turns to Nick Nolte’s charismatic teacher after she gets knocked up by her gym teacher. The character’s name is Diane Warren which, coincidentally is also the name of a multiple Academy Award winning composer.

6 That Nude Scene

JoBeth Williams appears in a rather unusual nude scene in Teachers. Contextually, her character, a lawyer and former student of Nolte’s burnt out teacher, strips nude and streaks the school in an attempt to shake Nolte out of his complacency. The scene was shot in multiple takes with numerous extras on set as well as crew. IMDB trivia quotes Williams as finding the scene difficult under those circumstances but we’ve been unable to locate a source for those comments.

5 Teachers Was Filmed Before Ralph Macchio Made It Big as The Karate Kid

Anyone who thinks Teachers was taking advantage of Macchio’s newfound star power by featuring him in posters needs to know that Teachers was released the same year as The Karate Kid and filmed just after Karate Kid wrapped. Macchio definitely raised his own profile with The Karate Kid but he didn’t get his role in Teachers off of that success.

4 Not Based on a True Story but Inspired by Similar Stories

Teachers is not based on one single true story but on several different stories that really happened. In the film, a student manages to graduate from the fictional JFK HIgh School without learning how to read. This followed stories from the Los Angeles and Boston School districts which faced similar controversies. Later, a very famous story would emerge when Washington Redskins Defensive End Dexter Manley is revealed to have made it all the way through college without having learned to read.

3 A Hit Soundtrack

Not many film soundtracks can claim three top 40 hits but the Teachers soundtrack can make that boast. 38 Special’s Teacher Teacher, Bob Seger’s Understanding, and Joe Cocker’s Edge of a Dream, all cracked the Billboard Top 40 following the film’s release.

2 The Incredible Cast

We’ve mentioned the stars, Nick Nolte and JoBeth Williams but the cast of Teachers is absolutely teeming with stars and future stars. Judd Hirsch, Ralph Macchio, Laura Dern, Crispin Glover, Anthony Heald, future star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek, Richard Mulligan of Soap and Empty Nest fame is a mental patient turned teacher,, and Morgan Freeman plays the school lawyer trying to somehow defend the school’s remarkable failure.

1 A Modest Hit

Teachers wasn’t a blockbuster but it was a solid hit for all involved. On a $9 million dollar budget, Teachers earned nearly $30 million dollars at the box office. Critics were mixed at the time and remain mixed today with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 52% positive.