The Substitute

An ex-mercenary (Tom Berenger) becomes a take-no-prisoners teacher in a drug-ridden, gang-infested Miami high school in this campy morality tale about restoring lost American virtues to the inner city. Berenger's character, Shale, has no first name, a shadowy past as a patriotic gun-for-hire, and is ...more

Robert Mandel's ludicrously over-the-top action film is an instant camp classic. Tom Berenger stars as a former mercenary who takes over his girlfriend's (Diane Venora) class after she's kneecapped by one of her more unruly students. He wins over his class through the movie-teacher ploy of throwing out the curriculum to talk about real life, and about his experience in Vietnam, which he helpfully likens to a gang war. Berenger quickly runs afoul of the student thugs who work for drug-dealing ...more