Dead Poets Society

In 1959, Todd Anderson begins his junior year of high school at Welton Academy, an Episcopalian all-male preparatory boarding school in Vermont. Todd is assigned one of Welton's top students, junior Neil Perry, as his roommate, and through Neil, he meets his friends: Knox Overstreet, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks, Gerard Pitts, and Charlie Dalton.

On the first day of classes, the boys are taken aback by the unusual teaching methods of their new English teacher, John Keating. A Welton alumnus who studied English Literature at Cambridge, Keating encourages his students to "seize the day", referencing the Latin expression carpe diem.

Keating has the students take turns standing on his desk to demonstrate ways to look at life differently, tells them to rip out the introduction of their poetry books that explains a mathematical formula for rating poetry, and invites them to make up their own style of walking in a courtyard to encourage their individualism. Keating's methods attract the attention of strict headmaster Gale Nolan.

Upon learning that Keating had been a member of the unofficial Dead Poets Society during his time as a student at Welton, Neil restarts the club, and he and his friends sneak off campus to a cave, where they read poetry. Keating's lessons and their involvement with the club encourage them to live their lives on their own terms. Knox pursues Chris Noel, a cheerleader who is dating Chet Danburry, a football player from a local public school, and whose family is friends with his.

Neil discovers his love of acting, and gets the role of Puck in a local production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, despite the disapproval of his controlling father, who wants him to attend Harvard to study medicine. Keating helps Todd come out of his shell and realize his potential when he takes him through an exercise in self-expression, resulting in his spontaneously composing a poem in front of the class.

Charlie publishes an article in the school newspaper, on behalf of the club, recommending that girls be admitted to Welton. In response, Nolan paddles Charlie, attempting to force him to reveal who else is in the Dead Poets Society; but Charlie remains defiant. Nolan also confronts Keating, advising him that he should discourage his students from questioning authority. Keating admonishes the boys, warning them that one must assess all potential consequences of one's actions.

On the eve of the play's opening performance, Neil's father discovers his involvement in the play and demands that he quit immediately. Keating advises Neil to stand his ground to prove to his father that he takes acting seriously. After Neil performs in the play, his father retaliates by withdrawing him from Welton and enrolling him in Braden Military School. Lacking any support from his mother and unable to explain to his father how he feels, Neil commits suicide using his father's gun.

At Neil's parents' request, Nolan investigates his death. During the investigation, Cameron shifts blame onto Keating to avoid punishment for his role in the Dead Poets Society, and he names the other members of the group. When Charlie confronts him over this, Cameron urges the other students to let Keating take the fall. Charlie punches Cameron and is expelled. Each of the boys is called to Nolan's office to sign a letter confirming Cameron's false allegations. When Todd's turn comes, he reluctantly signs the letter under the pressure of his parents, and Keating is fired as a result.

Nolan, who had taught English at Welton prior to becoming headmaster, temporarily takes over Keating's English class. As Keating interrupts the class to gather his belongings, Todd confesses that the boys were pressured into signing the letter that led to his dismissal. Keating assures Todd that he believes him. Nolan threatens to expel Todd and anyone else who speaks out of line. Despite the threat, Todd stands up on his desk and says "O Captain! My Captain!". The other members of the Dead Poets Society, except for Cameron, along with several other students in the class, follow suit. Touched by their support, Keating proudly thanks the boys before departing.

The original script was written by Tom Schulman, based on his experiences at the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, particularly with his inspirational teacher, Samuel Pickering.^[7][8][9]

Jeff Kanew was originally hired as the director, and Kanew had envisioned Liam Neeson in the role of Keating.^[10] Other actors considered for the role were Dustin Hoffman,^[11] Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks and Mickey Rourke.^[12][13] Robin Williams, who was Touchstone Pictures's preferred choice, was ultimately cast, but on the first day of shooting outside Atlanta, Williams did not show, for he did not want to work with Kanew.^[14] The studio burned down the already-built sets, and replaced Kanew with another director.^[14]

In late 1988, Peter Weir met with Jeffrey Katzenberg at Disney. Katzenberg, who oversaw Touchstone Pictures, suggested that Weir read Schulman's script. On the flight back to Sydney, Weir was captivated, and six weeks later returned to Los Angeles to cast the principal characters.^[15] It was when Weir was given directing duties that filming began in earnest.^[14]

In Schulman's manuscript, Keating had been ill and slowly dying of Hodgkin lymphoma, with a scene showing him on his hospital deathbed. This was removed by Weir, who deemed it unnecessary, claiming that it would focus audiences' attention on Keating's illness, rather than on what he stood for.^[16]

Early notes on the script from Disney also suggested making the boys' passion dancing rather than poetry, as well as a new title, Sultans of Swing, focusing on the character of Mr. Keating, rather than on the boys, but both were dismissed outright.^[15]

Filming began in November 1988, and wrapped in January 1989. After filmmakers scouted more than 70 different universities and private schools, they decided that Dead Poets Society would take place at St. Andrew's School and the Everett Theatre in Middletown, Delaware, as well as at locations in New Castle, Delaware, and in nearby Wilmington, Delaware.^[9][17][18] Classroom scenes with Keating were filmed in a replica classroom built on a soundstage in Wilmington.^[9] To emphasize a film set back in time, storefronts in Delaware towns were transformed, with all modern conveniences removed.^[18] During the shooting, Weir requested that the young cast not use modern slang, even off camera.^[19] Weir also said that he hid a half-day's filming from Disney executives to allow Williams free range to use his comedy improvisational skills.^[20]

Dead Poets Society held two open casting calls, in which more than 3,000 extras were used.^[18] During filming, Williams cracked many jokes on set, which Ethan Hawke found irritating. However, Hawke's first agent signed with Hawke when Williams told him that Hawke would "do really well".^[21][20]

The worldwide box office was reported as $235,860,579, which includes domestic grosses of $95,860,116.^[3] The film's global receipts were the fifth-highest for 1989, and the highest for dramas.^[22]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Dead Poets Society holds an approval rating of 85%, based on 65 reviews, with an average score of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Affecting performances from the young cast and a genuinely inspirational turn from Robin Williams grant Peter Weir's prep school drama top honors".^[23] On Metacritic, the film received a score of 79, based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade on a scale of A+ to F.^[25]

The Washington Post's reviewer called it "solid, smart entertainment", and praised Robin Williams for giving a "nicely restrained acting performance".^[26]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times also praised Williams' "exceptionally fine performance", while writing that "Dead Poets Society... is far less about Keating than about a handful of impressionable boys".^[4]

Pauline Kael was unconvinced about the film and its "middlebrow highmindedness", but praised Williams. "Robin Williams' performance is more graceful than anything he's done before [–] he's totally, concentratedly there – [he] reads his lines stunningly, and when he mimics various actors reciting Shakespeare there's no undue clowning in it; he's a gifted teacher demonstrating his skills."^[27]

Roger Ebert's review for the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars out of four. He criticized Williams for spoiling an otherwise creditable dramatic performance by occasionally veering into his onstage comedian's persona, and lamented that for a film set in the 1950s, there was no mention of the Beat Generation writers popular among college students of the era. Additionally, Ebert described the film as an often poorly constructed "collection of pious platitudes.... The movie pays lip service to qualities and values that, on the evidence of the screenplay itself, it is cheerfully willing to abandon."^[28]

On their Oscar-nomination edition of Siskel & Ebert, both Gene Siskel (who also gave the film a mixed review) and Ebert disagreed with Williams' Oscar nomination. Ebert said that he would have swapped Williams with either Matt Dillon for Drugstore Cowboy or John Cusack for Say Anything.^[29] On their If We Picked the Winners special in March 1990, Ebert chose the film's Best Picture nomination as the worst nomination of the year, believing that it took a slot that could have gone to Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.^[30]

Film historian Leonard Maltin wrote, "Well made, extremely well acted, but also dramatically obvious and melodramatically one-sided. Nevertheless, Tom Schulman's screenplay won an Oscar."^[31]

John Simon, writing for National Review, said that Dead Poets Society was the most dishonest film that he had seen in some time.^[32]

Richard Schickel wrote for TIME Magazine, commenting, "Williams, who has comparatively little screen time, has come to act, not to cut comic riffs, and he does so with forceful, ultimately compelling, simplicity."^[33]

Kevin Dettmar wrote for The Atlantic, "The beloved film's portrayal of studying literature is both misleading and deeply seductive." He commented further on how literature was taught in the film (by Robin William's character John Keating), describing it as "the literary equivalent of fandom," and "anti-intellectual."^[34]

American Film Institute Lists

The film was voted #52 on the AFI's 100 Years…100 Cheers list, a list of the top 100 most inspiring films of all time.^[48]

The film's line, "Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.", was voted as the 95th greatest movie quote by the American Film Institute.^{[49] [50]}

After Robin Williams' death in August 2014, fans of his work used social media to pay tribute to him with photo and video reenactments of the film's final "O Captain! My Captain!" scene.^[51]

Upon hearing about Robin William's death, many teachers came forward to pay him their respects online and even revealed that were inspired to become a teacher because of his character, Mr. Keating, from Dead Poets Society.^[52]

Nancy H. Kleinbaum's novel, Dead Poets Society (2006), is based on the movie.^[53]

A theatrical adaptation written by Tom Schulman and directed by John Doyle opened off-Broadway October 27, 2016, and ran through December 11, 2016.^[54] Jason Sudeikis starred as John Keating,^[55] with Thomas Mann as Neil Perry, David Garrison as Gale Nolan, Zane Pais as Todd Anderson, Francesca Carpanini as Chris, Stephen Barker Turner as Mr. Perry, Will Hochman as Knox Overstreet, Cody Kostro as Charlie Dalton, Yaron Lotan as Richard Cameron, and Bubba Weiler as Steven Meeks.^[56][57]

The production received a mixed review from The New York Times, with critic Ben Brantley calling the play "blunt and bland", and criticizing Sudeikis' performance, citing his lack of enthusiasm when delivering powerful lines.^[58]

In 2018, the theatrical adaptation of the film, written by Tom Schulman and directed by Francisco Franco, premiered in Mexico. The Mexican actor, Alfonso Herrera, played the main character.^[59]

An adaptation was made for the Bad Hersfelder Festspiele in Germany, also with the assistance of Tom Schulman. It premiered in July 2021, and was still staged two years later. The lead actor was Francis Fulton-Smith.^[60]

The ending of the film was parodied in the 2009 Community episode, "Introduction to Film".^[61]

The ending of the film was parodied in the 2016 Saturday Night Live sketch, "Farewell, Mr. Bunting", with Fred Armisen playing Williams' role. The sketch is a largely faithful recreation of the scene, until a student (Pete Davidson) is decapitated by a ceiling fan when he jumps on top of his desk.^[62]

• Munaretto, Stefan (2005). Erläuterungen zu Nancy H. Kleinbaum/Peter Weir, 'Der Club der toten Dichter' (in German). Hollfeld: Bange. ISBN 3-8044-1817-1.

 

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