Those schoolgirl days- That movie was before my time, but that is still a great song. I rented the movie just so I could see the movie associated with that tune. Movie was not so great.
- Gotta say, I loved the tampon burning part.
- Is that what was going on? I knew the girls had done something nasty, but wasn''t clear on just what.
- Love it, but I''m a sucker for UK films from the 60''s.
Mia
- Quite the attitude, OP? Are you being paid by the thread?
- I just love it because Mr. Tibbs was in it. (That''s what they call him, you know.)
- Haven''t seen the movie but just love the song. No apologies here...
- What R6 said. And Lulu was flat and talentless, but the song had genuine emotion.
- "I am sick of your foul language, your crude behavior and your sluttish manner. There are certain things a decent woman keeps private, and only a filthy slut would have done this and those who stood by and encouraged her are just as bad. I don''t care who''s responsible - you''re all to blame. Now, I am going to leave this room for five minutes by which time that disgusting object had better be removed and the windows opened to clear away the stench."\
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Ironically, this was the same speech my mom used when she found me showing the neighbor boys my new dildo.
Cheryl''s pussy cologne.
- Poitier is poetry.
- Aw, R9, you left out the best part of that quote:\
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*bellowing* "If you must play these filthy games, PLAY THEM IN YOUR HOMES--[*quieter*]and not. in. my. classroom!"
Sir lover
- I still watch it when it comes on. It''s a sweet movie, and Poitier was hot. %0D\
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The way they lived looks so quaint, and looked quaint to Americans even at the time it was made, since the UK was at least 20 years behind the times with its lack of modern conveniences.%0D\
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I love all the 60s British cinema.
- "The film is so trite and the acting uniformly wooden"%0D\
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What does that have to do with the song? It''s the song that''s popular (according to you at least, I don''t really hear it that much on the oldies station) not the movie. The movie is mostly forgotten.%0D\
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And it''s not like there haven''t been shitty songs that were big hits in the UK. You guys listen to shit like Westlife.
- About 5 years ago I was in a fast food restaurant in North Philadelphia when this song came on. The young kids working there started singing along!
- I''ve never seen the movie; don''t like the song. My mother is fond of both, however.
forty-something American
- [quote]Quite the attitude, OP? Are you being paid by the thread?%0D\
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That would be nice. Sorry about the attitude, just ignore it, like everyone else. I''m starting to get a clue as to why it was so popular. ''Quaint'' & ''sweet''.%0D\
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I love British films of the 60s too, most of them, but this one, not so much.
OP
- Dreadful movie. Awful writing, awful color, awful everything.
- [quote]The movie is mostly forgotten.%0D\
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127 reviews on Amazon, 109 people give it five stars only 2, 1 star reviews. Quite something for a forty five year old, ''forgotten'', low budget, British film.
http://www.amazon.com/Sir-Love-Sidney-Poitier/dp/B00003L9C1/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1302288350&sr=1-1
OP
- Christian was FAB!
- "127 reviews on Amazon"%0D\
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So what? And I''m guessing that not all those people are American (since you insist it''s some kind of American classic)
- Champagne for Lulu!
Edina Monsoon
- [quote]That awful song, still makes Americans weak at the knees. \
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No, it doesn''t. It was more than forty years ago. Americans don''t remember anything. Not one person out of twenty could even tell you who starred in the movie, and not one out of fifty could hum the melody of the song.\
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You don''t know anything about the USA at all. You think you do, but you''re completely underifnormed.
- The song itself isn''t so bad, but her singing was just awful.
- The popular girls in my high school senior class of ''74 sang To Sir With Love at our graduation ceremony. They were so sweet and so sad, and really did a lovely job. I didn''t know they were working it up and since I''m an emotional slob I couldn''t hold the tears back.%0D\
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I''ll always love that stupid song.
- It wasn''t trite THEN. Of course films get "trite" as they age, because they get copied. West Side Story can seem "trite" if you''ve seen a hundred different versions of Romeo and Juliet.
- Better as an ensemble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qc7sUtkQfM
- For the fans of British cinema from the 60s you should try and get hold of ''The Leather Boys'' or ''A Taste of Honey''.
- It''s OK but it''s no Change of Habit
the lady on the stoop who gets to say black as the ace of spades
- OP, you are right. But as crude as the direction is, the story does draw you in. And there is Judy Geeson, ''the poor man''s Julie Christie,'' and it was part of a cycle of films (like ''Up The Down Staircase'') which were beginning to inform Americans that kids were getting wilder in class, and that public schools were not what they used to be (no matter that this was set in a British slum) a movie genre arguably started by ''Blackboard Jungle.''\
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And this movie posits that one good teacher can change lives, something we liberals believe and think is true (and still true).\
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And the song is great, I''m sorry. A good melody connected to a message that (especially in context, which is also how it was used to good effect in ''Glee'') is emotional, open, soaring, uplifting. From Lulu''s opening, "Those school girl days/Of telling tales and biting nails are gone," yes, we are weepy goners. It''s as good as any Brill Building anthem from the early ''60s. And just as nostalgic.
- I always cry when Lulu sings "To Sir With Love" at the end of the movie. Also, when you hear the same song playing during the museum scene was very effective.
- R28: thats the only thing i remember from that movie!!
- R23, how about this version? Don''t remember whether it got much play on non-black stations in the 70s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VcuUSiN4_Q
Love ''em both
- Loved Judy Geeson! I thought she was going to have a major career boost with this one.
- Jesus, the one with Al Green is wretched.
- Al Green took it up the ass?
- How would we know OP? The people who made it a hit in theaters are probably all dead now.
- In England, Lulu''s producer had no idea that To Sir With Love would be a big hit. He didnt like it much so he stuck it on the B side of this song. It takes a few listens.%0D\
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBkse5SlNRI&feature=related
- I didn''t know what song you were referring to it until I looked at it on Youtube. I have heard it, and it''s okay, but I hadn''t heard it in years and I''ve never seen the movie and I''m almost 50.%0D
- If you mean Americans are nostalgic for school days, well, yes, who wouldn''t be considering how nasty and brutish American adult life is.%0D
- I don''t think I''ve ever even heard the song. It''s not on oldies stations, and my partner -- who knows far too much about 1960s and 1970s pop songs, good and bad -- couldn''t remember it, either.\
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The movie doesn''t make much of a splash as far as online discussion or blogging goes, either. It''s on TCM every so often, yet I don''t know of anyone who mentioned they saw the movie when it was on.\
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If FeedFlicks would just stop pulling up my data AGAIN, I could tell you how often the movie gets rented, which I suspect isn''t very often.\
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So I''m having trouble seeing why OP flipped his lid on the issue, because neither the movie nor the song seem to be particularly popular. Maybe it''s just popular with Boomers or something.
- Plus, it''s been unavailable on DVD in the US for years. Unless you troll for used copies or third-party dealers.
- 1967?%0D\
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Are you a hundred years old, OP?%0D\
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Why would we care about such a thing?
- I got a copy of the movie and the soundtrack last year on Amazon.
- It''s very much available. Brand new copies. Amazon also streams it.
http://www.amazon.com/Sir-Love-Sidney-Poitier/dp/B00003L9C1/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1302288350&sr=1-1
- Yeaaaahhhh, I''ve never seen the movie, and I''ve never heard the song. I don''t even know what it''s about.\
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Soooooooo, yeaaahhh, I don''t really have an opinion about it.\
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Sent from my iPhone
- FeedFlicks says that less than 1000 people have watched or rented the movie, which was released on DVD 11 years ago. That''s not a particularly compelling statistic and it certainly doesn''t support the idea that everyone in the U.S. is crazy over this movie.
R40, a little obsessive today
- Sidney Poitier wooden!?%0D\
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Such mindless drivel about the colonies led to revolution.
Sam Adams
- Of all the obscure crap that floats through the Datalounge on a daily basis, why is To Sir With Love, of all things, getting bashed as irrelevant?
- OP, tell us more about your brilliant and up-to-the-minute observations about American culture. Do you also see us obsessed with the latest hip dances like the frug and the monkey? Do you think we''ll ever be able to stop listening to Donovan and Bobby Sherman?
- [quote]who wouldn''t be considering how nasty and brutish American adult life is.%0D\
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You are not American, obviously.%0D\
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- All I know is that there were some really cute boys in that movie.
- Love the movie - was obsessed with the little rubber buxom beauty that showed her boobs when squeezed. Always wanted to find one of those!
even tho I am quite gay.
- ... and it has Hyacinth Bucket working in the slums around all those crude slutty teenagers! *gasp!*
- Actually, if you''ve ever read the book, this all took place in late 1940''s Britain. Other than changing it to the 1960''s, the movie is very true to the book.
- SCTV did a version with Bob Geldof and Ricardo Montalbhan!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ta5OgjQ8Q
- [quote]1967? Are you a hundred years old, OP? Why would we care about such a thing?
Wow, the idiots came hard and fast onto this thread. Like the above comment @ R44.
44 responses and apparently no one cares 'about such a thing'.
OP
- Why in the world would you bump this thread R56?
Please answer this.
- r53, and she was so skinny in that yellow sleeveless frock.
- Why would you bother clicking on this thread and leaving your useless comment, R57?
Please answer this.
- (59) hahahahahhaha you tickle me. "Trite"? "Wooden"? hahaha you obviously don't get it so no use trying to explain it to you. Maybe you get to come back another life time and try again. - pitiful you are.
Pats
- I prefer Lulu's James Bond theme song a bit better.
- The OP sounds like a real crab.
There are plenty of movies much worse than "To Sir With Love." Why pick on it? It was a movie of its time. And it's not bad at all.
The song was a very enjoyable pop tune, nothing more, nothing less.
- Lulu...To Sir With Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbjMVpK_utU
One of the great songs when singers could actually sing
- [quote]Gotta say, I loved the tampon burning part.
Thanks! I've seen TSWL at least 20 times, and never knew what they were burning.
- This eldergay (hiss! hiss!) has never seen the film, though is familiar with the song. I think of Lulu as Adrian Mole's mother.
- Why did they burn the tampon?
- [quote]Christian was FAB!
I see what you mean.
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BNDkyODU4MzE2OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODgwNjYy._V1._SY209_CR87%2C0%2C140%2C209_.jpg
hawt
- It's a fascinating glimpse into how awful life ford working class Brits is. Such filthy, dreary cities. Such ignorant, racist people. Such violence and poverty. It makes Urban Britain look like a slum filled with guttersnipes.
- Agreed, R63.
- Youngins today know the song today because the kids sang it to Mr Shu on "Glee"
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dq5nnhU0TXDk
- My favorite version of the song is the Michael Stipe/Natalie Merchant duet at Clinton's first inauguration.
- Champagne for Lulu!!!
Edina
- Don't blame us, OP. Brits foisted the movie on us. and it was years ago. It's hardly like the Sound of Music, introduced just a year earlier, a perennial favorite. It's a vague memory; hardly something worth griping about today.
- [quote]Why did they burn the tampon?
I assume the students wanted to be assholes by shocking the teacher. But, it was a filthy thing they did.
- Katey Sagal sang To Sir With Love on the last episode of Sons of Anarchy. I thought she was great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-0ivXc2LdA
- I love that movie. Fell in love with Sydney on the spot. Yummy. Also liked Patch of Blue.
Anonymous
- [quote]The OP sounds like a real crab.
I know! Who would characterize a decades old song that no one talks about as a major character flaw of a country? Even if you consider with channels like AMC and Turner, people get to see a ton of films they wouldn't ordinarily,"To Sir" is hardly a hot topic.
- To ask you the question, R59.
Did you answer?
- It was recently shown on Channel 13 here in NYC, and I was surprised that while it's somewhat dated, there's a lot that still works; I hadn't seen it in years, and really enjoyed it. I'll bet it would resonate with kids these days as well.
- The over 20 responses since I bumped it, is my answer, twit face @ R78.
There are so many moronic posters on DL, who say things like 'no one cares, OP'...and they're posting on 50+ response threads.
OP
- 20 responses??
That's not a lot. The thread is inane but DLs often post reams on inane threads. Like when that persnickety overly delicate guy got all bent out of shape over a cat turd in his garden. You've proven nothing.
- You still haven't answered the question.
Why so touchy? You mad?
- The point is that nobody is talking about this movie very much any more than they are the cat who pooped in the delusional, vindictive man's petunia garden.
- I'm American and I've never seen it, and I've never heard it discussed outside of Datalounge. I guess that song was on "Glee" and I remember it from olden times but I haven't heard it on the radio for decades.
- I've seen the movie several times and love everything about it -- the kids, the teachers, the trip to the V & A, a peed at a young Hyacinth B., and especially the song. It moves me to tears every time.
You%20had%20a%20hand%20in%20this%2C%20Mark...
- I haven't seen this movie in a long time and watched it again today. Did you know that Patricia Routledge was a teacher in the movie?
- No
- I knew they were going to use it on GLEE. It doesn't compare to Lulu, who (like the movie) is fab and makes me weep from the opening bars of the music. But who knew the author of SHOGUN wrote and directed it?
- Love the movie, love the song. I never get tired of either.
- Saw it yesterday on TCM. Someone tell me, at the very beginning when Thackery (Portier) is walking to school and stops at the public bathroom and the young guy comes out and stares at him, are they implying what I THINK they're implying?
