80'S GRAB BAG: Lean on Me (1989)

Macintosh & Maud Haven't Seen What?!

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CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of child neglect, child abuse, teen drug use, teenage pregnancy, racism, systematic racism, manipulation.

It wouldn’t be a series on this show without a dud to end things on. 1989 had its fair share of great movies, but it also contained this absolutely terrible piece of work. On paper, this movie should be fantastic: Morgan Freeman, John G. Avildsen of Rocky directing, a compelling drama. But the low expectations of our writer and our director’s absolute devotion to hitting emotional story beats undercuts a really complicated and unique story from an urban high school. It’s bad enough that the movie completely rewrites history; it also just does a really terrible job of it too. Pull your pants up and take your hat off as we watch Lean on Me this week on Macintosh & Maud Haven’t Seen What?!

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Intro and outro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

Excerpt taken from “Rap Summary (Lean On Me)” from the soundtrack to the movie Lean on Me, written and performed by Big Daddy Kane. Copyright 1989 Warner Bros. Records Inc.

Excerpt taken from the movie Lean on Me, copyright 1989 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpt taken from “Who Will Be The One” from the soundtrack to the movie She’s Gotta Have It, written and composed by Bill Lee. Copyright 1986 Island Records Inc.