Mr. Holland's Opus

Director: Stephen Herek

Overview

A teacher belatedly discovers just how important his job really is in this emotional drama. Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) is a man with a deep love of music and a desire to write at least one piece of lasting significance. However, playing piano in cocktail lounges while he works on his own compositions doesn't pay the bills, so in 1965 he reluctantly accepts a job as a high school music teacher. Over the next 30 years, Holland is able to teach a great deal about both music and life to thousands of kids who pass through the various classes he leads and school bands he directs; however, he finds it easier to reach his students than his son Cole (played, as he grows older, by Nicholas John Renner, Joseph Anderson, and Anthony Natale), who is deaf, which drives a wedge between Glenn and his wife Iris (Glenne Headly). Richard Dreyfuss earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor for Mr. Holland's Opus; the cast also includes Olympia Dukakis, William H. Macy, and Jay Thomas.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/24/1999
UPC:	0717951003096
Original Release:	1995
Rating:	PG
Source:	Walt Disney Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital, stereo]
Time:	2:23:00
Sales rank:	1,998

Special Features

Widescreen [2.35:1]; Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio; French-language track; Production featurette; Chapter search

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Richard Dreyfuss	Glenn Holland
Glenne Headly	Iris Holland
Jay Thomas	Bill Meister
Olympia Dukakis	Principal Jacobs
William H. Macy	Vice Principal Wolters
Alicia Witt	Gertrude Lang
Damon Whitaker	Bobby Tidd
Jean Louisa Kelly	Rowena Morgan
Nicholas John Renner	Cole at 6
Joseph Anderson	Cole at 15
Anthony Natale	Cole at 28
Joanna Gleason	Adult Gertrude
Eric Michael Cole	Boy 2
Terrence Howard	Louis Russ
Jacob Adams	Football Player
Brent Archie	Football Player
Kathryn Arnett	Ms Swedlin
Pal Bernard	Auditioner
Sean Bevington	Mr McMartin
Dennis Biasi	Adult Stadler
Alexandra Boyd	Sarah Olmstead
John Boyer	Billy Faraday
Donnie Burns	City Official
Kevin Calaba	Football Player
Joe Campbell	Boy
Jordan Carlton	Auditioner
Kaili Carlton	Ms Wayne
Kelly M. Casey	Deaf School Teacher
David Clegg	Superintendent
Freeman O. Corbin	Mr Sullivan
Mark Daniels	Ralph
Benjamin J. Dixon	Mr Mims
Conan Doherty	Toby Klein
Alex Dudgeon	Auditioner
Tara Eng	Auditioner
Moira Feeney	Ms Godfrey
Adam Fitzhugh	Mr McKenzie
Patrick Fong	Study Hall Student
Jay Frank	Auditioner
Dieffyd Gilman Frederick	Auditioner
Ashley Hamrick	Miss Reeves
Linda Williams Janke	Secretary
Beth Maitland	Deaf School Principal
Chris Math	Football Player
Zoe McLellan	Girl
Michael Mendelson	Chaplain
Aurora J. Miller	Auditioner
Joshua Minnick	Mr Shapiro
Kasey Nelson	Girl
Mary Kay O'Mealy	Auditioner
Tomiko Peirano	Girl
John Henry Redwood	Mr Russ
Spencer Riviera	Mr Hosta
Ted Roisum	Dr Sorenson
Janine Shouse	Miss Schumaker
Stacey Siegel	Diner Waitress
Nicholas Sirianni	Football Player
Keith Swift	Football Player
Daniel J. Vhay	Mr Malone
Rachel Wooley	Auditioner

Technical Credits

Stephen Herek	Director
William D. Barber	Camera Operator
Jan K. Bergstrom	Set Decoration/Design
Sharon Bialy	Casting
Robert W. Cort	Producer
Patrick Sheane Duncan	Executive Producer,Screenwriter
Ted Field	Producer
Kirk A. Francis	Sound/Sound Designer
Judith James	Co-producer
Michael Kamen	Score Composer
Scott Kroopf	Executive Producer
Dina Lipton	Art Director
Alan Manzer	Set Decoration/Design
Bruce McDonald	Choreography
David Nichols	Production Designer
Michael F. Nolin	Producer
Aggie Guerard Rodgers	Costumes/Costume Designer
Trudy Ship	Editor
William Teitler	Co-producer
Jeffrey Wetzel	Asst. Director
Oliver Wood	Cinematographer

Scene Index

Side #1 --
0. Chapter Selection
1. Program Start [:25]
2. Opening Credits [:25]
3. Inauspicious Beginning [4:19]
4. Free Time [4:19]
5. Off-Key [:32]
6. A Poor Compass [5:54]
7. Connective Tissue [3:03]
8. Not Just Notes on a Page [7:13]
9. Curriculum in Question [4:55]
10. New Assignment [4:04]
11. Challenged [10:42]
12. Terrible News [2:17]
13. A Mother's Despair [6:03]
14. A Memento [7:37]
15. Domestic Discord [6:47]
16. Free Advice [8:36]
17. Late-Night Rehearsal [7:54]
18. A Proposition [4:02]
19. At the Bus Depot [4:11]
20. Angry Son [6:21]
21. A Personal Dedication [5:57]
22. An Apology for the Arts [5:06]
23. Surprise [4:28]
24. A Symphony [9:11]
25. End Credits [6:22]

Menu

Side #1 --
   Set Up
      Spoken Languages
         English
         French
      Captions
         English for the Hearing Impaired
         Captions: None
   Bonus Material
      Production Featurette
      Film Recommendations
   Play

Editorial Reviews

Richard Dreyfuss gives a stirring performance in director Stephen Herek's sentimental tribute to a music teacher's career. Dreyfuss plays an aspiring composer of symphonies whose ambition fades as his life is increasingly taken over by his job has a high school music teacher. Although it ignores the fact that nearly all serious (read classical) composers earn their living as teachers, the film is a rare entry in a once flourishing genre: the tribute to a life of selfless dedication. A specialty of director John Ford, the genre seems to have dried up in recent decades as narcissism has taken center stage in American life. Like most such films it's awash in sentimentality, but here the schmaltz is balanced by Dreyfuss' natural irascibility and comic energy. The intensity of his histrionics and eventual commitment to awakening his students' interest to the world of music make his effectiveness credible, though the scenes manifesting their growth lean toward cliché. With heavy-handed irony, the script also gives the teacher a deaf son, and the subplot concerning his supposed indifference to his family is too undeveloped to have much weight. Yet, Olympia Dukakis as the sympathetic school principal and W.H. Macy as one of Dreyfuss' hissable colleagues join the star in bringing life to a familiar tale.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello