There are so any things which date this film, you could lose count. Its outlook towards the generation gap, racism, sexism, music and more really do seem preserved in mid-60's aspic and while it has some vintage charm, it has many more embarrassing aspects of almost look-away gaucheness.
In its favour are the exterior London locations, I suppose the feel-good nature of the plot and a mostly watchable star performance by Sidney Poitier as the "Sir" of the title. Supposedly the new teacher at a school for difficult near-adult pupils you too will be amazed at how he tames his class of young hooligans just by throwing away their text books and talking about life.
Elsewhere clichés abound, from Poitier's encounters with the class rebel, who he eventually teaches a lesson in the boxing ring and the class beauty who eventually forms a crush on him, to the unconventional way he gives out lessons. Occasionally the film tries to grow up with some adult-banter on the bus at Poitier's expense or the strange ritual burning of a sanitary towel in class, but with its largely teenage cast and references to contemporary pop-culture, it seems definitely aimed at the younger movie-goer.
Poitier is good right up until he does his silly one-on-one dance with the adoring Julie Christie lookalike Sally Geeson and you feel more could have been made of his relationship with Suzy Kendall as his white, female colleague who offers him support. The young cast of class pupils occasionally turn to wood but a very young Lulu does quite well in concealing her broad Scottish accent and singing the hit title tune.
The direction tries to be hip too, never more so than with the photo-montage of the class trip to a museum, but the editing isn't always clear and you suspect many of the scenes are watered down for the benefit of the censor.
Still it was nice to jump into my 60's time-machine and watch a reasonably entertaining film from that era
In its favour are the exterior London locations, I suppose the feel-good nature of the plot and a mostly watchable star performance by Sidney Poitier as the "Sir" of the title. Supposedly the new teacher at a school for difficult near-adult pupils you too will be amazed at how he tames his class of young hooligans just by throwing away their text books and talking about life.
Elsewhere clichés abound, from Poitier's encounters with the class rebel, who he eventually teaches a lesson in the boxing ring and the class beauty who eventually forms a crush on him, to the unconventional way he gives out lessons. Occasionally the film tries to grow up with some adult-banter on the bus at Poitier's expense or the strange ritual burning of a sanitary towel in class, but with its largely teenage cast and references to contemporary pop-culture, it seems definitely aimed at the younger movie-goer.
Poitier is good right up until he does his silly one-on-one dance with the adoring Julie Christie lookalike Sally Geeson and you feel more could have been made of his relationship with Suzy Kendall as his white, female colleague who offers him support. The young cast of class pupils occasionally turn to wood but a very young Lulu does quite well in concealing her broad Scottish accent and singing the hit title tune.
The direction tries to be hip too, never more so than with the photo-montage of the class trip to a museum, but the editing isn't always clear and you suspect many of the scenes are watered down for the benefit of the censor.
Still it was nice to jump into my 60's time-machine and watch a reasonably entertaining film from that era