High School High

Richard Clark (Jon Lovitz) is an unsatisfied prep school teacher at the fictional Wellington Academy, who accepts a job at inner city Marion Barry High School, much to the chagrin of his boss and father, Wellington headmaster Thaddeus Clark (John Neville). Richard arrives to find the school in a state of disarray and disorder, while meeting several students and faculty members including: the jaded, soured, and uninspiring principal, Evelyn Doyle (Louise Fletcher), her cheerful assistant Victoria Chappell (Tia Carrere) and student Griff McReynolds (Mekhi Phifer).

Despite initial opposition to his teaching style and harassment from the school gang leader Paco (Guillermo Díaz), Richard begins connecting with his students and teaches them effectively, while developing a romantic relationship with Victoria. Barry High eventually is transformed into a fine educational establishment. Frustrated, Paco and his gang tamper with the school's final exam scores, causing everyone to fail. Griff, who grew to see Richard as a mentor, loses faith in him, as does the rest of the school and Richard is fired. Griff subsequently joins Paco's gang to make extra money.

Victoria learns through word of mouth that Paco was behind the failing test scores and rushes to inform Richard, who decides to confront Paco and rescue Griff with the help of several of his students, including Anferny Jefferson (Brian Hooks), Natalie Thompson (Malinda Williams) and Julie Rubels (Natasha Gregson Wagner). By deceiving Mr. DeMarco (Marco Rodríguez), a local gangster, Richard and Victoria reach Paco and the local crime boss, "Mr. A", whom they find has been Principal Doyle the entire time. Griff is told the truth about the test scores and after a brief fight, Paco, Doyle and DeMarco are arrested.

Richard (now principal of Barry High) presides over the graduation ceremony and proudly names Griff as the class valedictorian. The six main students of the film graduate (but only those six). Richard makes good on his promise to send Griff to college and is in a relationship with Victoria.

• Jon Lovitz as Richard Clark, a naive, mild-mannered Caucasian teacher whose main goal is to help the underachieving students at Marion Barry High School succeed.
  • Lovitz also plays his own mother.
• Tia Carrere as Victoria Chappell, the principal's assistant who sympathizes with Richard, as well as with the troubled students at Marion Barry High.
• Louise Fletcher as Principal Evelyn Doyle, a mean-spirited, uncaring principal who doesn't believe in the academic abilities of a single student at her school and has given up on them. She also takes an immediate dislike to Richard and believes that he will fail.
• Mekhi Phifer as Griff McReynolds, one of Clark's students. A former gang member who is one of the few students at Marion Barry High who aspires to graduate high school and attend college.
• Malinda Williams as Natalie Thompson, Griff's girlfriend who used to date Paco, Griff's one time gang partner-turned-nemesis.
• Guillermo Díaz as Paco de la Vega al Camino Cordoba Jose Cuervo Sanchez Rodriguez Jr., Griff's former gang partner.
• Brian Hooks as Anferny Jefferson, one of Clark's students. He is a slightly dimwitted gang member who only knows of urban pop culture.
• Natasha Gregson Wagner as Julie Rubels, one of Clark's students who is a teenage mother with many children.
• Marco Rodríguez as Mr. DeMarco, a gangster who is in the midst of a shady "business" deal with Paco and another mysterious gangster known as "Mr. A".
• John Neville as Thaddeus Clark, Richard's father.
• Lexie Bigham as Two-Bags, a member of Paco's gang.
• Gil Espinoza as Alonzo, a member of Paco's gang.
• Baoan Coleman as Mou Mou Bartender

The film opened at #2 on the weekend of October 25, 1996, behind the film Sleepers. The film remained in the top 5 for the next two weekends.[1]

A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on August 19, 1996 via Big Beat Records. The album peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 4 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and was also certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over 500,000 copies in the United States.

• List of hood films

• Official site at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
• High School High at IMDb
• High School High at Box Office Mojo
• Yahoo! Movies page