Hard Lessons Movie Review

Poor Denzel. Before he won an Oscar or two, he had to work on TV movie stuff like The George McKenna Story, a docudrama promptly forgotten and now being reissued with the street-friendly title Hard Lessons.

Typical of any mid-1980s after-school special, Washington stars as the (real person) George McKenna, who cleaned up notorious, gang-infested, drug-addled Los Angeles High School with such tricks as mandating a dress code and enforcing homework.

Not exactly the stuff of great cinema (doing homework, etc.), but that Herbie Hancock score ought to get your groove thang movin', even if you find yourself longing for some of the drugs those kids are having. Stand and Deliver still stands (no pun intended) as the only worthwhile entry into this genre, sad to say.

Aka The George McKenna Story.