Taglines: Just because you’re accepted doesn’t mean you belong.
School Ties movie storyline. David Greene (Brendan Fraser) is a working-class Jewish teenager from Scranton, Pennsylvania, during the 1950s who is given a football scholarship to St. Matthew’s, an exclusive Massachusetts prep school, for his senior year. Upon his arrival, he meets his teammates Rip Van Kelt (Randall Batinkoff), Charlie Dillon (Matt Damon), Jack Connors (Cole Hauser), and his roommate Chris Reece (Chris O’Donnell) and learns of the school’s cherished honor code system. Soon learning that his new friends are prejudiced against Jews, he suppresses his background.
David becomes the team hero and wins the attentions of beautiful débutante Sally Wheeler (Amy Locane), whom Dillon claims is his girlfriend. In the afterglow of a victory over the school’s chief rival St. Luke’s, Dillon inadvertently discovers that David is Jewish and, out of jealousy, makes this widely known, causing Sally and his teammates to turn against David—soon after, he finds a sign above his bed bearing a swastika and the words “Go home Jew”. David is constantly harassed by his classmates, led by Richard “McGoo” Collins (Anthony Rapp) and his body guard-like roommate Chesty Smith (Ben Affleck); only Reece and another unnamed student remain loyal to Greene.
Overwhelmed by pressure from his prestigious family, Dillon uses a crib sheet to cheat in an important history exam. David and Van Kelt each spot him doing so, but remain silent. Dillon gets pushed while leaving class and drops the sheet on the floor after the test; when the teacher, Mr. Geirasch (Michael Higgins), discovers it, he informs the class that he will fail all of them if the cheater does not confess. He leaves the task of finding the cheater up to the students, led by Van Kelt, the head prefect.
When David confronts Dillon and threatens to turn him in if he does not confess, Dillon unsuccessfully attempts to buy David’s silence with money. Just when David is about to reveal Dillon to the other students, Dillon accuses David. Both agree to leave and to trust the rest of the class to decide who is telling the truth. The majority of the class blame David out of antisemitic prejudice, while Reece, the unnamed student and Connors, going against his own self-professed antisemitism, argue that it is unlike David to cheat or be dishonest. Despite this, the class votes that David is guilty, prompting Van Kelt to tell him to report to the elitist headmaster, Dr. Bartram (Peter Donat), to confess to cheating.
School Ties is a 1992 American sports-drama film directed by Robert Mandel and starring Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris O’Donnell, Cole Hauser, Randall Batinkoff, Andrew Lowery and Anthony Rapp. Fraser plays the lead role as David Greene, a Jewish high school student who is awarded an athletic scholarship to an elite preparatory school in his senior year. Music was composed by Maurice Jarre.
School Ties (1992)
Directed by: Robert Mandel
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell, Randall Batinkoff, Andrew Lowery, Amy Locane, Cole Hauser, Anthony Rapp, Michael Higgins
Screenplay by: Darryl Ponicsan, Dick Wolf
Production Design by: Jeannine Oppewall
Cinematography by: Freddie Francis
Film Editing by: Jacqueline Cambas, Gerald B. Greenberg
Costume Design by: Ann Roth
Set Decoration by: Rosemary Brandenburg
Art Direction by: Steven Wolff
Music by: Maurice Jarre
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: September 18, 1992
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