Taglines: When schools become war zones and both sides start taking casualties, what then?
187 – One Eight Seven movie storyline. Trevor Garfield (Samuel L. Jackson), a dedicated Brooklyn high-school science teacher, struggled to work within a system where the pursuit of education sometimes took a back seat to the ongoing battle merely to stay alive. He watched his school being transformed into a war zone, his pupils split into camps — the few eager to learn increasingly outnumbered by those angry at a world that did not include them. Those students began to answer questions with violence.
Working in this siege state, Trevor found his commitment stretched beyond the limits of reason. When he refused to pass one of his volatile and sociopathic pupils, the student retaliated by stabbing Trevor in the back, leaving him on the brink of death.
One year later, his wounds scarred and his spirit shaken, Trevor returns to teach in a Los Angeles school and finds himself in the same world of amorality and violence he had hoped to leave behind. To his new colleagues, Dave Childress (JOHN HEARD), a victim of teacher burn-out, and Ellen Henry (KELLY ROWAN), a fresh and hopeful instructor, he is both a reluctant hero and an inspiring enigma.
To most of his new students, he is a cipher to be disregarded. But Trevor’s dedication has been tainted with something darker — he finds himself challenged by school administrators rendered impotent by their fear of possible litigation and confronted by a group of desperate students who would rather fight than learn. And now, no one is quite sure just how far this transformed man will go.
“187” (pronounced “one-eight-seven”) explores the nature of heroism and the moral haziness in a world where few are willing to take a stand. This dramatic thriller is directed by KEVIN REYNOLDS, whose credits include such blockbusters as “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” and “Waterworld,” in addition to more intimate dramas such as “Fandango.”
The producers are Academy Award-winner Bruce Dawey (“Braveheart”) and Steve McEverty (executive producer of “Braveheart”), both of Icon Productions. The film is written by Scott Yageman, who spent seven years teaching in the Los Angeles public school system. Warner Bros. distributed in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
About the Production
The screenplay for “187” (which is the California state penal code for murder) came to the attention of Icon Productions, the production company founded by Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey, when screenwriter Scott Yagemann saw Steve McEveety’s credit in “The Man Without A Face.” Yagemann wondered if this McEveety was the same one against whom he swam competitively as a youngster.
He called the Icon offices and reacquainted himself with McEveety, who was indeed Yagemann’s one-time competitor. McEveety connected with the idea of the story for “187,” which was fueled by Yagemann’s years as a substitute teacher with the Los Angeles public school system. “When we met up again,” recalls McEveety, “Scott started talking about what he had done for a living and how frustrating it was teaching, and that was really what he wanted to write about.”
The script was inspired by events that happened to Yagemann during his time as a teacher. “I had a kid threaten to kill me. I later found out that he had stabbed a teaching assistant the semester before, and I was never told anything about this kid,” recalls Yagemann. Yagemann discovered that teachers must personally research every student’s file to check for any violent history; the information is not forwarded to them as a matter of courtesy or safety. He notes, “The title is blunt, just numbers, the code for murder. It’s impersonal and I think that’s just what happens to some of those kids in the system. Their individuality, their personality, is just erased. And everything just becomes numbers to them.”
McEveety presented the script to Icon President and C.E.O. Bruce Davey and Mel Gibson, Davey’s partner and co-founder of Icon Productions. “Icon and Warner Bros. shared the vision that this story needs to be told,” comments Davey.
When Director Kevin Reynolds, who had helmed such action-adventure movies as “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” and “Waterworld,” read the script for “187,” he was struck by “a ring of truth. When I met with Icon, I said to Mel, Bruce and Steve that it looked like a teacher wrote the script. And they told me that one did.” Reynolds, following the physical demands of his previous projects, was eager to direct a more intimate film, bristling with intensity.
“The last few projects I had done were big, logistically monster pictures and I was getting tired of that. I wanted to do something that was dramatic and more of a performance piece,” says the director.
Recalls Davey, “I think that Kevin was looking for a change of diet from the action genre, looking for something more contained, more character-driven, and he identified with the material and wanted to do it.”
McEveety concurs, “Kevin had a passion for this material. Once we signed him, he worked with Scott and constructed a whole vision for the film that expanded on the script.”
Once Reynolds was brought on board, the filmmakers began their search for an actor to play Trevor Garfield, the passionate teacher backed into a corner by the hostile circumstances confronting him in an inner-city classroom.
187 – One Eight Seven (1997)
Directed by: Kevin Reynolds
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, John Heard, Kelly Rowan, Clifton Collins Jr., Karina Arroyave, Lobo Sebastian, Martha Velez, Ebony Monique Solomon, Jonah Rooney
Screenplay by: Scott Yagemann
Production Design by: Stephen Storer
Cinematography by: Ericson Core
Film Editing by: Stephen Semel
Costume Design by: Ericson Core
Set Decoration by: Stephen Semel
Art Direction by: Mark Zuelzke
Music by: David Darling, Michael Stearns
MPAA Rating: R for violence, strong language, drug use and brief nudity.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: July 30, 1997
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