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Wonderful character development!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Blistering performances.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Shot in sear brown, this one stokes up the fire. Here's a more intense gang movie as to the Boys In The Hoodz, types. This one really has you involved right from the start. Playing the more introverted types, out of the norm, for Jackson, it's just an excellent performance, among many fine others. He plays a teacher who's finally pushed, beyond breaking point, by a trio of homeboys, at the new L.A high school he's attended, after surviving a knifing, by a disgruntled and failing homeboy, Jackson's character, before this, as a more brighter, cheerier teacher. He makes the transformation well. As the movie furthers along, he becomes more pushed, may'be so much so much, he's exacted violence on these troublemakers, or worse, driven to kill one of them. Getting with the times, the movie, written by an actual teacher, turns a different corner of plot, into a sort of thriller, where as to the teacher being on trial. This realistic movie, gets a proper grip on the teachers situation, as to what these poor souls endure, like living in fear, subjecting to taunts, threats and ridicule, where others are driven into madness, like the John Heard character. It's easy to see how some people can say it's a morbid and biased telling of story, where everything not as bleak as this movie shows, but I don't agree. The same could say about River's Edge, how it all wallows in the mire, it's all so depressing, but the truth be told, some tales are, and you can't hide from the truth, especially when written by someone one, who has first hand knowledge of he subject. The inevitable showdown between Jackson, and three thugs, who invade his home, where he's forced into admittance, regarding a dead homeboy friend of theirs, is the film's real moment of sweating intensity. The leader, Caesar is one fearful bad boy, a bust out performance by Clifton Gonzales Junior, a professional new star in the making. They have Jackson, play Russian roulette, Deer Hunter style, Caesar watching a bit too much t.v. We are witness to him yelling expletives to his long suffering mother, and when his homeboys friend turn on him, as Jackson informs them, of his physical abuse towards his mother, Caesar's the one who turns scared for a pith, as Jackson makes his getaway. 187 has great music, and we learn a bit too, in the classroom, not just out of it. The performances excel, like Heard, Rowan, and the versatile Tony Plana, as the headmaster at Jackson's new school. Of course, no one can hold a candle to Clifton Collins, blistering performance, one you'll remember for years to come. May'be this film could act as a teaching tool, for bullied teachers, whatever, and curb this madness, but fat chance. You really need to cut teachers a break, cause bad things shouldn't happen to good people. Tight compact drama, all the way.

This movie offers good insight into the culture of violence that is prevalent in cities like Los Angeles, especially its eastern part. Samuel Jackson plays a teacher who survived a brutal stabbing in a NY school and moves to L.A. in order to start again in a new place, trying to get away from the traumatic memories connected to his old working place. But it turns out to be just the beginning of a new nightmare for him: he gets the worst class imaginable, where some of the students are real thugs and hoodlums. The worst of them are Benny Chacon (played by an unknown actor) and Cesar Sanchez, played by Clifton Collins Jr in one of his first major roles. After Chacon kills a graffiti artist for spoiling one of his "masterpieces", he goes on the run and is later found dead. Garfield (Jackson) is left to deal with Sanchez, who proves to be enough for him to handle.This shows how violence, psychological violence itself, can make a non-violent individual get more violent and retort to violence in order to solve a problem. Jackson's Trevor Garfield is a traumatised veteran who gets pushed too far by the school bullies and starts bullying back, in his own way. At the same time, this film also lays the blame on the school itself, its principal's tolerance for the bullies' antics and lack of understanding or sympathy for Garfield's plight clearly underscores that. The gangbangers get their way more often than not and Garfield has to fight a lone battle, one which also changes his personality.It is a pretty strong film which has a sort of sleepy film-noir quality, reminiscent of some older films. Samuel Jackson makes a very good performance, same as Collins Jr and the beautiful Kelly Rowan and John Heard make good supporting performances. Rowan's character seems to be the only one which is "clean" in all this mess. Her role is that of a moral guardian who questions Jackson's actions when he retaliates against the bullies. Other characters are all pretty much despicable, except for Rita, who is just a victim of her own environment. This is the gangland, where only law is the law of the strongest and the most intimidating. It shows how hard it is to fight against this law.

Samuel L Jackson excels in this movie as do all the cast. The script is well penned setting the scene perfectly.Some of the cinematography is excellent displaying some fantastic views of the streets of Los-Angeles neatly inter-spliced with subtle atmospheric music. In fairness seven out of ten is a touch conservative as I don't think there is any area where this movie could have been improved. Certainly one of Samuel L Jacksons finest underrated gems.I would definitely watch 187 again if for no other reason then to see some of those sumptuous camera angles once more.

The teacher who is attacked in New York find a yearbook with the number 187 written in it. This leads him to believe that his life is being threatened because penal code 187 is supposedly murder. The problem is, in New York, penal code 125 is murder. In California, where he moves, penal code 187 is murder. Using that code in New York is a serious factual error that detracts from the overall quality of the writing and research that goes into a credible movie.Aside from that,the movie is OK, but some of the acting is extremely weak. Even from Hurt and Jackson. The student gangstah parts are particularly weak and cliché. It's a disappointing attempt at an American version of To Sir With Love, and it doesn't quite make it.