3/21/07: The Substitute (1996)We originally had this clever thing we were going to write about how we saw suicidal stand-up comic Richard Jeni entertaining a roomful of rock critics shortly after we saw a press screening of
The Substitute, and about how playing to a roomful of rock critics must’ve gotten Jeni’s downward spiral going because the rock critics were so uncool that they were all offended by
The Substitute’s right-wing politics. See, there was a big push on the hip-hop soundtrack, so a lot of rock critics had seen the film.
But with us just losing
a great lady who actually fought for life, any clever thoughts about Richard Jeni aren’t that interesting right now. So let’s simply note that
The Substitute stars Tom Berenger as a mercenary who goes undercover as a high-school History teacher after his girlfriend is attacked by some young punks.
The Substitute is one brave film. It’s certainly the rare Hollywood production where a character gives a quick speech about the true history of the war in Vietnam. Our hero also finds time to make a snide comment about bussing while busting the heads of his students. In fact, it’s better to watch
The Substitute without knowing what to expect.
But in a RightWingTrash exclusive, here’s screenwriter Roy Frumkes (who’s an important trashy figure in many ways) explaining how
The Substitute could have been even better. (He co-wrote the film with frequent partner Rocco Simonelli.) The following won’t spoil anything if you haven’t seen the film. If you have, then it’ll warm your hearts:
I’m considered to be the right-winger, or the conservative, of my team. But the original script was worse. On Parent/Teacher Night, the parents of all these underprivileged kids came in, and they were obviously drug addicts and users. The teacher is a hired killer. He’s got their houses tapped, so he knows they’re shooting up and throwing their kids out and other horrific things. And as each parent comes in, the teacher just pummels them, saying, “If you ever touch your kid again, I will kill you.”
That’s the arc of cause and effect for a mercenary. He’s used to taking out a small country. It’s the government—the parents—that’s the children’s problems. And when he’s done, there are two Asian parents staring in horror. And the teacher says, “I like your child’s work very much.” And they say “Thank you,” and run out of the room.
That gives you an idea of what might have been. It was one of the first scenes to get cut from the script by Live Entertainment. Rocco told me it would be. He bet me: “How many drafts do you think that will last?”Frumkes and Simonelli did a fine job on the direct-to-cable sequel, too, despite Berenger being replaced by Treat Williams. By
The Substitute 3, of course, the villains were jocks, and the fourth in the series had the proverbial white supremacists. Frumkes and Simonelli were long gone by then, but they had a good contract. They got paid, yo, and more power to them.
Make it your own: Sadly,
The Substitute is only available as a bare-bones
DVD with no commentary. We’d all like to hear more from the screenwriters. And if you want the film for cheap, you have to buy it as
a twofer with
The Substitute 3: Winner Takes All.
