Other mistake: When Joe Clark first comes to Eastside High as principal, he takes it upon himself to confront the staff. At one point, as he begins to turn his back, watch his lips. His mouth does not match the words being spoken.
Lean on Me (1989)
Directed by: John G. Avildsen
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Robert Guillaume, Alan North, Beverly Todd
Continuity mistake: When Joe Clark is having his talk with Sams on the edge of the roof of the school, Sams is on the right and Clark is on the left (when viewed from the ground). When they're done talking, Sams turns to his left and walks away - turning to his left would have made him fall off the roof after just a few steps.
Factual error: In the scene where Joe Clark and the Vice Principal go to the project buildings to see the young girl's mother, they walk down a short ramp to an apartment. Those project buildings are in Paterson,N.J. (where the story takes place), but walking down that ramp takes you to the boiler room, not an apartment. None of those buildings have apartments like that.
Trivia: Although in real life Principal Joe Clark improved the discipline problems at Eastside High School, he did not, contrary to what the film has you believe, improve the academics in any meaningful way. Although test scores improved very slightly his first couple of years as principal (partly due to the fact that he expelled so many bad students) from 1986 to 1988, during his time as principal, Eastside High School had the lowest state exam passage rates in all of New Jersey. One of these years in particular, under Clark's tenure, Eastside High's passage rate was as low as 24.1%.
Trivia: Regina Taylor plays Mrs Carter, mother of Kaneesha Carter (Karen Malina White). In real life, Taylor is only five years older than White.
Question: At the very beginning of the movie, Joe Clark is enraged when he finds out that there is a meeting going on without him. What exactly is the subject of this meeting (other than the obvious dismissal of Mr. Clark)? Why is Mr. Clark accusing them of "selling out," and what do the people in the meeting refer to when they say, "You want to be posturing, etc., but we just want to work."?
Question: At the end after Clark tells the Mayor the state can go to Hell, it seems like there was a cut scene. Clark tells the students that he was not going anywhere. They then show scattered cheering before Clark ask the students, "Are you ready, maestro?" without any lead-in. Was there a deleted scene to describe what appears to be this gap?
Answer: He actually said "are you ready my Ghosts (not Maestro)", but what I wondered is how he was able to just walk away after he was arrested.
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Chosen answer: They are discussing some of the things that Mr. Clark has done that has "embarassed" the school. They are debating what to do about him. And by "posturing," they mean his insistance on wearing African dress and espousing his political beliefs.