Before Matt and Ben were Matt and Ben, and before they teamed up with Cole Hauser in "Good Will Hunting", these three unknowns played supporting actors to Brendan Fraser in "School Ties". Think about that. Then add a pre-"Scent of a Woman" Chris O'Donnell, a pre-"Rent" Anthony Rapp... this movie has quite a cast."School Ties" tackles the topic of anti-Semitism at a 1950's New England prep school. Fraser arrives as a poor, Jewish quarterback who tries to hide his faith from his WASPy new friends. They figure it out, discrimination ensues. We all learn a valuable lesson about tolerance in the end, right?
Though we assume that the Exeters and Andovers now have a significantly diverse student body, the current parallel would be homophobia. You can't help but think of that while watching "School Ties" -- with all it's fighting naked in the locker room scenes, and shirtless dancing in the all boys dorm. This had to be intentional on the director's part. The homo-eroticism is a little distracting, maybe, but effective in getting you to sympathize with the role of the Outsider.
New England gets the pastoral treatment for this film -- autumn colors, brick school buildings, rolling farmland hills, white steeples. It's a little Thomas Kinkade, but fair enough... we couldn't figure out which prep school they filmed this at since so many of them look like that.
"School Ties" is a well made film with good acting across the board, and a visual sense of time and place.
Final Score = B+
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