Friday Night Double Feature: Larry The Teacher

If you missed it, the Scripps National Spelling Bee took place this week. The winner: Evan O’Dorney from Danville, California. The winning word: serrefine (a kind of small forceps). If you’re not familiar with the word, don’t worry. Microsoft Word is telling me it’s wrong even as I type this.

Admittedly, a spelling bee isn’t exactly the most captivating competition unless you have a personal investment in it, even for this English major. Most of the words are seldom, if ever, heard on a regular basis. Even O’Dorney admits spelling isn’t his first love – it’s just memorization. The idea of the spelling bee reminded me of one of my favorite movies in recent years though - and the teacher who came with it.

Playing a professor isn’t exactly fresh ground for Laurence Fishburne. The actor has played quite a few teachers over his career, making selections for this week’s Scripps Spelling Bee inspired Double Feature easy. What’s better, however, is that Fishburne plays these roles incredibly well, making the movies he appears in inspirational and memorable. It’s hard to believe you’d ever hold the former Cowboy Curtis in awe and reverence, but when Fishburne speaks – regardless of the role anymore – it’s hard not to be absolutely captivated by his words. With that in mind, here’s a Fishburne themed Double Feature designed to inspire, just like any good teacher. Whether you watch them is up to you. As Fishburne’s Morpheus said: “I can only show you the door. It’s up to you to open it.”

Akeelah and the Bee

I have to admit I didn’t have high hopes when I sat down in the theater to watch Akeelah. This was a movie produced by Starbucks, which actually held less credibility for me than MTV Films when they first arrived on the scene. Instead the movie completely captivated me. As an education student at the time, it was interesting to see how the movie took into account concepts like community learning (it takes a village…). As a plain story, however, I really fell in love with the movie. It always interests me when big “named” actors are willing to take the back seat and let a movie sit in the hands of a younger, more inexperienced actor. In this case the names are Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett who play the teacher and mother to Keke Palmer’s Akeelah. With their guidance the movie shows a young girl who transitions from hating school to being a local celebrity for her exceptional spelling ability. Sure the movie faces some of the formula of being a “sports movie,” – having to overcome an enemy and the stereotypical parent who is more interested in winning than their own child, but the story and acting really manages to transcend that to become something spectacular. Added bonus for the television crowd: “My Name Is Earl”’s Crabman, Eddie Steeples puts in an appearance as a very different type of character.

Searching for Bobby Fischer

Take away the love of W.E.B. DuBois and add in some street smarts and you’ve got the difference between Laurence Fishburne’s Akeelah professor and his chess-playing teacher in this film. Bobby Fischer is even more stereotypical than this week’s other pick since it takes the overly-competitive parent and puts him over the main character. Like Akeelah, the movie tells the story of a young prodigy competing in an intellectual endeavor – in this case chess. Unlike Akeelah’s rallying victory, Bobby Fischer is more about a father learning to respect his son for who he is, not just because of his exceptional chess playing skills. I have to give my own father credit for introducing me to this film. I’m not sure I got the message behind the movie at the time, and I have to admit it’s been a while since I’ve sat down with this movie. So long, in fact, that looking at the cast list blew my mind – I knew about Fishburne and Joe Mantegna (who plays the conflicted father) as well as Ben Kingsley, who plays the opposite side to Fishburne’s street player character, but character actor favorites like David Paymer and William H. Macy also put in appearances. I’m sure I knew about them at the time, but seeing their names reminded me that I need to revisit Searching for Bobby Fischer soon.

Other Fishburne teaching roles worth including: The Matrix trilogy, The Tuskegee Airmen, Higher Learning, “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse”

Enjoy our Double Feature suggestions? and maybe we’ll use them in a future column.