Dangerous Minds is a 1995
American drama film directed by
John N. Smith, and produced by
Don Simpson and
Jerry Bruckheimer. It is based on the autobiography
My Posse Don't Do Homework by retired
U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, who took up a teaching position at
Carlmont High School in
Belmont, California, in 1989, where most of her students were
African-American and
Latino teenagers from
East Palo Alto, a poverty-stricken, racially segregated, economically deprived city at the opposite end of the school district. Starring
Michelle Pfeiffer as Johnson, the film was released to a mixed to mostly negative critical reception, but became a surprise box office success in the summer of 1995, leading to the creation of a short-lived
television series.