Flawed but watchable sequel to the phenomenally successful 1967 movie. Probably the major flaw of this television sequel is it's tenuous links with the original. After cameos from Lulu and Judy Geeson, in almost every respect this could be an entirely different film. With Poitier as Thackeray plunged into a Chicago school, there is a nice mention of Blackboard Jungle by one of the teachers, but after that everything we've previously come to expect from a Sidney Poitier film is left at the door. While this movie does contain the sentimentality of the original, its short length means we never really get to know the pupils and so this feels forced. Also, unlike the original, there is no sense of redemption or development for the pupils, who act pretty much the same at the climax as they did at the start of the film. Where it veers far out of the expected range is in its depiction of street violence, which does give a genuine racial tone to the proceedings, and seems more natural than in some previous offerings. The racial dynamic between Poitier as the England-acclimatised teacher and Travanti as the student who leads a gang to survive is strong. However, the rigid morality of Thackeray this time around lends Sidney a limited set of parameters in which to reenact his role.

Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier reprises his role of Mark Thackeray. After retiring from thirty years of teaching in London, he returns to Chicago only to come out of retirement to take on the new challenge of teaching another classroom of misfits. This sequel does not pack the punch of the original, but is interesting if not predictable. Judy Geeson and Lulu reprise their original roles to send off their favorite teacher to America. Also in the cast are:Daniel J. Travanti, John Beasley, Dana Eskelson and Christian Payton. Kudos to famed director Peter Bogdanovich.

Sidney, you are one of the most amazing actors to ever grace the silver screen, which is why it pains me so to criticize this film. "To Sir, With Love" was so good, which makes part two so disappointing. TSWL2 was so didactic, so idealistic, so puerile it was too sappy for an afterschool special.

The movie started like many teacher reform movies--"To Sir, With Love," "Lean on Me," "The Marva Collins Story," "The George McKenna Story," "Sister Act 2," and "Dangerous Minds" to name a few. Mr. Thackeray (Sidney Poitier) enters his class and we see every level of depravity, disrespect, and delinquency. A couple of gangbangers, a prostitute, a pimp, a thief, and everything in between. They're noisy, foul, lost souls and they had their one leader whom the whole raucous class followed. It was a lazy trope that had been done too many times before. It's like, "How malicious, disobedient, and criminal can we make these kids to make the teacher's reformation that much more amazing?" Maybe it would have been more palatable had this theme not been done so oft repeated.

Mr. Thackeray settled into typical win-them-over-with-care style and began to gain their respect. He suffered their abuses with Biblical patience and forbearance while thrusting himself in harm's way to win over their hearts.

Because this movie was so thoroughly lacking in originality Sidney Poitier even reprised his role and a scene from "A Piece of the Action." In that movie he took his pupils out in the world to show them what it means to practice "common courtesies" and how they could get good responses from people. In TSWL2 he took his class out in the streets to show his students that they could affect people's perceptions of them with their behavior. It was all so adorable and all so déjà vu.

Mr. Thackeray garnered the love, respect, and attention of his entire class. Eventually, though, he was asked to resign from the school for not assisting the police in an investigation of a gun he got from a student. In other words, Mr. Thackeray ain't no snitch.

Mr. Thackeray took his forced resignation like a G and just walked. And just like the movie "Dangerous Minds" from the year prior, the kids took his resignation as abandonment. They all seemed to adopt him as their missing father figure and couldn't bear to see him leave though they were set to graduate in only a few months time.

Mr. Thackeray wasn't done being a savior though. The main badass, Wilsie (Christian Payton), got a gun and was in danger of being killed in a shootout. Thackeray went to the location of this prearranged shootout and offered himself up as sacrifice to save Wilsie's life. It was Christ-like.

After this act of heroism Thackeray victoriously walked back to his class with the entire school walking behind him locked in step. I almost expect them to break out in song and dance. He resumed his teaching to a totally reformed class: obedient, attentive, and morally upright.

The movie wasn't done giving us Disney moments. At the graduation dance the school pimp tried to snatch his main money making prostitute from her celebration. Not only did gangster Wilsie stop him, but the entire class stood behind him in unity to help defend the damsel in distress. Quite literally every problem was solved, every loose end tied up so that the movie ended in the most neat happy way imaginable. There's hardly an 80's sitcom that can compare with TSWL2, which is sad.