During the Great Depression, Max Brown (Bud Cort) is a recent college graduate sent to a Canadian prairie town in Saskatchewan to teach at a ramshackle schoolhouse. Max’s big-city attitude clashes with the rural mentality of the town, and he struggles to earn the respect of his uninterested students. As Max adapts to his new lifestyle, he finds an upside to his teaching assignment when meets Alice Field (Samantha Eggar), the wife of a local farmer (Michael J. Reynolds). The film won the Golden Reel Award for attaining higher box-office gross revenues of that year than any other Canadian film.
”WHY SHOOT the Teacher?” is a charming, attractively modest movie directed by Silvio Narizzano. The film was made in Hanna, Alberta, and it very aptly conveys a sense of Depression-era life in a small, impoverished farming community. The film describes that year in Max’s life, and it very touchingly conveys his growing understanding of his pupils and their way of life. – New York Times
Set in 1935.
Starring Bud Cort, Samantha Eggar, Chris Wiggins, Gary Reineke, John Friesen, Michael J. Reynolds, Kenneth Griffith, Scott Swan, Merrilyn Gann, Norma West, Margery Hill, Joanne McNeal, George Gwin, Doug Blake, Alan Stebbings, Joe Yasinsky, Vernis McCuaig, Richard Davison, Kathie Ball, Jim Devereaux.
Not rated.