Filmed in and around Portland, “Mr. Holland’s Opus” spans more than three decades — the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, Vietnam War to spiked hairdos — to show the impact a teacher can have on a student. 

Passion. Perseverance. The transformative power of music education. All take center stage as Glenn Holland (played by Richard Dreyfuss) faces the challenges and triumphs of being a music teacher.

Holland dreams of being a famous composer. He reluctantly becomes a teacher to pay the bills. 

At first, the emotionally calloused man hates teaching. He faces classroom challenges and fails to connect with students.

Holland takes his frustrations home to his wife, played by Glenne Headly, and his profoundly deaf son, Cole (played by several actors).

Through perseverance and desperation, Holland changes his teaching style and starts to connect with students. He never gives up on them and passes along his passion for music.

Joanna Gleason plays Gertrude Lang, a struggling clarinet player and one of Holland’s first success stories. Holland helps the struggling young musician relax and feel the notes deep in her soul. Lang later becomes governor of Oregon.

The film features many exterior and interior scenes at Ulysses S. Grant High School (John F. Kennedy High School) as Holland evolves as a teacher. In the backdrop is the war, the walk on the moon, the Woodstock music festival, President Richard Nixon resigning, disco, the Iran hostages, Ronald Reagan’s trickle-down economics and the advent of computers. 

Holland becomes consumed with his job and sacrifices work/life balance. His family suffers.

The turnaround begins when Cole is enrolled at a school for the deaf, where Beth Maitland plays the principal. Through learning sign language, the family can finally communicate with each other.

The family buys a house and Holland helps make ends meet by teaching student drivers in the summer, which yields hilarious scenes. 

Holland’s unusual teaching methods — he incorporates rock and roll into the curriculum — draw the scrutiny of vice principal Gene Wolters, played by W.H. Macy. 

“It leads to a breakdown in discipline, and some parents think it is from the devil himself,” the joyless Wolters says.

Wolters is promoted from his job of making sure girls conform to the dress code — dresses must be at least knee length — in 1972 when the principal who hired Holland, Helen Jacobs, played by Olympia Dukakis, retires.

Jacobs gives Holland the best advice about teaching.

“You should not just pass along knowledge but also help them find their compass, their direction in life,” she says.

Jay Thomas plays Bill Meister, the gym teacher and football and wrestling coach who befriends Holland. Meister, a military veteran, helps Holland teach his new marching band how to stay disciplined and keep formation. Holland helps one of Meister’s star athletes stay eligible by teaching him the drums. 

The “temporary” job turns into a long career, and Holland grows to love bringing out the best in his students. His students, who find their gifts in turn, adore him.

After 30 years, Wolters drops a bombshell. He tells Holland the music, art and drama departments are being cut. Despite being 60 and close to retirement, Holland fights for his job. In a meeting with the school board, he passionately advocates for the arts and tells them they can do better.

Ultimately, the feel-good film shows the value of teachers who help students find their compass — and the importance of strong music, art and drama programs in schools.

Reach the author at jeffp557@gmail.com.