The Substitute

The Substitute is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Robert Mandel and starring Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, Marc Anthony, William Forsythe, Raymond Cruz and Luis Guzmán. It was filmed at Miami Senior High School. Plot Jonathan Shale is a mercenary and a Vietnam veteran. After a botched covert operation in Cuba in which three men from his platoon were killed, he returns home to Miami. He surprises his girlfriend, Jane Hetzko, at her apartment; she welcomes him warmly. Hetzko is a schoolteacher at inner-city Columbus High School, an institution with a considerable gang problem. She is particularly disliked by Juan Lacas, leader of the Kings of Destruction gang (KOD). While jogging one morning, Hetzko is attacked and has her leg broken. Hetzko and Shale believe this to be related to the KOD, which prompts the latter to go undercover as an Ivy League-educated, government-affiliated substitute teacher for his girlfriend's class. Shale arrives at Columbus High School and is taken aback at first by the lowly conditions. He is unable to control his class of poorly educated and poorly behaved students on the first day, but decides to use his street smarts and military tactics to gain the upper hand. Soon enough, he is able to take command of the students by displaying his combat self-defense techniques when students attack him.