Set in the 1950s, a star-quarterback is given an opportunity to attend an elite preparatory school but must conceal the fact that he is Jewish. School Ties is a film mostly hand driven by choices made by the characters but also those faces in general. The perfomances were so freaking great especially from Brendan Fraser and Chris O'Donnell plus Matt Damon made for a good villain to be honest and Ben Affleck was also very good. This is definitely a film that is both romantic and funny but also dramatic and reminded me even a bit of my school years as well.

Main parts of the movie are not believable. If Matt Damon wasn't angry at Brendan Fraser for taking his girlfriend, would he tell classmates that David was Jewish? David helped them win. So, it's not clear at all. The headmaster, the coach, a few alumni knew that David was Jewish. They decided to enroll David. If kids don't like it, too bad. My favorite part is when David puts Magen David back on after kids find out he is Jewish. It's a great lesson. Don't try to blend in. Whenever Jews try to blend in, eventually they suffer. Obviously, it's hard for a high school senior to understand. Especially, when there are so many incentives to do so.

I think this film, in regards to antisemitism, is second only to Gregory Peck's "Gentleman's Agreement". The setting is very different here -- a prep school, but the message is similar.Aside from the topic itself, the cast is interesting to watch -- Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck -- all very, very early in their film careers.The story is rather simple -- a very WASPish prep school with a losing football team, but a demanding alumni group with deep pockets, recruits a gifted high school quarterback (Fraser). There's just one problem -- he's Jewish, but that can be kept a secret. After he steals the spotlight and the girl from the former primary quarterback (Damon), the secret does what most secrets do -- it slips out. And suddenly the star quarterback who was just one of the guys now isn't one of the guys at all. Then there's a cheating scandal, and it's all dumped on the Jewish guy...after all, cheating is the kind of things that "dirty Jews" do. Right? But, as you might expect, it's Damon who maneuvers the situation. And how will it all end? The (then) young actors do amazing jobs here, although Affleck has one of the smaller roles. Fraser and Damon are terrific, as is the girl friend -- Amy Locane.The one criticism I have is of the scene where in about 30 minutes they dismantle are car and reassemble it in an "evil" house father's room. No, just not possible...at least in that amount of time.But aside from that frivolity, if you like serious movies, this is a very good one!

The opening shot establishes that the area is a coal, steel, and manufacturing area. Blue collar workers. Pennsylvania. This movie tells a story of a really fine high school quarterback who is convinced to attend an exclusive Massachusetts prep school for his senior year, as a way to gain entry into Harvard. Plus, the St Matthew alumni hope he will give them the firepower to beat their long-time rival.Brendan Fraser is the young quarterback, David Greene. But he has a secret, he is a Jew, and he is advised to "hold things close to the vest", don't reveal more than you need to. In that area, in the 1950s, anti-semitism was alive and going strong.The young quarterback proves to be everything on the football field that the coach wanted, and was a good performer in the classroom. But his secret was to eventually get out and that brings a new layer of drama to the story.A very young (19 or 20) Matt Damon is Charlie Dillon. Charlie has a number of issues. Being from the Dillon family much is expected. His brother is already a football star, and as last year's quarterback is being pushed out by David's recruitment. Add to that his long-time girlfriend takes a strong liking to David, and announces "I wish Charlie would quit saying I am his girl." And, if all that were not enough, Charlie is having a tough time accepting that he may just be ordinary. He craves the approval of his family.Other students are Chris O'Donnell, Cole Hauser, and Ben Affleck in relatively small roles. The girl is pretty Amy Locane, about 19 or 20, as Sally Wheeler.There is a line early after David arrives at the new school, "I guess you haven't had time to buy school ties". They wore a particular necktie, and maybe that is where the inspiration for the title "School Ties" came from. Even if it did, the story really is about the students and their ties to each other, even when bigotry is being addressed and a cheating scandal has to be dealt with.Good movie, good young actors.SPOILERS: David gets mean responses from many of the students, including Charlie, after it is found out he is a Jew. Then at finals Charlie cheats, he takes a crib sheet into class, and then loses it for the professor to find. David and another student see him. Before every test they sign an honor code, so this is a big deal. Being on a Friday, the professor tell the class, come up with the cheater or you ALL will fail this class. Just before David is to tell the others what happened, Charlie stands up and falsely points to David as the cheater. The whole class discuss it over the weekend, vote, and decide it is David. As he leaves the room he tells them "I'll uphold YOUR honor code, I'll go to the headmaster and lie." But when he does the next day, the other student was there too and set the record straight. As Charlie was driven away from school, expelled, he tells David "I'll still get into Harvard and 10 years from now no one will remember this. You will still be a dirty Jew." To which David responds, "And you will still be a prick." David stayed at the school to finish his preparation for Harvard.