All through the term, Thackeray has been applying for engineering jobs. Toward the end of term, he gets and accepts a job. He lets everyone know he is leaving. They try and convince him to stay. His mind is made up, he never wanted to be a teacher, it was a just a job to him. Everyone can see what a difference he has made on his class in just those few short months. On the last day of school, his class throws a dance. In a scene that never fails to make me weepy, one of his students (Lulu) sings the title song to Sir as they present him with a thank you gift. He is overwhelmed by the emotion of it all. Maybe he does have what it takes to be a teacher after all.

As I’ve stated in this column previously, I love London in this time period. I love the music (here by The Mindbenders, Lulu, and Ron Grainer) and the clothes. I adore the song “To Sir, With Love” and will belt it out whenever it comes on the radio. Do I think for one minute this film is realistic? No, of course not. I don’t need that from every film. However, I will point out there are some issues in the film. Although it is prevalent throughout the film, the racism Thackeray has to endure day to day is barely addressed. It’s treated as though, whelp, it exists and there is nothing to be done about it. The female students are treated as if the only thing they need to worry about is getting married and knowing how to iron. “No one likes a slut for long” is one of the nuggets of wisdom imparted to them from Thackeray.

Poitier gives a wonderful performance as Thackeray. He is one of the teachers that only seems to appear in movies. I think few of us every encounter a “Sir” during their education, if you do, count yourself lucky. Some other familiar faces pop up in the film, too, including Patricia Routledge, Ann Bell, and Michael Des Barres. The direction is a bit clunky and if you hate the theme song, well, you get to hear it at least 3 times throughout the film.

I get that it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you should watch To Sir, With Love at least once if only to see Poitier at work. I’ve been sick for over a week now and this film fit in perfectly as part of my movie nourishment.