A frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.A frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.A frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 5 nominations total
- Vice Principal Wolters
- (as W.H. Macy)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaEvery person in the film that portrayed a deaf person is deaf in real life.
- GoofsMr. Holland plays Lovers Concerto to his class and asks who wrote It. A student replies, 'The Toys.' Mr Holland corrects him and says "That was Minuet in G, by Johan Sebastian Bach." At the time the film was set this was attributed to Bach as it was found in a book kept by Bach's wife. It was determined in 1970 to be part of a larger piece written by Christian Petzold (1677-1733).
- Quotes
Adult Gertrude Lang: Mr. Holland had a profound influence on my life and on a lot of lives I know. But I have a feeling that he considers a great part of his own life misspent. Rumor had it he was always working on this symphony of his. And this was going to make him famous, rich, probably both. But Mr. Holland isn't rich and he isn't famous, at least not outside of our little town. So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure. But he would be wrong, because I think that he's achieved a success far beyond riches and fame. Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life.
- Crazy creditsThanks to The Seattle Symphony Orchestra
- SoundtracksOne, Two, Three
Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland (as Edward Holland), John Madara, Dave White, and Len Barry (as Leonard Borisoff)
Performed by Len Barry
Courtesy of MCA Records
Okay, I am a musician. I've been one on a professional level for over ten years, both as a writer and performer. And I LOVED this movie (apologies to all those pretentious 'serious' musicians out there). I enjoyed my theatrical viewing and I have watched my DVD several times.
Is MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS musically accurate? No, of course not, no more so than STAR TREK paying attention to factual science and the laws of physics. But for the most part, nobody other than most of us ego-driven, high horse bound musician types will ever know it.
Designed to have a broad appeal outside the aforementioned musically inclined crowd? Yes, but then so is nearly every movie to come out of Hollywood. It has to be palatable to a certain degree, and I believe that the much maligned "Play the sunset" scene is far more entertaining than having Mr. Holland give us lengthy exposition on the proper articulation and technique that goes into playing a given instrument.
And if I hear one more poster scream about Mr. Holland's 'opus' only being ten minutes long (the "It took him a lifetime to write THIS?" mantra) I think I'll scream. Did it ever occur to anybody that what we heard was only a small part of a much larger work? Most classical and semi-classical pieces occur in (get ready) MOVEMENTS! It's entirely possible that we only heard the prologue to a much larger piece. Think outside the box, people.
As for the quality of the piece itself, I found it to be acceptable, if not the most dynamic piece of work I've ever heard. But seeing as how we had been hearing snippets of this piece THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE, I can't say that I was so overwhelmingly let down as some of our more 'educated and refined' musician types that have posted here.
Sure, there were some flaws. Ms. Headly is not the greatest actress in the world, and beside Dreyfuss she's downright embarrassing. William Macy's character is so cliched that it warrants no further discussion. The whole subplot with Rowena and her romantic interest in Mr. Holland ran about ten minutes too long. And the ending bit where the arts funding gets cut seemed a little too political.
But overall, a great film, surely one of Dreyfuss' best, and one of my favorite films.
I'm a musician. And I liked it. So sue me....
- drconcerts
- Dec 23, 2000
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Nhạc Phẩm Của Thầy Holland
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $23,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $82,569,971
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $14,466
- Jan 1, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $106,269,971
- Runtime2 hours 24 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1