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  • Crosses the Line Twice: When Joe Clark screams at Thomas Sams, who, being a freshman in high school, can't be more than fourteen years old, to jump off the roof of the building and kill himself just for smoking crack.
    Mr. Clark: Look at me boy! Don't you smoke crack? You know what that does to you?! *starts firmly poking Sams in the temple* It kills your brain cells, son, it kills your brain cells! Now, when you're destroying your brain cells, you're doing the same thing as killing yourself, you're just doing it slower! Now I say if you want to kill yourself, don't fuck around with it; go on and do it expeditiously! Now go on and jump! JUMP!
  • Fanon: A common theory posited by viewers is that the expelled student who attacks Kid Ray and Joe Clark is actually Mrs. Barrett's son. There is no evidence this is the case within the film itself or any Word of God, but many fans argue this addition adds a bit more nuance to Barrett's actions. It would explain why she takes the mass expulsion so personally and frames her dislike of Joe Clark as projection of her own frustrations of being unable to keep her son out of a life of crime.
  • Funny Moments: Near the end, the students of Eastside go to Ms. Barrett to tell her Mr. Clark is the principal they need. However, Sams could have phrased one of his arguments better:
    Ms Barrett: People, just hear me! The school board is meeting right now and I promise you, we will give you what Eastside High deserves: a good principal!
    Sams: We don't want a good principal! We want Mr. Clark!
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Shortly after the film's release, Joe Clark resigned from his position as principal, after having been suspended by Frank Napier. Furthermore, test scores did not significantly improve during Clark's tenure, and after his resignation, the school was taken over by the state.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: At one point, Joe Clark holds a baseball bat in his hand and proclaims "They used to call me Crazy Joe. Well, now they can call me Bat-man!". Sixteen years later, Freeman would go on to play Lucius Fox, Batman's Gadgeteer Genius and technical advisor in The Dark Knight Trilogy, starting with Batman Begins.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Mrs. Elliot does have an ego and an attitude, but she wasn't wrong about how Joe is a bully who demands instant, unquestioning obedience and would get angry if someone dares to disagree with him.
  • Retroactive Recognition: A number of them.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
    • The movie's mixed critical reception largely centered around Joe Clark being this. While the film addresses Clark's behavior sometimes crossing a line, he's ultimately positioned as the protagonist in the right, while critics like Roger Ebert weren't so sure to the detriment of the movie:
      Ebert: This is a seriously troubled man. As the movie progresses, we wait for Clark to undergo a personality change, to soften, to grow, to start learning to respect the right of other people to have an opinion. But with the exception of one halfhearted apology, Clark never does change. He is an arrogant bully, a martinet who demands instant, unquestioning obedience...it never honestly looks at Clark for what he really is: a grownup example of the very troublemakers he hates so much, still unable even in adulthood to doubt his right to do what he wants, when he wants, as he wants. How can he teach, when he's unteachable? His values have little to do with learning how to learn.
    • Mrs. Barrett brings up a lot of good points such as the numerous times Mr. Clark grabs the Jerkass Ball and had good intentions to get a principal that wasn't to her, batshit insane. Problem is the underlying tone of the conflict between her and Mr. Clark that makes it so obvious she doesn't really care anymore about the welfare of the students and was just out to get Mr. Clark; regardless of whether his methods worked or not.
  • The Woobie: Kaneesha is this during certain parts of the movie. She was forced out of the house by her mother and for a while had no place to live, which affected her grades as a result. Then during the climax, she reveals that she got pregnant by a boy who claims the baby isn't his and cries to Mr. Clark.

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