Dead Poets Society is a
1989 film starring
Robin Williams and directed by
Peter Weir. Set in
1959 at a conservative and
aristocratic boys
prep school, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students to change their lives of conformity through his teaching of
poetry and
literature. The movie is a modern interpretation of the
transcendentalist movement.
The story is set in Welton Academy in
Vermont and was filmed at
St. Andrew's School in
Middletown, Delaware. The script, written by
Tom Schulman, was based on his life at
Montgomery Bell Academy, an all-boys preparatory school in
Nashville, Tennessee.
Plot
Seven boys, Neil Perry (
Robert Sean Leonard), Todd Anderson (
Ethan Hawke), Knox Overstreet (
Josh Charles), Charlie Dalton (
Gale Hansen), Richard Cameron (
Dylan Kussman), Steven Meeks (
Allelon Ruggiero) and Gerard Pitts (
James Waterston) attend the prestigious Welton Academy
prep school, which is based on four principles:
Tradition,
Honour,
Discipline and
Excellence.