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‘Bad Education’: Film Review

Hugh Jackman delivers an acting master class, trading on his charismatic star persona to reveal the rotten core of bad-apple superintendent Frank Tassone.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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Going forward, what will Hollywood do when it needs a Kevin Spacey type? The disgraced Oscar winner is precisely the actor a movie like “ Bad Education ” calls for: Cory Finley ’s audacious second feature centers on the true story of Frank Tassone, district superintendent of the Roslyn School District in Long Island, N.Y. — a hero to parents and students alike, responsible for turning Roslyn High into one of the state’s top-achieving public schools, while exploiting the trust the community put in him. It’s a tricky, two-faced role that calls for the kind of firm-handshake, direct-eye-contact duplicity Spacey brought to “House of Cards” and half a dozen movies before it. Go ahead, Google “Frank Tassone” and tell me that I’m wrong.

Now, Hugh Jackman isn’t the actor I would’ve expected to fill those shoes. He’s more movie star than character actor, and this role presents him in such an unflattering light — quite literally so, shooting its cast such that their skin looks like raw chicken and every wrinkle casts a shadow — that you’d think his agent would have advised him against it. (George Clooney’s probably did.) That’s what’s so courageous about Jackman’s decision, and one of several reasons that “Bad Education” is the best work he’s ever done.

Here’s a star at the height of his powers leveraging his own appeal to remind that even our heroes are fallible and that you can never really judge someone from the outside. And Finley — whose only prior feature credit is the ice-cold, Patricia Highsmith-worthy high-wire act “Thoroughbreds” — is every bit the director to bring it home, pairing Jackman with an equally astonishing Allison Janney as school business administrator Pam Gluckin, Tassone’s creative-accounting accomplice. Finley, who clearly thrives when dramatizing morally complicated situations, doesn’t do the first thing you’d expect from any telling of this national-headline-making story (one that was first exposed by the school paper, the Hilltop Beacon): He doesn’t sensationalize it. Not that it would have been wrong to do so.

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It worked for Martin Scorsese in “The Wolf of Wall Street.” It worked for Steven Soderbergh in “The Informant.” Splash it up — that’s the obvious answer. Make the colors pop, the movie’s carotid artery bulge. That’s how such material is usually played. Look at this story on paper — a high school student exposes an $11 million embezzlement scheme perpetrated by the institution’s most admired figure — and you might expect a tongue-in-cheek cross between “Election” and “To Die For” (the Gus Van Sant-directed satire inspired by Pamela Smart, a high school employee locked up after enlisting her teenage lover to murder her hubby).

Written by Mike Makowsky (“I Think We’re Alone Now”), who was attending Roslyn Middle School when the Tassone scandal broke, “Bad Education” doesn’t shy away from the humor of the situation, but it doesn’t go for the cheap laughs either (unless you count some of the distractingly tacky decorating choices in Gluckin’s ready-for-remodeling home). With their strong accents and “Sopranos”-like way of dressing, the movie’s all-too-trusting Long Island residents would’ve been an easy target for parody, but that’s not the tone Finley’s going for. From the high-contrast, stark-widescreen look of things, he’s most interested in the way that people like Tassone and Gluckin could rationalize what they were doing.

That’s easy: Of all the careers in America, educators are by far the most undercompensated. In New York, where the cost of living is high and the real estate outrageous (the latter ironically exacerbated by the quality of the public schools), how are teachers supposed to afford being part of the community they serve? That doesn’t justify graft, mind you, but it suggests how people who’ve dedicated their lives to a low-earning field might find themselves bent toward skimming a little something extra for themselves out of the school budget.

“Bad Education” makes a point of showing how much Tassone meant to the community. Early on (the year is 2002, as signified by flip phones, compact discs and other period details), Tassone is seen tweezing his nose hairs before going onstage to take credit for turning the school into a success. Roslyn is ranked No. 4 in the country. Test scores are up. Seniors are getting into Ivy League schools in record numbers. And Roslyn is set to break ground on a $7.5 million “sky walk” that could give the community a massive boost.

Rachel, a sophomore played by “Blockers” standout Geraldine Viswanathan , has just joined the school paper, whose editor isn’t prepared for the deep dive into the school’s financial records that she has in mind. “We are an extracurricular designed to get us into good colleges,” he says. But Rachel (a fictional character based on an actual student journalist) has something to prove — to herself; to her father (Harid Hillon), who was canned in an insider-trading scandal; and to Tassone, who truly cares about the students, encouraging her to turn the puff-piece assignment into something meaningful.

At times, the story borders on the incredible, and it may spoil the surprise to read some of the details that follow. Through an imbecilic mistake — in which Gluckin’s son charges thousands of dollars of home renovation supplies to the school account — the school board gets wind of Gluckin’s financial misdeeds. When it happens, audiences don’t know whether or to what degree Tassone is involved, and it’s fascinating to watch Jackman in action: Like a master politician (or a brilliant actor), he sizes up the situation, assesses his audience and begins to spin things to best protect all involved. In other movies, scenes like these are played such that viewers can see the con man’s hand, but Jackman keeps a poker face, which protects the remaining surprises until such time that Rachel can reveal them.

True-crime movies so often serve to reinforce the notion that wrongdoers are eventually brought to justice in this country. But “Bad Education” refuses to get so reductively didactic. Yes, Tassone and Gluckin stole millions of dollars, but they also made Roslyn an extremely successful school (if you don’t dwell on the leaky ceilings and outdated equipment). When certain details of Tassone’s private life come to light — including a reunion with a former student (Rafael Casal of “Blindspotting”) and an unconventional arrangement with one of the school’s mysterious suppliers (Stephen Spinella) — one may be tempted to judge. But the real takeaway is how hard that can be.

Maybe Spacey isn’t the only one who can handle the ambiguity such a performance demands. The way Jackman plays it, Tassone was a villain who didn’t see himself as such. Finley finds creative ways to suggest the discrepancy between inner and outer selves. The hair-slicked, health-conscious superintendent is constantly watching his cholesterol, forgoing carbs in favor of charcoal smoothies — which amounts to nourishing his insides with what looks like black bile. Late in the game, before the jig is up, he goes in for a face-lift — another reminder of the mask Tassone wears (and an unexpected sight for a now-50-year-old movie star). Appearances can be deceiving. This we know. But how do young people cope with having their images of their heroes shattered? And is it really any easier for adults? “Bad Education” can be a hard lesson to accept, but a necessary one in how the world works.

Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Special Presentations), Sept. 8, 2019. Running time: 108 MIN.

Production: An HBO release of an Automatik, Sight Unseen, Slater Hall production. (Int'l sales: Endeavor Content, Los Angeles.) Producers: Fred Berger, Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Oren Moverman, Mike Makowsky. Executive producers: Leonid Lebedev, Caroline Jaczko.
Crew: Director: Cory Finley. Screenplay: Mike Makowsky, based on the New York Magazine article "Bad Superintendent" by Robert Kolker. Camera (color, widescreen): Lyle Vincent. Editor: Louise Ford. Music: Michael Abels.
With: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Ray Romano, Geraldine Viswanathan

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Bad Education (2019 film)

2019 film directed by cory finley / from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, dear wikiwand ai, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:.

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Bad Education is a 2019 American crime drama film directed by Cory Finley and written by Mike Makowsky . It is based on the 2004 New York magazine article "The Bad Superintendent" by Robert Kolker , [1] [2] about the true story of the largest public school embezzlement in American history . [3] It features an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman , Allison Janney , Geraldine Viswanathan , Alex Wolff , Rafael Casal , Stephen Spinella , Annaleigh Ashford and Ray Romano .

Set in the Long Island village of Roslyn in the early 2000s, the film tells the story of school district superintendent Dr. Frank Tassone (Jackman) who, along with assistant superintendent Pam Gluckin (Janney) stole millions of dollars from their wealthy public school district, and together attempted to cover up the embezzlement. The screenwriter, Makowsky, briefly met Tassone as a child before the scandal broke and attended Roslyn High School in the late 2000s. [4] [3]

Bad Education made its world premiere on September 8, 2019, at the Toronto International Film Festival and was broadcast on HBO on April 25, 2020. It was well received by film critics, with particular praise for Makowsky's screenplay, Finley's direction, and Jackman's and Janney's performances. At the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards , the film won for Outstanding Television Movie and Jackman received a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie . [5]

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Bad Education Reviews

Bad Education is a strong film overall, especially during a time in which we are bereft of theatrical releases and original ideas.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Feb 20, 2024

Frank Tassone isn’t a likeable character; in fact, he’s rather detestable. But that almost makes me love this film even more. It’s been a long journey towards real queer representation...

Full Review | Sep 28, 2022

Bad Education is a criminally entertaining film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 28, 2022

This is one of those deadpan farces where we get to chortle as awful people are hoisted high on the petard of their own greed.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 13, 2022

A deeply American tale about the drip-drop nature of morality in positions of power, and how easy it can be to excuse the wrong thing when it feels so right.

Full Review | Mar 11, 2022

The film effectively sheds light on an ongoing problem in many school systems that quite frankly goes unnoticed. There is no denying that Bad Education is one of 2020s best films and a must-see for any cinephile.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 18, 2022

This is a realistic, intelligent drama with a strong cast and a brilliantly flawed protagonist.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 31, 2021

It's truly a small miracle to watch the way these two antisocial misfits con their way into people's trust, as Jackman and Janney make them all too human.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 31, 2021

It dialogues with topics about hypocrisy and corruption in the American educational sphere, but even with the decent performances from Jackman and Janney cannot rekindle a flat narrative that stumbles along. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Jul 25, 2021

Lightweight as a drama, but the performances - especially from Janney and Jackman - are first rate.

Full Review | Mar 30, 2021

One of 2020's 20 best films.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 16, 2021

So well-crafted... Has really interesting insights into the psychopathy or the humanity of all the players.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 15, 2021

Bad Education is an engrossing comedy drama. Though it is a comedy and also has many characteristics of an out-and-out satire, it treats its subject matter - corruption in academia - with the gravity it deserves.

Full Review | Jan 28, 2021

As much about tacit complicity as corruption, Bad Education is an irresistibly absorbing study of self-interest and an impressive showcase for its director and stars.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2021

Jackson gives a tour-de-force performance, portraying Tassone with incredible alertness and spontaneity.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 14, 2021

A truly fantastic film that viewers will revel every second of.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 20, 2020

Bad Education is one of the finest movies of the year...

Full Review | Oct 19, 2020

Hugh Jackman's performance proves to be another major highlight.

Full Review | Sep 23, 2020

...as a slice of compelling entertainment, Bad Education brings out the best in Hugh Jackman, and given its timely relevancy, it goes to show how America still has some learning to do.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 3, 2020

Everything about the situation in America made the thievery in Roslyn not only possible, but inevitable.

Full Review | Aug 4, 2020

Bad Education (2019)

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The Real Frank Tassone and the True Story Behind HBO's Bad Education

Everything you need to know about the real events behind the new Hugh Jackman movie, which tells the story of how Frank Tassone stole millions from a Long Island high school.

Director Cory Finley created the dramatized retelling of the spectacular 2002 scandal with the help of screenwriter Mike Makowsky, who was a middle schooler in Roslyn when all of this was happening. Here is everything we know about the real life events behind Bad Education .

Who Is Frank Tassone?

frank tassone, newly hired superintendent of the roslyn, long island schools, is shown during a conference on long island education in roslyn, new york on august 12, 1992 photo by david l pokressnewsday via getty images

To the students, parents, and teachers of Roslyn, Frank Tassone was a charming and eloquent school administrator with a doctorate degree from Columbia University who regularly ate lunch with students, led a book group with school parents, and kept a photo of his late wife on his desk .

As they would all eventually find out, Tassone was actually leading a double life, stealing millions in taxpayer money ($2.2 million to be exact) to finance the Park Avenue apartment he shared with his partner Stephen Signorelli (or Thomas Tuggiero in the film), the trips to Las Vegas to visit his lover Jason Daugherty (aka Kyle Contreras in the movie), plus the expensive suits, cars, and cosmetic surgeries, along with the more idiosyncratic expenses , such as $37,385 in dry cleaning bills, $5,236 for Christmas cards, and $56,000 to a diet doctor.

He Turned Roslyn High Into One of America's Best Schools

Tassone was, however, an effective superintendent. During his 12-year tenure, Roslyn High School, which is located in Long Island's tony North Shore just over 20 miles outside of Manhattan (former Roslyn residents include the late fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer and Billions co-creator Brian Koppelman) entered the top ten in national rankings of the best public schools.

A month before Tassone's crimes were exposed in May 2004, the Wall Street Journal ranked Roslyn the sixth-best public high school in America. According to the New York magazine story that inspired the HBO flick, "A diploma from Roslyn High School is the closest you can get on Long Island to a ticket to Harvard."

Who Was Pamela Gluckin?

Gluckin was the assistant superintendent and business administrator of the Roslyn School District. When the school board found out she was using the district credit card for personal expenses to the tune of $250,000, Tassone—in order to conceal his own crimes—promptly threw Gluckin under the bus, forcing her to resign and lose her license.

Of course it would later be revealed that Gluckin stole much more than $250,000. The actual sum was $4.3 million, which she used for Florida and Hamptons vacation homes, jewelry, art, and other purchases. Her niece Debra Rigano (in the film her character's name is Jenny Aquila), who worked as a district clerk, was also in on the scheme and was accused of stealing more than $780,000 .

Gluckin's son John McCormick (his name is Jimmy McCarden in the movie), whose immense Home Depot shopping spree with the district credit card is what got his mother in trouble in the first place, ended up serving five years of probation and 100 hours of community service for the $83,000 he stole.

In an act of self-preservation, Tassone convinced the school board not to go to the authorities regarding Gluckin's six-figure theft, arguing it would affect Roslyn's reputation and school ranking.

Tassone's Eventual Downfall Was Precipitated by a School Reporter

In the movie, a student reporter named Rachel Bhargava (played by Geraldine Viswanathan) is working on a story about a new school construction project for Roslyn High's school newspaper, The Hilltop Beacon , and begins to dig deeper into the school's financial records to eventually uncover Tassone's multimillion-dollar embezzlement.

In real life, Tassone's unraveling did come at the hands of a student reporter, Rebekahn Rombom, but via different means. Rombom got a tip about the real reason behind Gluckin's firing and her story led to authorities and major news outlets catching on to their years-long con.

Is Bob Spicer Based on a Real Person?

The short answer is no. Ray Romano plays Bob Spicer, a real estate agent and head of the school board, who, like the rest of Roslyn's overachieving, education-obsessed parents, is thrilled with—and consequently blinded by—Tassano's successes in raising the school's test scores and Ivy League admissions, which in turn made real estate prices soar and cemented Roslyn's status as the most sought-after zip code on Long Island. "In real estate, especially on Long Island, a town is only as good as its public school system," he says. While Spicer is not based on a real-life individual, he's meant to represent the Roslyn community.

Where Is Frank Tassone Now?

mineola, ny former roslyn schools superintendent frank tassone is flanked by two court officers as he leaves nassau county court in mineola, new york after being sentenced in the roslyn embezzlement scandal on october 10, 2006 photo by dick yarwoodnewsday via getty images

In 2006, Tassone was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for larceny but got out early, in 2010, for good behavior and was put on probation until 2018. The now-septuagenarian is forbidden from holding any job that requires handling money. He currently lives a low-profile life in New York but still receives a generous pension of $170,000 a year (the result of an oversight in state pension law).

This month, he was a guest on personal life coach Mike Bayer's podcast, where he spoke about finding out last fall that a movie was to be made about his crime. "I just crumbled," he said. "I thought this finally was over. You know, it'll never be over for me, because every day I feel pain."

Where Is Pamela Gluckin Now?

Gluckin, who was sentenced to three to nine years, was released in 2011 and remained on parole until 2015. It was reported that she vowed to contribute half her pension ($55,000 annually) every year to repay the Roslyn school district and found a job working at a nonprofit in Queens. She died in 2017.

Leena Kim is an editor at Town & Country , where she covers travel, jewelry, education, weddings, and culture.

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Bad Education

TV-MA | biographical dramas | 1 HR 49 MIN | 2019

A respected Long Island school superintendent (Hugh Jackman) and his assistant (Allison Janney) turn up in a massive embezzlement scheme.

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Critic’s Pick

‘Bad Education’ Review: Adding Fraud to the Curriculum

Hugh Jackman is darkly charismatic as the real-life schools superintendent who admitted to stealing $2 million from his Long Island district.

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By Ben Kenigsberg

“Thoroughbreds,” the 2018 debut feature of the playwright Cory Finley , was not to every taste , but for acid wit and gliding camera moves, it could hardly be beat. Finley’s second feature, “ Bad Education,” which airs Saturday night on HBO, traffics in a kindred casual misanthropy. The movie offers an agreeably slick account of an early-2000s scandal in which a former superintendent of schools in Roslyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty to stealing $2 million from his district.

And like the character played by Hugh Jackman, the superintendent Frank Tassone, “Bad Education” initially keeps its cards close, playing tricks with viewers’ sympathies.

Frank, his hair gelled back and his face always wrenched into a grin, goes out of his way to be presentable. He remembers details about students from years earlier or recognizes their siblings. He meets with a parent who pushes for accelerated treatment for her third-grader. He maintains (or at least fakes) an interest in the lives of his teachers. He even welcomes an unscheduled interview with a school newspaper reporter, Rachel (Geraldine Viswanathan), encouraging her to dig deeper on a story about a school construction boondoggle. This, it turns out, is one of his less sharp moves. (The real-life student journalist who helped break the story of the scandal wrote about her experiences for The New York Times.)

Part of the strength of “Bad Education” is in showing how easily Frank gets others to sign on to his plans. When it comes to light that a fellow administrator, Pam (Allison Janney), has dipped into the district’s finances to the tune of more than $200,000, Frank is, at first, able to contain the fallout by noting the impact bad press would have. College admissions, property values, a forthcoming budget vote — all would be in jeopardy. For a brief time, Pam looks like the central player in the thefts, rather than one piece of a puzzle.

The 2004 New York Magazine article on which the film is based asked whether Roslyn residents allowed themselves to be duped by Tassone. The film, which adheres to the reporting with reasonable fidelity, is, at most, slightly more charitable in its assessment. (Ray Romano, terrific as the school board president, is an island of humanity in the sea of backbiting and self-interest.)

Finley didn’t write “Bad Education,” as he did “Thoroughbreds,” and if this film lacks the stylized, pitch-black verbal parries of that movie, he outfits it with similarly precise compositions and a jarring, percussive score. The screenplay, by Mike Makowsky, a student in Roslyn during the scandal , shows an ear for Long Island flavor and class tensions, and even the set decoration is attuned to details. The student journalists’ computer software is spot-on turn-of-the-aughts.

But it’s Jackman, whose smile appears increasingly wolfish as the film goes on (and as Frank’s face grows taut with cosmetic surgery), who ultimately owns “Bad Education.” It’s a plum part, sure, but also a deeply unsympathetic one — a chance for the actor to channel his charisma toward dark, mischievous ends.

Bad Education

Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. Watch on HBO .

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What ‘Bad Education’ Got Right — and Wrong — About the Real-Life Scandal

By Ej Dickson

The only thing better than a fictionalized version of a real-life scandal is one that prominently features Long Island accents, and HBO ‘s Bad Education ticks all those boxes and more. Based on a mid-2000s scandal in Roslyn, a well-off suburb of New York City, the movie tells the story of Superintendent Frank Tassone (a brilliantly creepy Hugh Jackman), a superficially charming and ambitious school superintendent who is arrested for embezzling millions from the school district. The case involved multiple arrests and millions of dollars, and would later become known as the largest school embezzlement scandal in U.S. history.

The film depicts how for years, Tassone and his second-in-command Pamela Gluckin (Allison Janney) brazenly used school funds to pay for their lavish lifestyles, which for Tassone included face lifts and first-class flights to London with his much younger boyfriend. Yet because the school has a high Ivy League admit rate, Tassone avoids the notice of authorities, until a dogged high school reporter (Geraldine Viswanathan) blows the lid off the scandal. Eventually, Tassone was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison, and was released on good behavior in 2010. Gluckin was sentenced to three to nine years in prison for stealing $4.9 million; she was released in 2011, and died in 2017.

Bad Education is based on a New York magazine story by reporter Robert Kolker , and for the most part the film is relatively faithful to its source material. Yet there are a few key deviations, with the real-life Tassone taking umbrage with some details of Jackman’s portrayal of him. Here are just a few things the movie got right — and wrong — about the scandal.

1) Tassone did indeed throw Pamela Gluckin under the bus while concealing the extent of his own embezzlement.

According to Bad Education, Pamela Gluckin’s embezzlement is discovered when her son rings up a hefty tab from a hardware store, charging it to the school’s credit card; she is later confronted by members of the school board and Tassone, a longtime friend of hers, who refers to her as a “sociopath” before calling for her resignation. He then convinces the school board not to report the theft to the authorities, for fear of hurting Roslyn High School’s reputation and college acceptance numbers.

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Per Kolker’s article, this confrontation — and Tassone’s betrayal of Gluckin — is fairly close to what actually happened. Unlike in the film, however, it took a full two years after Gluckin was fired for Tassone to be investigated for his own misdeeds. Even after her firing came to light, Tassone continued to deflect blame, allowing angry parents to target their ire at the school board for covering it up, rather than at him. “[He] was seen by Roslynites as valiantly coming to the board’s defense, telling everyone who would listen how upset he was, how betrayed they all felt by Gluckin,” Kolker writes for New York magazine.

2) Both Tassone and Gluckin were extremely brazen about their purchases.

The movie depicts both Tassone and Gluckin flagrantly flaunting their lavish lifestyles. Gluckin is depicted as particularly egregious, hosting guests in the Hamptons at one of her three homes, and blithely tossing around the school credit card to pay for her niece’s PlayStation. Indeed, it does appear that both Gluckin and Tassone were pretty blatant about their purchasing habits, with Gluckin driving around in a Jaguar with the vanity plate DUNENUTN (a detail that’s thankfully captured in the film) and Tassone using $56,645 of schools funds to pay for a Manhattan weight-loss doctor. His predilection for cosmetic surgery was also well noted by parents.

From Kolker’s New York magazine article: “Says one parent: ‘Suddenly it’s not Frank in a Ford Taurus with his pants way up to here — it’s Frank with his hair slicked back and a face-lift.’ Parents and teachers couldn’t fail to notice long light scars behind his ears. A few years into his tenure, he showed up to a parents’ meeting with small bruises around both eyes. He said he had been boxing, but people in Roslyn know an eye tuck when they see one.”

3) The character of Rachel Bhagavra is a composite of the Hilltop Beacon ‘s staff.

One of the most shocking aspects of the scandal, as depicted by Bad Education, is that it was uncovered not by the mainstream press, but by a high school newspaper — specifically, one dogged student journalist (Viswanathan) at the Hilltop Beacon, who breaks the story despite being discouraged by the paper’s senior staff and by Tassone himself.

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It’s absolutely true that the student newspaper the Hilltop Beacon broke the story, which was later picked up nationwide. But Bjahavra herself is not based on a real person, screenwriter Mike Magovsky told Slate , referring to her as “a part composite, part invention meant to be an audience surrogate who is finding out information with us.” She appears to be in part based on Rebekah Rombom, then-editor-in-chief of the Beacon , who wrote an article for the New York Times discussing how the paper broke the story.

According to her account, her reporting didn’t arise from being assigned to another “puff piece,” as is depicted in the film; rather, she and her co-editor received a tip that an anonymous letter was floating around accusing a school district employee (later identified as Gluckin) of stealing money. The letter prompted the board of education to call for an emergency meeting, which was attended and reported on by Rombom. “I believe it was inevitable that this story would have surfaced eventually. All we did was push it there a little faster,” she wrote.

4) Tassone was not closeted, nor did he date a former student.

In the movie, Tassone is seen flirting with a Las Vegas bartender named Kyle (Rafael Casal), whom he recognizes as a former student of his. Tassone then has an affair with Kyle, jetting back and forth from New York to Vegas and flying him first-class to London, unbeknownst to his longtime partner Tom (as portrayed by Stephen Spinella, whose name was changed in the film from Steven).

Kyle is actually a fictionalized version of Tassone’s former boyfriend Jason Daughterty, a 32-year-old former exotic dancer with whom Tassone actually purchased a house. He was not Tassone’s former student, and in an interview with the Coach Mike podcast, Tassone seemed to take particular umbrage with that aspect of the film’s portrayal. He also took issue with the fact that the film portrayed him as closeted, going to great lengths to conceal his sexual orientation by keeping a photo of his deceased wife on his desk. (He also denies that his partner didn’t know about his boyfriend and that he had an open marriage.)

“I’m not ashamed of being a gay man, and again, they made it seem somewhat sordid,” Tassone said. “That bothered me and upset me when the detective questioned [husband] Steven, and he implied that Steven didn’t even know I was married. That was not the case. And I don’t understand why they had to bring my sexuality into the film.”

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HBO's Bad Education Was Inspired By the Biggest School Embezzlement Case in US History

Hugh Jackman stars as Frank Tassone, an acclaimed superintendent embroiled in an $11 million fraud.

Bad Education , a new HBO original film starring Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, and Ray Romano, tells the true story of the largest embezzlement scheme ever to target an American school district, which found students in Roslyn, New York robbed of over $10 million in funds.

Who is Frank Tassone?

Tassone joined the Roslyn, Long Island school district 1992, and quickly became a popular superintendent. He introduced initiatives like community service requirements for high schoolers, and foreign language learning for kindergarteners, programs that earned write ups in the New York Times.

Born in the Bronx, Tassone had earned two master’s degrees and a PhD at Columbia University’s Teachers College. There, he studied Dickens, and continued to promote literature in Roslyn, convening a local book club and increasing the membership of New York’s Dickens Fellowship literary club nearly tenfold during the years of his involvement with the organization.

In 1999, he penned an op-ed for the Times about his district’s efforts to find qualified teachers. “The increasing demands of a profession that is still not as well compensated as many others, and a strong economy...widens the income gap between teaching and more lucrative careers,” he wrote.

Still, schools in the community thrived throughout his tenure, with nearly all students completing high school and 95 percent going to college . A quarter of each senior class went on to attend a highly selective university. Schools in affluent towns like Roslyn, where the median income in 2000 was nearly 150 percent of the state average , often boast high student performance. But the community’s schools won acclaim for being among the best in the state and the country. In 2004, the Wall Street Journal named Roslyn High the 6th best public high school in the nation.

mineola, ny former roslyn school superintendent frank tassone right and his attorney john kase left appeared for a felony exam at nassau county court in mineola, new york on july 14, 2004 photo by dick yarwoodnewsday via getty images

How did he defraud the school district?

In October 2002, then-assistant superintendent for business Pamela Gluckin (played in Bad Education by Allison Janney), was discovered to have stolen $250,000. The theft was uncovered when a Home Depot employee became suspicious when Gluckin’s son, John McCormick, used a Roslyn school's credit card to purchase construction material to be delivered to his home. It was later found that McCorkmick had purchased $85,o00 worth of supplies for his contractor business using the Roslyn credit card. Tassone convinced the school board not to press charges against Gluckin, arguing that it would cost the schools more money to continue paying her $160,000 annual salary during the years of legal battles that would ensue than it would be to demand that she repay what she’d stolen and allow her to quietly resign.

In early 2004, an anonymous letter was sent to the school board and local newspapers accusing the then 57-year-old Tassone of stealing from the schools. “We believe that Dr. Frank Tassone participated in this embezzlement scandal so as to support HIS lavish lifestyle, with the help of Ms. Gluckin,” read the letter. “He submitted ... his personal credit-card statements, bills for personal vacations and trips, and various household bills ... and included them in the cover-up.” The letter writer was never named, but the missive sparked investigations into Tassone, who resigned from his position after it was discovered that a contractor paid $800,000 by the school was actually Tassone’s partner of more than 30 years, Stephen Signorelli.

mineola, ny stephen signorelli, the longtime domestic partner of former roslyn superintendent frank tassone, leaves nassau county court in mineola, new york, after he pleads guilty in the roslyn school embezzlement scandal on january 18, 2006 photo by karen wiles stabilenewsday via getty images

Tassone and Gluckin covered their tracks by roping in conspirators and sharing the ill-gotten cash widely. District employees with oversight jobs were given bonuses; Debra Rigano , Gluckin’s niece, worked as an accounting clerk for Rosalyn schools and stole more than $850,000. Investigators discovered that seemingly legitimate checks were written to vendors and were then cashed by the conspirators. One million in cash was drawn out of ATMs, while 74 unauthorized Rosalyn school credit cards were circulated among the district employees and their friends and family members.

Ultimately, more than $11 million dollars in thefts would be uncovered. The district had paid the rent on Tassone’s Upper East Side apartment, funded more than $55,000 in fees to a weight-loss doctor, $33,000 worth of his local dry cleaner, and $50,000 in flights to London in the Concorde. Gluckin used district money to buy four houses , while Tassone kept his Manhattan apartment, a house in the Bronx, and bought a home in Las Vegas with an exotic dancer. Hundreds of thousands were spent on cars, including a Jaguar and a BMW; Rigano bought a Rolex, and Gluckin paid her pool cleaner with district funds.

Where is Frank Tassone now?

Tassone, Gluckin, McCormick, Rigano, Tassone’s partner Stephen Signorelli, and the school district’s auditor Andrew Miller ultimately pleaded guilty to charges related to the millions in thefts. Gluckin was paroled in 2011; Tassone, who failed to appear for nine consecutive sentencing hearings before finally being sentenced in 2006, was paroled in 2010.

The disgraced administrators still receive their pensions , which, according to state law, they’re entitled to earn for the rest of their lives, even despite their felony convictions. Tassone takes in $173,495 annually.

In 2005, Tassone wrote a letter to the New York Times refuting aspects of their coverage. “My ‘lush life’ you write about included 14-hour days for many years while I moved the district forward and met the many goals of the Board of Education,” he wrote . “I hope the hard-working mothers and fathers in Roslyn also remember how much the schools improved as a result of my leadership. Their real estate values have increased like nowhere else in the country primarily because of the schools. The student population increased by 33 percent during my 12 years in the district.”

Newsday reported that, during a recent interview on the Coach Mike Podcast, Tassone revealed that he plans to watch Bad Education . “I’m afraid of seeing myself portrayed as being a liar and a cheat and a thief,” he said. “And I was a thief, no question.”

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, 'bad education' lets us wander on sexual edge.

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I've just thrown out the first 500 words of my review and am starting again with a sense of joy and release. I was attempting to describe the plot of "Bad Education." It was quicksand, and I was sinking fast. You and I have less than 1,000 words to spend together discussing this fascinating film, and not only would the plot take up half of that, but if I were by some miracle to succeed in making it clear, that would only diminish your pleasure.

This is a movie we are intended to wander around in. It begins in the present with a story about the past, presents that story as a film within the film, and then, if I am not mistaken, there is a paradoxical moment when the two categories leak into each other. It's like " Citizen Kane ," where the memories of one character curiously contain the memories of another.

So there's 153 words right there, and my guess is, you're thinking the hell with it, just tell us what it's about and if it's any good. Your instincts are sound. Pedro Almodovar's new movie is like an ingenious toy that is a joy to behold, until you take it apart to see what makes it work, and then it never works again. While you're watching it, you don't realize how confused you are, because it either makes sense from moment to moment or, when it doesn't, you're distracted by the sex. Life is like that.

The story, which I will not describe, involves a young movie director named Enrique ( Fele Martinez ) who is visited one day by Ignacio ( Gael Garcia Bernal). Ignacio has written a story he wants Enrique to read. Enrique would ordinarily not be interested, but he learns that his visitor is the Ignacio – the boy who was his first adolescent love, back in school, and that the story is set in their school days and involves Ignacio being sexually abused by a priest at the school. Indeed, he permitted the abuse in order to get Enrique out of some trouble: "I sold myself for the first time that night in the sacristy."

That is all of the story you will hear from me, although to fan your interest, I will note that Gael Garcia Bernal , an actor who is turning out to be as versatile as Johnny Depp , portrays a drag queen in the movie, and does it so well that if he had played Hephaistion, Alexander would have stayed at home in Macedonia, and they could have opened an antique shop, antiquities being dirt cheap at the time.

Almodovar loves melodrama. So do I. "Lurid" for me is usually a word of praise. The film within the film allows Almodovar to show transgressive sexual behavior at a time during Franco's fascist regime in Spain when it was illegal and so twice as exciting. There is enough sex in the movie to earn it an NC-17 rating, although not enough to make it even distantly pornographic. You see hands and heads moving, and it's up to you to figure out why.

Sex is a given in an Almodovar movie, anyway. It's what his characters do. His movies are never about sex but about consequences and emotions. In "Bad Education," he uses straight and gay (and for that matter, transvestite and transsexual) as categories which the "real" characters and the "fictional" characters use as roles, disguises, strategies, deceptions or simply as a way to make a living. There's no doubt in my mind that Almodovar screened Hitchcock's " Vertigo " before making the movie and was fascinated by the idea of a man asking a woman to pretend to be the woman he loves, without knowing she actually is the woman he loves. When she's not playing that woman, she's giving a performance -- in his life, although it works the other way around in hers.

In Almodovar's story, the Hitchcockian identity puzzle is even more labyrinthine, because the past depicted in Ignacio's screenplay is not quite the past either Ignacio or Enrique remembers, and, for that matter, although Enrique loved Ignacio only 15 years ago, he doesn't think Ignacio looks much like Ignacio anymore. "Zahara," the drag queen, begins to take on a separate identity of his/her own, and then the guilty priest turns up with his own version of events.

Almodovar wants to intrigue and entertain us, and he certainly does, proving along the way that Gael Garcia Bernal has the same kind of screen presence that Antonio Banderas brought to Almodovar's earlier movies. For that matter, as Zahara, he also has the kind of presence that Carmen Maura brought.

Whether Almodovar has a message I am not quite sure. The movie is not an attack on sexually abusive priests, nor does it have a statement to make about homosexuality, which for Almodovar is no more of a topic than heterosexuality is for Clint Eastwood . I think it's really more about erotic role-playing: About the roles we play, the roles other people play, and the roles we imagine them playing and they imagine us playing. If Almodovar is right, some of our most exciting sexual experiences take place entirely within the minds of other people.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Bad Education (2004)

Rated NC-17 for a scene of explicit sexual content

106 minutes

Fele Martinez as Enrique Goded

Javier Camara as Paca

Gael Garcia Bernal as Ignacio/Zahara

Daniel Gimenez Cacho as Father Manolo

Lluis Homar as Sr. Berenguer

Written and directed by

Pedro Almodovar

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The Bad Education Movie

Mr Wickers and his class go on one final school trip after they finish their GCSEs. Mr Wickers and his class go on one final school trip after they finish their GCSEs. Mr Wickers and his class go on one final school trip after they finish their GCSEs.

Elliot Hegarty
Jack Whitehall
Freddy Syborn
Charlie Wernham
Nikki Runeckles
28 User reviews
14 Critic reviews

Alfie Wickers
Mitchell Harper
Chantelle Parsons

Cleopatra 'Cleo' Ofoedo

Joe Poulter
Stephen Carmichael
Leslie 'Rem Dogg' Remmington

Martin Wickers

Rosie Gulliver

Shaquille Fraser

Susan Poulter
Mrs. Carmichael

Zipwire Guy
German Teacher

Grant Dodd (Security Guard)
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Trivia This is a spinoff film, and does not fit into the TV series' timeline. This can be seen where Jing still has her glasses, Rem Dogg is not an emo and Mitchel and Joe still have their old haircuts, but Cleo is in the class. In the TV series, Cleo only joins after these changes have happened.

Alfie Wickers : Look more ill.

Crazy credits "In the production of this film no hamsters, swans or other creatures were subjected to any injury or maltreatment"
Connections Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Lewis Hamilton/Ewan McGregor/Jack Whitehall/Rita Ora (2015)
Soundtracks Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op.30 Composed by Richard Strauss Performed by the Slovak Orchestra

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 30 minutes

bad education film

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