To Sir, With Love is a 1967 British drama film starring Sidney Poitier that deals with social and racial issues in an inner city school. James Clavell both directed and wrote the film's screenplay, based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by E. R. Braithwaite. Sidney Poiter plays Mark Thackeray, a teacher originally from British Guiana, now Guyana, who recently moved from the United States. The plot primarily centers around Thackeray's idealism clashing with his teenage pupils' cynicism.