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Blackboard Jungle
Long before To Sir with Love, there was 1955's Blackboard Jungle a daring, if slightly melodramatic, look at juvenile delinquency that is best known for bringing several future stars together to tell this hard to swallow story that almost becomes credible thanks to powerhouse performances.
Glenn Ford stars as Richard Dadier, a new teacher at a turbulent inner city school who thinks he can make a difference in the lives of these kids, while caring for his pregnant wife (Anne Francis). Unfortunately, Dadier makes the mistake of looking the other way when the kids start acting out, initiating a hopeless battle for ever getting any respect from these kids.
Director and screenwriter Richard Brooks received his first Oscar nomination for his bold, if at times, hard to believe screenplay that creates unbearable tension almost immediately between Dadier and these hoodlums, but Dadier makes a big mistake when these guys begin to lash out and Dadier chooses to say nothing instead of turning these guys in. Of course, not suffering any consequences for their behavior only causes it to escalate and Dadier doesn't seem to understand why. We actually see a student try to rape a teacher and watch students jump Dadier and a fellow faculty member, beating them to a bloody pulp and the kids show up the next day ready to run the school and Dadier actually appears confused. The battle for control of the hoods between West (Vic Morrow) and Miller (Sidney Poitier) does ring true though.
The deficits in Brooks' screenplay are more than made up with the direction. Brooks keeps this story at a high level of tension throughout, despite some often contrived story twists and turns, not to mention missed opportunities. At the beginning of the film we learn that Dadier's wife's pregnancy is her second, having miscarried the first. We then see the wife being warned by the landlady that she shouldn't be walking around in snow and walking up snow-covered footsteps at the school, but the baby is born complication-free. But we're supposed to believe that the wife had a difficult birth because of a threatening letter the students sent her. Where did a student get a teacher's address?
Despite the problems with the story, Brooks does get some solid performances from a cast of once and future stars. Ford brings a quiet intensity to Dadier and Poitier impresses in his second film appearance as Miller. Veteran Louis Calhern and future Tony and Emmy award winner Richard Kiley make the most of their screen time as Dadier's fellow faculty, as does a very young Vic Morrow, bringing a real Brando quality to West and you will also catch a young bespectacled Jamie Farr in his film debut, where he has one line and if you don't bink, you might recognize future writer/actor/director Paul Mazursky as one of the hoodlums. The screenplay goes some odd places, but the acting and direction make it worth a look. The opening credits also introduce a song you might have heard of called "Rock Around the Clock."
Long before To Sir with Love, there was 1955's Blackboard Jungle a daring, if slightly melodramatic, look at juvenile delinquency that is best known for bringing several future stars together to tell this hard to swallow story that almost becomes credible thanks to powerhouse performances.
Glenn Ford stars as Richard Dadier, a new teacher at a turbulent inner city school who thinks he can make a difference in the lives of these kids, while caring for his pregnant wife (Anne Francis). Unfortunately, Dadier makes the mistake of looking the other way when the kids start acting out, initiating a hopeless battle for ever getting any respect from these kids.
Director and screenwriter Richard Brooks received his first Oscar nomination for his bold, if at times, hard to believe screenplay that creates unbearable tension almost immediately between Dadier and these hoodlums, but Dadier makes a big mistake when these guys begin to lash out and Dadier chooses to say nothing instead of turning these guys in. Of course, not suffering any consequences for their behavior only causes it to escalate and Dadier doesn't seem to understand why. We actually see a student try to rape a teacher and watch students jump Dadier and a fellow faculty member, beating them to a bloody pulp and the kids show up the next day ready to run the school and Dadier actually appears confused. The battle for control of the hoods between West (Vic Morrow) and Miller (Sidney Poitier) does ring true though.
The deficits in Brooks' screenplay are more than made up with the direction. Brooks keeps this story at a high level of tension throughout, despite some often contrived story twists and turns, not to mention missed opportunities. At the beginning of the film we learn that Dadier's wife's pregnancy is her second, having miscarried the first. We then see the wife being warned by the landlady that she shouldn't be walking around in snow and walking up snow-covered footsteps at the school, but the baby is born complication-free. But we're supposed to believe that the wife had a difficult birth because of a threatening letter the students sent her. Where did a student get a teacher's address?
Despite the problems with the story, Brooks does get some solid performances from a cast of once and future stars. Ford brings a quiet intensity to Dadier and Poitier impresses in his second film appearance as Miller. Veteran Louis Calhern and future Tony and Emmy award winner Richard Kiley make the most of their screen time as Dadier's fellow faculty, as does a very young Vic Morrow, bringing a real Brando quality to West and you will also catch a young bespectacled Jamie Farr in his film debut, where he has one line and if you don't bink, you might recognize future writer/actor/director Paul Mazursky as one of the hoodlums. The screenplay goes some odd places, but the acting and direction make it worth a look. The opening credits also introduce a song you might have heard of called "Rock Around the Clock."