Schoolroom scenarios: A young high school instructor gets into a classroom altercation with a knife-wielding student who is high on drugs; the same teacher is angrily confronted by the principal about his alleged use of the "N-word" in class; and a student sexually assaults a female teacher, who is a shade too provocatively dressed.
News headlines from 2016? Nope: they're scenes from BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, Richard Brooks' classic 1955 drama about juvenile delinquency in an inner city high school.
The burning, roiling film packs an enormous punch, thanks in large part to a powerhouse cast. As Rick Dadier, the young teacher, Glenn Ford impresses us as one of the most underrated actors of Hollywood's Golden Era. With his intense straight-arrow style, Ford embodies Dadier's idealism, love for his wife and (soon-to-be) family, and determination to bring healing to the social decay around him.
If any actor was destined to become America's first black movie star it was surely Sidney Poitier, whose magnetism, handsomeness and compulsive likability are displayed here at an early stage of his career as upperclassman Gregory Miller (one of three black students in Dadier's class). Equally adept at leading a singing group and fixing an automobile, Miller has more potential than the other toughs in the school. As Dadier takes him under his wing, we root for him to carve out a successful life away from the "jungle."
Dadier's chief antagonist is grungy gang leader Artie West, given raw life by Vic Morrow, whose nihilism is so well reasoned out that it almost seems a plausible life option. West's confrontation of Dadier with a switch knife creates the film's climactic scene; his destructive actions are stopped (symbolically perhaps, in light of the film's patriotic commitments) by a large American flat wielded by a resourceful student.
The female roles are ably contrasted by young Anne Francis as Anne Dadier, who brings a new child into the world while enduring vicious rumors about her husband's fidelity; and Margaret Hayes, as the slightly mixed-up new teacher who has misguided ways of filling the emptiness of her life, including flirting with Dadier.
Most enjoyable among the supporting players is Louis Calhern as the conservative and cynical older teacher who considers his charges a lost cause. You may remember Calhern from the Marx Brothers' DUCK SOUP, among other offerings of the '30s, as well as a '50s film noir with a similar title to this one: THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (with Marilyn Monroe). While Calhern may seem almost too distinguished to be teaching at a high school - especially such a low-grade one as this - his peppery jibes add much wit to the proceedings.
A number of recognizable character actors of the past (and future) appear in the cast: John Hoyt as the principled principal; Jamie Farr (of later M*A*S*H fame) and Paul Mazursky as somewhat less dissolute students; and even Richard Deacon (chrome-dome corporate type on Leave It to Beaver and The Dick Van Dyke Show) as a teacher. Not to mention Richard Kiley as poor naïve novice Josh Edwards, who comes to painfully regret bringing his prized record collection into his class.
Shot in the best '50s black-and-white documentary realist style, Blackboard moves at a brisk clip and doesn't outstay its welcome. Brooks' screenplay mediates deftly between the civilized world of the adults and the gritty world of the juveniles, replete with earthy examples of mid-century slang (much of it scrubbed up from Evan Hunter's racier novel).
With its still-relevant social themes and ground-breaking rock n' roll soundtrack, BLACKBOARD JUNGLE is guaranteed to raise eyebrows and discussions. Show it to anyone whose vision of the '50s is limited to "Ozzie and Harriet."
News headlines from 2016? Nope: they're scenes from BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, Richard Brooks' classic 1955 drama about juvenile delinquency in an inner city high school.
The burning, roiling film packs an enormous punch, thanks in large part to a powerhouse cast. As Rick Dadier, the young teacher, Glenn Ford impresses us as one of the most underrated actors of Hollywood's Golden Era. With his intense straight-arrow style, Ford embodies Dadier's idealism, love for his wife and (soon-to-be) family, and determination to bring healing to the social decay around him.
If any actor was destined to become America's first black movie star it was surely Sidney Poitier, whose magnetism, handsomeness and compulsive likability are displayed here at an early stage of his career as upperclassman Gregory Miller (one of three black students in Dadier's class). Equally adept at leading a singing group and fixing an automobile, Miller has more potential than the other toughs in the school. As Dadier takes him under his wing, we root for him to carve out a successful life away from the "jungle."
Dadier's chief antagonist is grungy gang leader Artie West, given raw life by Vic Morrow, whose nihilism is so well reasoned out that it almost seems a plausible life option. West's confrontation of Dadier with a switch knife creates the film's climactic scene; his destructive actions are stopped (symbolically perhaps, in light of the film's patriotic commitments) by a large American flat wielded by a resourceful student.
The female roles are ably contrasted by young Anne Francis as Anne Dadier, who brings a new child into the world while enduring vicious rumors about her husband's fidelity; and Margaret Hayes, as the slightly mixed-up new teacher who has misguided ways of filling the emptiness of her life, including flirting with Dadier.
Most enjoyable among the supporting players is Louis Calhern as the conservative and cynical older teacher who considers his charges a lost cause. You may remember Calhern from the Marx Brothers' DUCK SOUP, among other offerings of the '30s, as well as a '50s film noir with a similar title to this one: THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (with Marilyn Monroe). While Calhern may seem almost too distinguished to be teaching at a high school - especially such a low-grade one as this - his peppery jibes add much wit to the proceedings.
A number of recognizable character actors of the past (and future) appear in the cast: John Hoyt as the principled principal; Jamie Farr (of later M*A*S*H fame) and Paul Mazursky as somewhat less dissolute students; and even Richard Deacon (chrome-dome corporate type on Leave It to Beaver and The Dick Van Dyke Show) as a teacher. Not to mention Richard Kiley as poor naïve novice Josh Edwards, who comes to painfully regret bringing his prized record collection into his class.
Shot in the best '50s black-and-white documentary realist style, Blackboard moves at a brisk clip and doesn't outstay its welcome. Brooks' screenplay mediates deftly between the civilized world of the adults and the gritty world of the juveniles, replete with earthy examples of mid-century slang (much of it scrubbed up from Evan Hunter's racier novel).
With its still-relevant social themes and ground-breaking rock n' roll soundtrack, BLACKBOARD JUNGLE is guaranteed to raise eyebrows and discussions. Show it to anyone whose vision of the '50s is limited to "Ozzie and Harriet."