Blackboard Jungle (1955)

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Evan Hunter (novel)
Richard Brooks (writer)

Release Date:

25 March 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The sensational novel...now on the screen!

Plot:

A new English teacher at a violent, unruly inner-city school is determined to do his job, despite resistance from both students and faculty.

Plot Keywords:

High School | Teacher | Student | Teaching | School Teacher

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Glenn Ford	...	Richard Dadier
Anne Francis	...	Anne Dadier
Louis Calhern	...	Jim Murdock
Margaret Hayes	...	Lois Judby Hammond
John Hoyt	...	Mr. Warneke
Richard Kiley	...	Joshua Y. Edwards
Emile Meyer	...	Mr. Halloran
Warner Anderson	...	Dr. Bradley
Basil Ruysdael	...	Prof. A.R. Kraal
Sidney Poitier	...	Gregory W. Miller
Vic Morrow	...	Artie West
Dan Terranova	...	Belazi
Rafael Campos	...	Pete V. Morales
Paul Mazursky	...	Emmanuel Stoker
Horace McMahon	...	Detective

Also Known As:

The Blackboard Jungle (USA) (review title)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:12 (1996 release) | UK:R | UK:X (August 1955) | Norway:12 (1955) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:7 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #17376)

Filming Locations:

El Segundo, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The original novel was based on author Evan Hunter's own experiences as a teacher in South Bronx. Hunter, who found fame as crime writer Ed McBain, said "I thought I was going to give these kids who want to be motor mechanics Shakespeare and they were going to appreciate it and they weren't buying it. I went home in tears night after night".

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: Set decoration includes cardboard alphabet running across top of blackboard - something rarely seen past a third grade classroom, let alone a high school.

Quotes:

Anne Dadier: I was like one of the bad kids in your class. Somebody told me a lie and I believed it. One's as bad as the other.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mousiki vradya: O Elvis kai i genia tou rock 'n' roll" (1976)

Soundtrack:

Jazz Me Blues

Rock around the clock

"Blackboard Jungle" marked a turn around in films coming from Hollywood. This was a film that dealt with a reality that movies had not dared to touch before in the way they always wanted to sugar coat every picture about teens in high school. The guys one sees here are the real thing, as though taken from any high school in the inner city of that time.

The amazing thing this high school, at the center of the action, is not typical of any other schools in that one males attended and no females are to be seen around them. By making an old male high school, Richard Brooks updated Evan Hunter's novel to show the violent nature of most of those young men that are clearly from under privileged homes, perhaps, boys whose fathers had bolted and left their women to bring up the sons they didn't want to have anything with.

The film is important in that it marked the arrival of a strong actor that would dominate the movies like no other one, Sidney Poitier. With his handsome looks, and his great screen presence, Mr. Poitier was instrumental in breaking into the main stream movies in ways others tried, but didn't make a dent. Perhaps it was in the cards that Hollywood began dealing with a reality they tried to ignore integrating their stories with Blacks that had taken a back seat to other, not so talented performers.

The film works because of the strong performances by Glenn Ford, Vic Morrow and Sidney Poitier. Also, the theme song of the film, "Rock Around the Clock" went to become an anthem for viewers that filled the theaters for the thrill of hearing it play as the film started, putting them in the right frame of mind to accept what they were going to see.

Richard Brooks is the one responsible for the adaptation and the inspired direction for the movie that still resonates because of its raw energy.