Blackboard Jungle

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  December 10, 2009

  jxxx84

  Recommended by Arianeta

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  December 10, 2009

  Arianeta

  Blackboard Jungle is a 1955 social commentary film about teachers in an inner-city school. It is based on the novel of the same name by Evan Hunter.
  The movie is hard hitting and probably a better representation of juvenile delinquency in the nineteen fifties than Rebel Without ...( read more)A Cause or The Wild One. The story revolves around an idealistic teacher on his first job in a tough urban all male high school.
  Richard Dadier (Glenn Ford) is the teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils, led by an African American student, Gregory Miller (Sidney Poitier), frequently engage in anti-social behaviour. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes; he first suspects Miller, but later realizes that Artie West (Vic Morrow) is the perpetrator, and challenges him in a showdown-type scenario in the classroom.
  
  The film has also been credited with sparking the rock and roll revolution by featuring Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock", over the film's opening credits, as well as in the first scene, in an instrumental version in the middle of the film, and at the close of the movie, establishing that song as an instant classic. Popularized by its use in the film, "Rock Around the Clock" reached number one on the Billboard charts, and remained there for eight weeks. The music also led to a huge teenage audience for the film, and their exuberant response to it sometimes overflowed into violence and vandalism at screenings. In this sense, the film has been seen as marking the start of a period of visible teenage rebellion in the late 20th century.
  The film marked a watershed in the United Kingdom. When shown at a South London Cinema in 1956 the teenage teddy boy audience began to riot, tearing up seats and dancing in the aisles. After that riots took place around the country wherever the film was shown.
  Blackboard Jungle was the first of what would become a popular genre: the film in which an idealistic teacher is confronted with a class of cynical teenagers, who have disengaged from conventional schooling. As so often in later films, issues of race and class lie at the heart of the dynamics. Subsequent films that exploited the theme include:
  Blackboard Jungle was a shocking film for its time and several cities banned the movie which only served to contribute to its success. Some cities banned it because of its multi-racial content while others did it because of fear that it would spark violence. Even today it is a disturbing film.

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  September 12, 2009

  arashxak

  Not a weak depiction actually but frankly not my kind of film, I couldn't care less about its characters

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  August 3, 2009

  joyndick

  A new teacher goes into a school and with work on his part manages to turn an impossible class into good students.

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  June 15, 2009

  placeinthesun455

  the great original teacher movie. the writing and acting are above average, but not significantly. I give the story credit for tackling such tough material, especially in 1955, but unfortunately like just about every other teacher movie, actual reality takes a back seat to sent...( read more)imental Hollywoodized reality. nonetheless, it's still a well-made and enjoyable film with memorable characters and pioneering subject-matter.

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  January 23, 2009

  douchebagter

  No thankyou - Not interested

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  October 4, 2008

  01MovieMan

  The oldies music on this movie is great

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• Blackboard Jungle