Blackboard Jungle

After nearly 50 years, this memorable movie about a New York City high school remains a standard by which so-called 'high school' movies are judged, made and measured. Without Blackboard Jungle, there might not have been a Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Pretty in Pink, or Breakfast Club.

Before Sidney Poitier 'came to dinner', before Vic Morrow went into 'Combat', before Richard Kiley 'dreamed the impossible dream', and, yes, even before Jamie Farr (ne Jameel Farah), donned a dress, they were all part of The Blackboard Jungle. This movie launched quite a few notable careers.

Certainly a classic American motion picture. Glenn Ford stars as a teacher who is proud of his profession and is dedicated to teaching others. He is assigned to an unruly inner city high school filled mostly with teen-age thugs. The general attitude of the schools staff is to just sit on the garbage can (referring to their student body) from year to year. Fords Richard Dadier character attempts to teach these penitentiary candidates is met with resistance led chiefly by the ultimate juvenile delinquent Artie West played masterfully by Vic Morrow.

Well cast with a number of fine actors and actresses virtually all films that followed this one and dealt with unruly schools and students are born from this one. Sidney Poitier turns in a great performance as a student who has academic potential but is torn between his street ways and his desire to become educated and better himself. While watching this film it's hard to imagine any worse situation-taking place in a high school. Yet what has been happening in Americas high schools of recent makes the goings on in the classroom of Richard Dadier seem quite mild. A young Jamie Farr who would achieve fame as Klinger on the long running TV series MASH is cast as a simple minded student in the class of delinquents. None of whom will ever pitch for the Yankees by the way! After seeing this movie you might just say `Oh Daddy-O what a good film'

"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.

I think this film is a perfect example of how children and teenagers never really change. Oh sure the music and fashion is dated and looks prehistoric, the kids use lingo from another time and dance to music from another time, but they still act like teens. They think they are the coolest kids of all time and no one will ever be cooler. Then a new batch of teens show up and a new batch and so and so on. And the unthinkable happens to everyone, they get older and then become the middle age farts who don't understand the new generation. When in reality the new generation isn't doing anything too different from any previous generation. I was a teenager in the '90s, guess what? The '90s are over and there are a new generation of teens now who think THEY are the coolest of all time.

Teens are rebellious and act up. They think they are immortal and can never die. They always have, especially since the 1940s and 1950s of America. Even the Bible documents a group of youths making fun of Elisha's baldness 3,000 years ago, "Go on up you bald head, Go on up you bald head" Poor kids, God came down with two bears and smote them all for making fun of Elisha. Unfortunately, God won't likely solve every youth problem like that anymore. :) Ways have to be found the way Glen Ford does in this film, to reach out to the troubled youth. And adults must always remind themselves that this is not a "new problem" as they so often wish to believe.

I chose to watch Blackboard Jungle after I saw Rebel Without a Cause in Film class. I enjoyed the first movie and after I learned what Jungle was about, I assumed that I would enjoy it as much as Rebel. I was wrong; I enjoyed Blackboard Jungle twice as much.

Blackboard Jungle premiered in 1955, the same year as Rebel Without a Cause and historical milestones such as Rosa Parks' monumental protest of bus segregation. In fact, race relations pay an important part in this film, which I will discuss later. The movie is about a teacher, Richard Dadier, who accepts a job at North Manual High School. At this school, he encounters a school-wide discipline problem. The two main perpetrators in Dadier's class are Gregory Miller, a black student whom Dadier comes to see much promise in, and Vic Morrow, the true instigator of violence, whose gang attacks Dadier. Over the course of the film, Dadier also encounters apathetic teachers, a principal in denial, and a wife who gives birth prematurely. Eventually, Dadier must decide if his pursuit to teach is important enough to endure the hardship.

This movie brings up some very important issues that were just important in 1955 as they are in 2001. Violence in schools is still a major topic, culminating in the Columbine shooting which everyone should remember. Also important is how teachers are to deal with this threat. Dadier dealt with it by reaching out to Miller and by confronting Morrow. But is this a realistic scenario? Sometimes students just cannot be reached, and it is irresponsible to ask teachers to directly confront weapon-totin students who have a propensity for violence. This just goes to show that solving violence in schools is difficult. It has taken at least 46 years; it will probably take many more.

No female students are portrayed in Blackboard Jungle. This contributes to the stereotype that usually teenage boys are the ones who instigate violence. Of course, the statistics show that male students are mostly responsible for school violence, and many stereotypes exist for a reason. Rebel Without a Cause demonstrates the female role in school insubordination well, by including a woman in the main gang. Still, I would have liked to see a female student element in Jungle, to show that girls are often involved, and that they also influence male student's behavior.

For the era, the racial attitude of Blackboard Jungle is very progressive. Dadier confronts racial slurs in the classroom. The principal, who was tipped off by a student that Dadier was using racial epithets (when all he was demonstrating was the dangerous consequences of such racism), is not happy with this report and chastises Dadier. Both situations show that two important protagonists object to racism, signifying the film's aversion to this social aspect. This comes just after Brown v Board, simultaneous to Rosa Parks' significance, and long before the high point of the Civil Rights Movement. Blackboard Jungle should undoubtedly be recognized for its attitude on race relations and other controversial elements, such as rock and roll. At a time when rock music was still controversial and outside the mainstream, Blackboard Jungle opened and closed with Bill Haley and the Comet's "Rock Around the Clock." This was a bold step to take and was one of the reasons that the film was banned from many theatres. The relatively violent content also contributed to the barring of the movie and probably contributed to many riots that occurred in theatres while the movie was shown.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie, both for the issues it addressed, its support for educators and their responsibilities, and for its entertainment value alone. I highly recommend this film to anyone who is interested in educational dilemma, or someone who simply would enjoy a classic film with a progressive, realistic attitude. However, for anyone looking for a clone of Rebel Without a Cause, they won't find what they're looking for, but I guarantee they will enjoy it just the same.