Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Richie-67-485852 Juvenile Deliqnency is always a good movie subject because you can do so much with it. In this movie, they went all out showing armed robbery, assault, gangs, drinking, mayhem, attempted rape and even what appears to be attempted murder. Of course New York city is the prime area for all this and the 50's times make it real enough. Being a non-conformist and a rebel was considered cool, a badge of honor and the way to be. The problem was that if you got too good at it you didn't graduate so the kids pushed it to the limit to get away with as much as they could within limits. Here, some teachers, a school principal and others take a stand and try to turn it around. One man does an exceptional job of it but at a cost which turned out to be worth it but could just as easily taken his life. At some point in the movie, one of the wayward kids says something like this when talking to a teacher after school: out here, this is my classroom and I can flunk you for real which has a chilling affect of realism. Reaching children of any age takes skill and commitment and the this movie makes that point and then some. Enjoy the supporting cast. Good snack movie and of course with a tasty drink. I never cared much for school because I didn't understand what was required or why. The school of life appealed to me more...enjoy

evanston_dad Probably the granddaddy of all those films about a headstrong teacher who's able to break through to a bunch of underprivileged kids when everyone else has given up on them and, though the oldest, the toughest and most biting of the ones I've seen.Unlike other movies of its kind, where the teacher pretty much becomes the best friend of everyone in his/her class, "Blackboard Jungle" doesn't wrap things up as cosily or tidily. Glenn Ford's teacher certainly earns his class's respect, but not completely their trust. And Ford is not the saint in teacher's clothing that you might think a film from 1955 would make him. In one key encounter with an African-American student (Sidney Poitier) who he has singled out as having the makings of a leader, Ford's character exposes the racism that he knows he shouldn't feel but does anyway. In a decade of films not known for their nuance or subtlety, "Blackboard Jungle" handles the question of race in a somewhat delicate manner and makes a much more complex study of it than audiences who are used to many of the other cinematic offerings from around the same time period would expect.Another thing that struck me about the film was its handling of the World War and its aftermath. In the 1950s, a film could perhaps be critical of war in the abstract, but it would find itself on thin ice if it tried to be too critical of America's involvement in World War II, and it certainly could not suggest that there were serious social problems as a result of the war. This was a decade in which people wanted to believe in the American Dream, that men were proud to serve their country and settle into lives as worker drones and that women were happy to be doting housewives. What to make of a film like "Blackboard Jungle," then, that outright blames the absentee parenting brought about by the social upheaval of the war for juvenile delinquency? And the film is honest too about America's treatment of draftees to its wars. The kids in this film, poor and disenfranchised, know that they'll be the first ones drafted into Korea or whatever war America will be fighting next, treated like grunts, and disposed of when their usefulness expires.Glenn Ford gives a truly terrific performance in "Blackboard Jungle," an award-worthy one that nevertheless went unnoticed for awards attention. The film did garner four Academy Award nominations though it won none of them: Best Screenplay (Richard Brooks, who also directed), Best Art Direction (B&W), Best Cinematography (B&W) and Best Film Editing.Grade: A

tavm Having first seen this on VHS during the '90s, I decided to again watch Blackboard Jungle on DVD knowing-since this is Black History Month-this was one of Sidney Poitier's breakout performances. He plays Gregory Miller, who we find out is in the choir at the high school and also has a job as a mechanic. Glenn Ford-as his teacher Richard Dadier-tries to steer him to the straight and narrow even as his other students, especially Vic Morrow as Artie West, prove more troublesome. I'll stop there and just say this was quite compellingly shocking for its time, so much so that a disclaimer at the beginning had to assure mainstream viewers that the depiction of the school was pure fiction! Oh, and this proved to be such a popular movie that the song that started it, "Rock Around the Clock", which hadn't done much beforehand, suddenly became the No. 1 hit for Bill Haley and His Comets and basically started the Rock 'n' Roll era! So on that note, I highly recommend Blackboard Jungle. P.S. I also highly recommend the accompanying commentary on the disc provided by players Paul Mazursky, and Jamie Farr (credited in the movie as Jameel Farah), assistant director Joel Freeman, as well as Peter Ford, Glenn's son, who mentions how director Richard Brooks came to pick the theme song after listening to Peter's copy of the record.

spencer beck First and Foremost the movie starred not one, but two great actors, Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier. Glenn Ford played as an inspiring teacher(Richard Dadier) that fights to gain the respect from an African American boy named Miller(Sidney Poitier) whom he believes to be the source and leader of juvenile delinquency in an all boy high school class. Later in the movie Glenn Ford character realizes that he sought this respect all for the wrong reasons and realized flaws within himself that he changed, thus, allowing him and the student, Miller, to become friends.The overall movie was entertaining to me. It had a lot of aspects that we look for in movies today. It was a mixture of drama and comedy. Besides that the main purpose of this 1950's "B" movie was to attack social and ethic clashes and anxieties going on in America such as: As early on in the movie the camera constantly focuses on the African American student whenever something bad happened. For example, while having his back turned Dadier gets a baseball thrown at him, immediately the camera focuses on Miller. After class, Dadier holds Miller back to talk to him and accuses him of throwing the baseball even though he had no real proof of him doing it. In this case, the movie uses Glenn Ford's character to symbolize the "color blindness" in white middle class Americans. Dadier's constant negative attention towards Miller proves to be racist and this is clarified in the scene where Dadier explodes and screams at Miller "Why, you black . .." but immediately realizes what he said and apologizes.At the time, Americans had the idea that African American males longed for white women. Thus, white females avoided African American males due to the fear that they would be raped. The reading discussed this anxiety as well as a social structure called, Triangulation. This triangle structure consisted of a white male, black male and white female. It stated that in order for a black and white male to become friends the white female has to be removed from the equation. This relates to, Blackboard Jungle, because for Dadier and Miller to become friends Wes, the white delinquent that takes the role of the female in the triangulation, had to be removed. This was evident and proved to be correct because when Dadier finally realized that it wasn't Miller that was causing him stress and that it was Wes, and when Miller realized that the real racist was Wes and not Dadier, the two were then able to oppose Wes, thus, making their bond stronger.