Blackboard Jungle, the

Glenn Ford, at his slow-to-rile best, plays Richard Dadier, an incoming English teacher at North Manual High School. An idealist who knows how to handle himself in a dark alley, Dadier stands his ground and earns the begrudging respect of school thugs led by Vic Morrow and Sidney Poitier. Anne Francis plays Ford's especially vulnerable wife; Richard Kiley (later in Brooks's Looking for Mr. Goodbar) is the timid math teacher with the priceless jazz-record collection; Louis Calhern and John Hoyt are among the more cynical North Manual High veterans. See if you can ID Jamie Farr and director Paul Mazursky as gang members. The film was nominated for four Oscars. --Glenn Lovell

Most of all, the movie introduced me and a million other kids to Rock and Roll. I remember listening spellbound to "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets at the end of the movie. Something, I perceived in my little noodle brain, had changed -- and nothing would ever be the same again.


Dated yet Current !!   March 9, 2004
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The Blackboard Jungle is a tense drama starring Glenn Ford as a man who has no idea what he is in for as he starts to take a english teacher position at a "inner city" trade school for teen boys.

The movie is basically about a battle betweeen him trying to teach these students not only english but just decency in general and the students resisting all attempts of being reached. The students are thugs portrayed briliantly by Vic Morrow, Sidney Portier,Rafael Campos among many in the classroom. The verbal and sometimes physical interaction between Ford, other struggling new teachers and the students is totally compelling.

An important aspect of the film I think is its handling of the theme in terms of the racial and ethnic diversity of the students. Between this, the violence, and music makes this film unforgettable and still easily relevant to today. FAR SUPERIOR to Rebel Without a Cause.


An honor roll American drama   March 8, 2004
This tough, gritty film created quite a stir in 1955 with its approach to incorrigible students unwilling to learn or listen and their self-destructive tendencies. A brave, tireless teacher is determined to remain at a trade school and try to shape and mold young minds against heavy odds. Richard Dadier [Glenn Ford] is beset by many problems, personal and professional, but he eventually wins over his unruly students by teaching them about life, racial intolerance, and responsibility as well as the three Rs that his charges so desperately need to learn. Dadier remains true to his personal values as he dotes on his pregnant wife who fears another miscarriage, resists the advances of a lonely, sexually frustrated fellow teacher and returns to the classroom to confront and teach the same thugs who beat him and another teacher senseless in an alley. The student body has a diverse ethnic make-up and the volatile racial angle flares up in several scenes. Margaret Hayes has a nice turn as a teacher with plenty of sex appeal and because she doesn't dress like a teacher should, she gets catcalls and whistles from her male students who ogle her figure appreciatively. Sidney Poitier is also good as Miller, the thoughtful student who Dadier targets to pull the other boys into line and turn the tables on Vic Morrow's sneering, lawless thug Artie West.


Blackboard Review   December 3, 2002
The Blackboard Jungle was produced in 1955-a popular time period for movies dealing with teenage delinquency. Richard Dadier is a teacher who gets his first assignment in a rough inner-city school. Dadier has trouble exerting his authority over the students while other teachers have given up.
Gregory Miller, played by Sidney Poitier, is pinpointed by Dadier as the leader of the students. Dadier wants to reach Miller in hopes at reaching other students. But it is soon discovered that Artie West and his student gang rule the school.
Dadier foiled an attempted sexual assault (against another teacher, Ms. Hammond) by one of the students in the gang. The other members vow revenge on Dadier. In the end of the film, West attacks Dadier with a knife and Miller comes to the aid of Dadier.
For me, I feel that the main message about teenagers/youth culture was that kids were often labeled as delinquents without fully understanding them. Dadier assumed that all of the students were problem students, yet really it was a select few. Also, such students', growing up in poorer families, seemed to be labeled as delinquents and thus not much is expected of them or their future. Dadier tries to change this by showing his students that he does care about all of them.
Even though this film was created almost 55 years ago, I think it does a decent job capturing the realities of some youth cultures. I, myself, can not relate to such deviance in school, but I can imagine for those who grew up in urban areas, that students are much more disrespectful, abusive and delinquent, just like they are depicted in the film.
I liked that the film focused on a teacher who was willing to fight for the students. While watching this movie, I am reminded of the film Dangerous Minds. Both movies contain teachers who don't back down from a challenge. They help the students because they want to, not because they have too.