Blackboard Jungle
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Blackboard Jungle | |
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IMDB Page (external link) | |
| Written by: | Richard Brooks, based on the novel by Evan Hunter |
| Starring: | Glenn Ford, Sidney Poitier, Vic Morrow |
| Directed by: | Richard Brooks |
| Photography by: | Russell Harlan |
| Art direction by: | Cedric Gibbons and Randall Duell |
| Edited by: | Ferris Webster |
| Music by: | Bill Haley and the Comets |
| Distributed by: | MGM |
| Release Date: | 1955 |
| Awards: | 1955 Academy Award Nominations, Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Cimematography; Best Art Direction; and Film Editing |
Blackboard Jungle (also known as The Blackboard Jungle) is a 1955 motion picture of social commentary that catalysed a genre of teacher dramas.
Cultural impact
The film is very much in a, now established, genre in which an idealistic teacher is confronted with a class of cynical teenagers, disengaged by 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: To Sir, with Love (starring Poitier as a black teacher in a white school in 1967), Stand and Deliver (1988), Lean on Me and Dead Poets Society (both in 1989), and Dangerous Minds (1995).
The film has also been seen as a pioneer in its use of the Rock and Roll and rockabilly music of Bill Haley and the Comets; the use of Rock Around the Clock, a B-side, over the film's opening credits established that song as an instant classic.
The music led to a huge teenage audience for the film; their exuberance sometimes overflowed into violence and vandalism at screenings. In this sense, it has been seen as marking the start of a period of visible teenage rebellion in the late 20th century.
Plot summary
Richard Dadier (Glenn Ford) is a teacher at an inner-city school where the anti-social behaviour of the pupils, led by Artie West (Vic Morrow) holds sway. Dadier challenges both staff and pupils but the conflict results in anonymous threats against his family. Dadier suspects the black pupil Gregory Miller (Poitier), and issues of prejudice are explored as the plot is resolved.