For me the key to the whole story is when Ford has to get down to the level of running a movie cartoon of Jack and the Beanstalk in order to communicate with them.

One of the aspects of Blackboard Jungle that is never discussed is the problem, still very much with us today, of illiteracy. As Richard Dadier, newly minted teacher going into one of the inner city schools in New York City, he's nervous, but full of idealism and commitment that he can make a difference in the lives of these kids. Richard Brooks is the one responsible for the adaptation and the inspired direction for the movie that still resonates because of its raw energy.īlackboard Jungle is one of the seminal films in Glenn Ford's career. 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. The film works because of the strong performances by Glenn Ford, Vic Morrow and Sidney Poitier. 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. Poitier was instrumental in breaking into the main stream movies in ways others tried, but didn't make a dent. With his handsome looks, and his great screen presence, Mr. 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. 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 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.

The guys one sees here are the real thing, as though taken from any high school in the inner city of that time.

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. 'Blackboard Jungle' marked a turn around in films coming from Hollywood.

The blackboard jungle by evan hunter