In terms of impact on the public, this was one of the most important films ever made in America. When it was released there in 1955, it caused an earthquake of terrified and enraged response from around the country. Some people might say no one was shocked, but in my experience everyone I knew was. I was a child when I saw it, and I was shocked to the tips of my toes. But then I was not yet a teenager, and teenagers were incomprehensible psychologically disturbed creatures as far as I could see from my perspective. The scene which most upset me then was the breaking of poor Mr. Edwards's 78 rpm record collection. It was obvious to me that West, the boy brilliantly played by Vic Morrow, was psychopathic, and it is well known that psychopaths cannot bear to hear music, especially good music. It was obviously too much for Vic Morrow to hear Bix Beiderbecke playing jazz (see my review of the film about his life, YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN, aka YOUNG MAN OF MUSIC, 1950), so he had to smash the records. All the parents I knew, met, or overheard talking to one another were in a state of utter shock about this film and had become neurotic overnight about what might be happening in the classroom with little Johnny. This film blew the lid off the suppressed story of classroom violence, and of what were becoming known, to every parent's terror, as 'juvenile delinquents'. This was when feral youth began. The lead character in this film is a dedicated teacher played by square-jawed and honourable Glenn Ford, whose name is Mr. Dadier. The kids in the class tease him by mispronouncing his name and calling him 'Daddio'. From this origin came the 'cool' expression 'Hey Daddio' which tough kids in gangs then used as part of their street slang all over America for another 20 years or so, and less than one percent of the kids who said that had ever seen or heard of the film from which the expression came. So is slang created in the least likely of ways. I was electrified as a child when this film began, when I heard on the soundtrack over the credits the totally new experience of rock and roll music. The song 'Rock around the Clock' sung by Bill Haley and the Comets sent shock waves through all young people, even as young as me. No one I knew had ever heard such a sound, or could imagine such music. This song and this film ignited a revolution in the world of popular music which meant that the world would never be the same again. It also suddenly seemed acceptable for youth to be rebellious, raucous, and irreverent. Not like the 'juvenile delinquents' in the film of course, who were too extreme and violent, but just as a general idea of youth unleashed. 'The younger generation' as a separate stratum of society was born at this moment too. We all saw the film, and you couldn't keep us out of the cinemas. It was like a forest fire that spread across a continent. Glenn Ford became such a hero after this that all the films where he played a sergeant or a captain in the Army, or a police detective, were as nothing compared to the courage he showed in that violent school in New York City. It was as if Glenn Ford had really done that. We didn't think of him as an actor anymore: BLACKBOARD JUNGLE was too real to be fiction, and he had to be real too. His wife Anne Francis did not attract much respect, as she was too feeble and played a rather insipid goody-goody prone to irrational jealousies. Louis Calhern was superb as an older teacher of 12 years' experience at the school who had become a hardened cynic. When he spoke his words of wisdom, we all listened, believing every word. This film was, above all, about ourselves, the young people. I may have been only an apprentice youth, but I was still amongst the group below the level of the parents who were suddenly looked upon by our elders with the same fear as if we were wild Indians circling a wagon train (a wagon train which might even be defended by Glenn Ford). This film was the seventh screen appearance of Sidney Poitier, though the first in which he was really noticed. He played a boy of 18 even though he was really 28, which was a considerable feat, as he pulled it off. His role as Miller made a big impact with everyone and essentially made his future career. The film was written and directed by Richard Brooks, who generally wrote his own scripts. Apart from this one, his three best films were probably the two Tennessee Williams films which he adapted, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958) and SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH (1962), as well as the amazing ELMER GANTRY (1960), the screenplay of which won him an Oscar. Brooks was not afraid to tackle significant subjects (ELMER GANTRY was about an evangelical preacher, and his later film of Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD of 1969 was an attempt to deal with murder from a philosophical perspective, though not everyone appreciated Capote's viewpoint, including myself). There are few films of which one can honestly say that it changed society, but BLACKBOARD JUNGLE is certainly one of those. It holds up very well to viewing today, and has not lost its power. For the sake of perspective, after seeing it, one should then watch the magnificent modern film about this problem, FREEDOM WRITERS (2007, see my review). Both of these films deal with some of the most serious issues of any society, and both are classics deserving of the highest respect. Both are also absorbing and compulsive dramas of the utmost integrity.
Review of Blackboard Jungle
