Blackboard Jungle (1955)

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Evan Hunter (novel)
Richard Brooks (writer)

Release Date:

25 March 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The sensational novel...now on the screen!

Plot:

A new English teacher at a violent, unruly inner-city school is determined to do his job, despite resistance from both students and faculty.

Plot Keywords:

High School | Teacher | Student | Teaching | School Teacher

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Glenn Ford	...	Richard Dadier
Anne Francis	...	Anne Dadier
Louis Calhern	...	Jim Murdock
Margaret Hayes	...	Lois Judby Hammond
John Hoyt	...	Mr. Warneke
Richard Kiley	...	Joshua Y. Edwards
Emile Meyer	...	Mr. Halloran
Warner Anderson	...	Dr. Bradley
Basil Ruysdael	...	Prof. A.R. Kraal
Sidney Poitier	...	Gregory W. Miller
Vic Morrow	...	Artie West
Dan Terranova	...	Belazi
Rafael Campos	...	Pete V. Morales
Paul Mazursky	...	Emmanuel Stoker
Horace McMahon	...	Detective
Jamie Farr	...	Santini (as Jameel Farah)
Danny Dennis	...	De Lica
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Alpert	...	Lou Savoldi (uncredited)
Jimmy Ames	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Dwayne Avery	...	Student (uncredited)
Ben Avila	...	Student (uncredited)
Henny Backus	...	Miss Brady (uncredited)
Doyle Baker	...	Wilson (uncredited)
Benny Burt	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Joan Danton	...	Irate Mother (uncredited)
Richard Deacon	...	Mr. Stanley, Teacher in lounge (uncredited)
Valentin de Vargas	...	Latino student (uncredited)
Gary Diamond	...	Child (uncredited)
James Drury	...	Hospital Attendant (uncredited)
Del Erickson	...	Student (uncredited)
John Erman	...	Daly - Student seated behind Artie in class (uncredited)
Robert Foulk	...	George Katz (uncredited)
Jack Gargan	...	Electrician (uncredited)
Paul Hoffman	...	Mr. Lefkowitz (uncredited)
Teddy Infuhr	...	Needles - a Teenager (uncredited)
Tommy Ivo	...	Frightened Student (uncredited)
Ike Jones	...	Mechanic (uncredited)
Nikki Juston	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp	...	Italian Restaurant Table Extra (uncredited)
Carl Kress	...	Peewee (uncredited)
Mickey Little	...	Boy on Bus (uncredited)
Tom McKee	...	Manners (uncredited)
Jerry Mickelsen	...	Krauss (uncredited)
Peter Miller	...	Joe Murray, Attacker of Miss Hammond (uncredited)
Jimmy Murphy	...	Frank Adams (uncredited)
Dorothy Neumann	...	Miss Panucci (uncredited)
Manuel París	...	Italian Restaurant Proprietor (uncredited)
Virginia Pherrin	...	Teacher in Lounge (uncredited)
Gerald Phillips	...	Carter (uncredited)
Chris Randall	...	Levy (uncredited)
William Rhinehart	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Willard Sage	...	Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
B.W. Sandefur	...	Student (uncredited)
Emil Sitka	...	Father (uncredited)
Bobby Somers	...	Student (uncredited)
Lee Stanley	...	Kid (uncredited)
Steve Stevens	...	Boy on Bus (uncredited)
Yoshihiro Tomita	...	Tomita (uncredited)
Skip Torgerson	...	Boy on Bus (uncredited)
Martha Wentworth	...	Mrs. Brophy (uncredited)
Jerry Wynne	...	Murphy (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Brooks

Writing credits
Evan Hunter		(novel "The Blackboard Jungle")
Richard Brooks		(writer)

Produced by
Pandro S. Berman	....	producer

Original Music by
Scott Bradley		(uncredited)
Charles Wolcott		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Russell Harlan		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Ferris Webster

Art Direction by
Randall Duell
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Henry Grace
Edwin B. Willis

Makeup Department
William Tuttle	....	makeup artist
Dave Grayson	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joel Freeman	....	assistant director
Hank Moonjean	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Wesley C. Miller	....	sound recording supervisor

Stunts
Eli Bo Jack Blackfeather	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Charles Wolcott	....	music adaptor

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Blackboard Jungle (USA) (review title)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:12 (1996 release) | UK:R | UK:X (August 1955) | Norway:12 (1955) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:7 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #17376)

Filming Locations:

El Segundo, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Clare Boothe Luce, then US Ambassador to Italy, prevented the film from being shown at the Venice Film Festival. A Senate committee had decided that the film would not have beneficial effects on the youth of the day.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the hoods break Josh's record collection, one of the kids starts playing a record and we hear music. During one part of the scene we see the phonograph arm playing the final groove of the record indicating that the record has finished playing, but we can still hear the music.

Quotes:

Richard Dadier: Yeah, I've been beaten up, but I'm not beaten. I'm not beaten, and I'm not quittin'.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Charles in Charge: The Blackboard Bungle (#3.23)" (1988)

Soundtrack:

(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock

"Hey Teach, you're in my classroom now"

Blackboard Jungle is one of the seminal films in Glenn Ford's career. 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.

One of the aspects of Blackboard Jungle that is never discussed is the problem, still very much with us today, of illiteracy. 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. That's when he reaches them and also takes control of the situation in his classroom away from the school thug as graphically portrayed by Vic Morrow.

I was involved with someone for many years and his literacy level was very low. It made him angry and unable to handle the world and all the problems he had in life. He had a worse situation than the kids in The Blackboard Jungle. He was raised in a group home where they didn't care at all if you learned anything.

Blackboard Jungle is also memorable for the use of a previously recorded song by Bill Haley and the Comets that sold a few records the year earlier, but didn't set the world on fire. Director Richard Brooks heard it in young Peter Ford's collection and decided it would be his theme. Rock Around the Clock became a rock and roll institution after The Blackboard Jungle was out in theaters.

Blackboard Jungle also started another less fortunate trend. That of picking very obviously adult actors to play high school kids. A trend that has continued to this day with such shows as Beverly Hills 90210 carrying on the tradition. Capable players that they are and they certainly delivered fine performances, Sidney Poitier and Vic Morrow don't look like high school kids, especially not next to Rafael Campos who was in the correct age bracket when the film was being shot.

Teacher burnout is also covered in Blackboard Jungle with Louis Calhern leading the pack of cynics Glenn Ford has as colleagues. In many ways Blackboard Jungle is the grandfather of a film like Stand and Deliver where Edward James Olmos is the dedicated math teacher of inner city kids a generation later. Other than ethnic, not too much difference between Richard Dadier and Jaime Escalante.

Richard Brooks assembled and directed a cast that made a classic that's still agonizingly relevant today.