The Blackboard Jungle (1955)

A new teacher (Glenn Ford) at an interracial inner city school finds his students hostile and anti-social and show no interest in education. In an attempt to reach them, he reaches out to one student (Sidney Poitier) who the other kids respect. Based on the novel by Evan Hunter and directed by Richard Brooks (ELMER GANTRY). In 1955, this movie caused quite the ruckus. The film was banned in Tennessee and Georgia, there was violence in theatres and Great Britain insisted on major cuts in the film before it could be released there. It was also the first film that used rock 'n roll on its soundtrack. Alas, nothing dates faster than topicality and the film doesn't hold up. It's so contrived that it comes across as phony and sometimes unintentionally funny. If the film is to be believed, the entire student body is comprised of thugs and bullies. Surely there must have been a handful of good kids. And since this is a public school and not a private school, where are the female students in the film? There's not a single female student to be seen! The students are as believable as the high school students in GREASE. Poitier was 28, Vic Morrow was 26. As cinema, it can't touch REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, still the best film about "juvenile delinquents" ever made. It's of interest today solely because of its historical impact. With Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Richard Kiley, Margaret Hayes, John Hoyt, Paul Mazursky and Rafael Campos.