Notorious for being part of the youth movement along with rebel without a cause in the same year and the wild one in 1953
“rock around the clock” bookends the film and is a startling entrée into this world of the asphalt/concrete/city jungle of the film which is really unforgiving
It’s no 400 blows as a coming of age film but it sorts of invents the dramatic teacher-teaching-the inner-city-troubled-youth and making a difference sub-genre
Glenn Ford and Poitier are very good and elevate some of the weak material- poitier is pure intelligence and vitality embodied- a captivating actor even this early in his career- this was his big break
Brooks has sharp photography here- not on the level of in cold blood
Louis Calhern is good in a small role which is sort of like peter boyle’s wizard willy veteran and cynical teacher
Poor narrative leading—one teacher essentially says “I’m going to bring in my expensive, beloved, irreplaceable record collection—I hope nothing bad happens…” it is, of course, totally destroyed
[…] Blackboard Jungle – R. Brooks […]