The Blackboard Jungle

Director: Richard Brooks

Overview

"Richard Brooks' Blackboard Jungle (1955) never had a distinguished history on laserdisc (it wasn't even letterboxed, if this reviewer recalls correctly), but it's been given first-class treatment on DVD from Warner Home Video. In addition to a sparkling

Product Details

Release Date:	05/10/2005
UPC:	0012569690325
Original Release:	1955
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Home Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:40:00
Sales rank:	22,401

Special Features

Closed Caption;Commentary by co-stars Paul Mazursky and Jamie Farr, Glenn Ford's son Peter Ford, and assistant director Joel Freeman; Droopy cartoon "Blackboard Jumble"; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Glenn Ford	Richard Dadier
Anne Francis	Anne Dadier
Louis Calhern	Jim Murdock
Sidney Poitier	Miller
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
Vic Morrow	Artie West
Dan Terranova	Belazi
Rafael Campos	Pete V. Morales,Actor
Paul Mazursky	Emmanuel Stoker
Horace MacMahon	Detective
Jameel Farah	Santini
Danny Dennis	DeLiea
Richard Deacon	Actor
Dorothy Neumann	Miss Panucci
Virginia Pherrin	Actor
Chris G. Randall	Actor
Henny Backus	Actor
David Alpert	Lou Savoldi
Peter Miller	Actor
Yoski Tomita	Actor
Maggie Hayes	Lois Judby Hammond
Emile G. Meyer	Mr. Halloran
Horace McMahon	Detective
Robert Foulk	Mr. Katz
Paul Hoffman	Mr. Lefkowitz
Tom McKee	Manners
Manuel Par?s	Proprietor
Jamie Farr	Santini
Teddy Infuhr	Actor
Warren Hamilton	Actor
Charles Wolcott	Composer

Technical Credits

Richard Brooks

Evan Hunter

Richard Brooks	Screenwriter
Pandro S. Berman	Producer
Evan Hunter	Screenwriter
Wesley C. Miller	Sound Effects

Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. Foreword and Credits [1:54]
2. Job Interview [4:12]
3. If You Can Handle Them [3:12]
4. Nothing's Going to Happen [2:25]
5. First Day [3:14]
6. Okay, Chief [3:10]
7. Mr. Daddy-O [5:56]
8. Miss Hammond Attacked [:27]
9. Wrong Direction [3:50]
10. To Teaching [4:10]
11. Street Fight [3:38]
12. Another Crack [3:27]
13. It Will Happen Again [2:59]
14. Stinking Talk [1:37]
15. The the Principal's Office [5:46]
16. Losing His Head [4:08]
17. West's Classroom [1:45]
18. Broken Records [2:58]
19. Watch Your Husband [4:05]
20. Musical Talent [5:45]
21. Jack Analysis [2:26]
22. Interested [5:07]
23. Don't Quit [3:55]
24. Hospital Emergency [1:50]
25. Happy New Year [3:34]
26. Knifepoint [4:47]
27. Keeping Their Pact [6:54]
28. Cast List [2:26]

Menu

Side #1 --
Play Movie
Scene Selections
Special Features
Commentary by Peter Ford, Paul Mazursky, Jamie Farr and Joel Freeman
Blackboard Jumble
Theatrical Trailer
Languages

Editorial Reviews

Blackboard Jungle has been tainted somewhat by the countless imitators that followed it. It's difficult to see this movie in context as the shocking "exposé" that it felt like in 1955. Compared to the latest "remakes," like Stand and Deliver and Dangerous Minds, the shocking urban delinquents in Jungle seem more Happy Days than street gang. But in its time, Blackboard Jungle, along with Rebel Without a Cause (also 1955) and The Wild One (1954), showed the mainstream public a scary and unfamiliar fringe of the youth movement. Even without the historical context, this is still a fine drama with excellent performances. Vic Morrow (as Artie West -- a tough guy named Artie?) and the impressive Sidney Poitier are both remembered for their quality performances as two of the students, but it is Glenn Ford who holds the movie together. Ford, who was at about the height of his popularity when this picture came out, draws on his past roles in Westerns and noir thrillers to remain resolute while letting just enough of the menace get to him to be human. Writer/director Richard Brooks made a number of excellent films between the mid-'50s and the mid-'70s, but surprisingly he was never awarded an Academy Award for his directing. He did win an Oscar for his scripting of Elmer Gantry.