Blackboard Jungle



In a 1983 interview, writer-director Richard Brooks claimed that hearing Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954 inspired him to make a rock & roll-themed picture. The result was Blackboard Jungle, an adaptation of the controversial novel by Evan Hunter about an inner-city schoolteacher (played in the film by Glenn Ford) tackling juvenile delinquency and the lamentable state of public education — common bugaboos of the Eisenhower era.

Retaining much of the novel's gritty realism, the film effectively dramatizes the social issues at hand, and features outstanding early performances by Sidney Poitier and Vic Morrow. The film, however, packs its biggest wallop even before a word of dialog is spoken. As the opening credits roll, Brooks' original inspiration for the film – the pulsating strains of "Rock Around the Clock" – blasts across theater speakers, bringing the devil's music to Main Street and epitomizing American culture worldwide.

Blackboard Jungle was added to the National Film Registry in 2016.


 * Inner-City School: The Trope Codifier.
 * Notable Music Videos: An Unbuilt Trope, in that the opening credits can be interperted as a music video for "Rock Around the Clock".
 * Political Correctness Gone Mad: When Mr. Dadier demonstrates how hurtful their use of slurs can be, one of the students then tries to get him in trouble by reporting him for using those words in class, deliberately leaving out the context. Luckily, the teacher is quickly believed when he explains the truth.
 * Save Our Students: What Mr. Dadier tries to do throughout the movie.