Fresh
Glenn Ford, Morrow and Poitier are so real in their performances under the probing direction by Brooks that the picture alternatingly has the viewer pleading, indignant and frightened before the conclusion.
Variety Staff, Variety
Blackboard Jungle
They turned a school into a jungle!
1955 · 1h 41m · APPROVED
Crime, Drama
Directed by
Richard Brooks
Free account saves your watchlist and ratings.
Blackboard Jungle
Overview
Richard Dadier is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes.
Director and cast
- Richard Brooks Director
- Glenn Ford as Richard DFadier
- Anne Francis as Ann Dadier
- Louis Calhern as Jim Murdock
- Margaret Hayes as Lois Judby Hammond
- John Hoyt as Mr. Warneke
- Richard Kiley as Joshua Y. Edwards
- Emile Meyer as Mr. Halloran
- Warner Anderson as Dr. Bradley
- Basil Ruysdael as Prof. A.R. Kraal
- Sidney Poitier Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
76%
Tomatometer
Rotten
It gives a blood-curdling, nightmarish picture or monstrous disorder in a public school. And it leaves one wondering wildly whether such out-of-hand horrors can be.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
Fresh
Writer-director Richard Brooks had a flair for sensationalism, and his adaptation of Evan Hunter's novel is loads of fun as a consequence, but don't expect much analysis or insight.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Rotten
The studied pseudo-documentary atmosphere never quite convinces.
Time Out
More films
Class of 1984 (1982)
Action · Crime · Drama · Thriller · R
Andy is a new teacher at an inner city high school that is unlike any he has seen before. There are metal detectors at the front door and the place is basically run by a tough kid named Peter Stegman. Soon, Andy and Stegman become enemies and Stegman will stop at nothing to protect his turf and drug dealing business.
- Runtime
- 1h 38m
- Director
- Mark L. Lester
- Cast
- Perry King, Tim Van Patten, Roddy McDowall
IMDb
6.6
Rotten Tomatoes
75%
Metacritic
49
The United States of Leland (2003)
Crime · Drama · R
A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, incl...
- Runtime
- 1h 48m
- Director
- Matthew Ryan Hoge
- Cast
- Don Cheadle, Ryan Gosling, Chris Klein
IMDb
6.9
Rotten Tomatoes
33%
Metacritic
37
Reasonable Doubt (2014)
Crime · Thriller · R
When up-and-coming District Attorney Mitch Brockden commits a fatal hit-and-run, he feels compelled to throw the case against the accused criminal who was found with the body and blamed for the crime. Following the trial, Mitch's worst fears come true when he realizes that he acquitted a guilty man, and he soon finds himself on the hun...
- Runtime
- 1h 31m
- Director
- Peter Howitt
- Cast
- Samuel L. Jackson, Dominic Cooper, Erin Karpluk
IMDb
5.7
Rotten Tomatoes
13%
Metacritic
19
The Principal (1987)
Action · Adventure · Crime · Drama · R
Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violen...
- Runtime
- 1h 49m
- Director
- Christopher Cain
- Cast
- Jim Belushi, Louis Gossett Jr., Rae Dawn Chong
IMDb
6.3
Rotten Tomatoes
44%
Metacritic
37
True Believer (1989)
Crime · Drama · R
Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet. With Roger's idealistic prodding, Eddie reluctantly takes on a case of a young Korean man who, according to his mother, ha...
- Runtime
- 1h 45m
- Director
- Joseph Ruben
- Cast
- James Woods, Robert Downey Jr., Margaret Colin
IMDb
6.7
Rotten Tomatoes
95%
I Served the King of England (2007)
Comedy · R
Prague, Czechoslovakia, during the inter-war period. Jan Dítě, a young and clever waiter who wants to become a millionaire, comes to the conclusion that to achieve his ambitious goal he must be diligent, listen and observe as much as he can, be always discreet and use what he learns to his own advantage; but the turbulent tides of hist...
- Runtime
- 1h 55m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- Ivan Barnev, Oldřich Kaiser, Julia Jentsch
IMDb
7.3
Rotten Tomatoes
79%
Metacritic
72
My Sweet Little Village (1985)
Comedy · PG
The movie's main storyline follows the life of Otík, a young man, in a tight-knit village community. The sweet-tempered Otík works as an assistant truck driver with Mr. Pávek, his older colleague and practical-minded neighbor. Pávek's family takes care of Otík, whose parents are dead. However, the two coworkers become at odds over Otík...
- Runtime
- 1h 38m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- János Bán, Marián Labuda, Zdeněk Svěrák
IMDb
7.8
Rotten Tomatoes
80%
Larks on a String (1990)
Comedy · Drama · Romance · N/A
In post-WWII Communist Czechoslovakia, several characters considered bourgeois are sentenced to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation. Among them is a young man who pines for a female convict.
- Runtime
- 1h 34m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- Rudolf Hrušínský, Václav Neckář, Jitka Zelenohorská
IMDb
7.3
Cutting It Short (1981)
Comedy · N/A
Francin, manager of a small-town brewery, has a charming wife whose abundant blonde locks are an adornment to the town. Maryska looks ethereal but loves meat and beer, while Francin is an ascetic. The strict members of the brewery board of directors come to audit the accounts, but are diverted from concentrating on Francin's detailed r...
- Runtime
- 1h 33m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- Magda Vášáryová, Rudolf Hrušínský, Petr Čepek
IMDb
8.0
The Snowdrop Festival (1984)
Comedy · Drama · N/A
An episodic film about the inhabitants of Kersko, their hardships and their joys, most prominently hunting. A lyrical and humorous adaptation of writings by Bohumil Hrabal.
- Runtime
- 1h 23m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- Rudolf Hrušínský, Jaromír Hanzlík, Josef Somr
IMDb
7.5
Comments
Talk about the film with other members