Sadly Over-hyped

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This film, directed by Robert Mulligan (To Kill A Mockingbird, Love With A Proper Stranger), portrays an idealistic teacher with a masters degree, Sandy Dennis as Sylvia Barrett, who takes the plunge into the teaching world of a multicultural but disadvantaged New York neighbourhood. The school is named after Calvin Coolidge, an irony given the urban and cultural mix that was so far removed from the life of the Vermont-born, Republican President of the 1920's. I like the polaroid colour of film for the opening street scene at the time (1967) when Miss Barrett emerges from a bus into the hazy neighbourhood overflowing with high school students, who would have been the early baby boomers of the period, although with far less privilege than most. We see one lonely student try to commit suicide; another who falls asleep in class because he spends his evenings working on cars, his first love; another who believes Miss Barrett's interest in after-school meetings is a come-on for time alone with him. Her class does their best to unhinge the new teacher on the opening day but Miss Barrett is gifted with resilience and patience. We get to know the staff in the school with moments of comic relief, such as when the staff meeting shows the teachers grouching about issues ranging from whose drawer belongs to who and when the proposed $7 million school is going to be built, if ever. Miss Barrett wants to make a difference for the students in her class. She knows that many of them have to climb a greasy pole to make a good life for themselves. She comes up against bureaucratic rules and teachers whose methods are more likely to reinforce the status quo. However, she is not one to shirk the challenge and one day, Miss Barrett tries to relate the world of Charles Dickens to their own and generates a tremendous enthusiasm that brings out an animated discussion about the Tale of Two Cities and "the best of times, the worst of times". Nevertheless, the litany of woes and misunderstandings that constantly undermine her idealism eventually cause her to face the reality of the decision to teach in an inner city neighbourhood. Despite the drawbacks, she has tremendous support among the students, parents and staff. Sandy Dennis plays the part superbly and in the hands of a great director, we see a vivid portrait of an inner city school and a great teacher with ideals and spunk. To me, this movie is a classic, much under-rated in the history of American cinema.

I felt that I was watching reality even forty years later. I too aspired to be an English teacher like Sylvia Barrett. Sandy Dennis was a terrific actress and this film shows her ability and wide range. The cast features well known and familiar faces. Sylvia endures a stark reality of the urban teaching world. Schools in the poorest sections of New York City are still under funded. The Calvin Coolidge High School appears more like a prison than a school. The atmosphere reminds me of going to the unemployment office where its grim and depressing. How can anybody believe learning is going on? Of course not, schools are supposed to prepare our students for the future but are terribly let down. Today's students believe technology will solve everything. We can't teach how to think as teachers. This film should be shown to all aspiring teachers about the reality of urban school teaching.

If you ever stopped to think about it, what is life really about? Making a difference!!! Who likes adversity? On the other hand, adversity makes you aware of the fact that you are alive... For teachers, there are thousands and thousands of students out there who have a subconscious reliance on them!! Students bring on a bevy of inhibitions, fears, and acute human inadequacies which teachers have thrust upon them and become burdened with!! Kids have problems, as do adults, teenage problems are just different from adult problems, nonetheless, we all have problems, problems are what make us human!! Without challenges, we lack a rudimentary purpose!! This is what the movie "Up the Down Staircase" is all about!!Sandy Dennis plays the brand new teacher who is emotionally barraged by a bunch of reprobates (students) from the Bronx!! Who would want such a job? Evaluating Miss Barrett's aggregate circumstances, back in 1967, teachers made so little money! In compounding this utterly deplorable situation, now descends the grief, the lack of funding for basic materials, the violence, the faculty/student apathy, and the overall administrative despondence!! Such an obstacle course makes the job of teaching in the inner city a living nightmare!!When does all of it end? Why doesn't everyone who is teaching in this inner city rat trap just get the hell out of there, and focus on preserving their sanity!!! Miss Barrett (Sandy Dennis) quickly becomes an advocate of throwing in the towel!! Now strikes the proverbial and humanistic nerve cord which enlightens her, and makes her realize that at some level she has made a difference.. If you can communicate with one student at some time, and be told that you made a difference in their lives, you have been rewarded.. If you are able to conceptualize that a quality in a student is not ordinary because it is extraordinary, then you have attained a metamorphosis in human behavior that sparks a coveted gratification!!!Such a fate affected Sandy Dennis, and such a movie "Up the Down Staircase" articulated the importance of such an accomplishment!!! The director, Robert Mulligan ("To Kill A Mockingbird") is one of the greatest directors in Hollywood!! The movie, "Up the Down Staircase" is very powerful in it's ideological premise!! Sandy Dennis is remarkable in this film, of course, how can she top her performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"? Nevertheless, Sandy Dennis was superb in this movie!! The supporting actors and actresses in the film "Up the Down Staircase" did an excellent job as well!!! I very much endorse the idea of seeing this movie, definitely!!! The underlying realization of necessary challenges has a very intellectual cohesiveness in this film!! A must for educators!!! Without a doubt, one of the better efforts of the cinema!!

The interior shots were of Haaren High School in Hell's Kitchen. I went there for 3 years, graduating in 1956. One of the exterior shots, where Sandy is going thru the door crowded by students, also looks like Haaren. It is the scene where the three doors were initially locked and she bangs to get in, and suddenly the doors open. That's exactly the way it was every day for me, for three years. I loved the movie, but a lot has to do with recognizing the background and the superb acting of Sandy. I seem to remember there being a rumor in the 60's about the original script calling for the girl who jumped out the window to die, but the preview audiences gave negative feedback and it became ambiguous in the final cut, claiming that she didn't die, at least not initially, because she hit a ledge on the way down. Anyone who wants to know what the interior of a typical New York City high school looked like back then should see this flick, they didn't spruce anything up. John P--Class of '[email protected]