UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE (1967)

 

This film, directed by Robert Mulligan, stars Sandy Dennis as a first time English teacher in a tough, overcrowded, run down high school in New York City. In 1966, Dennis had given an Academy Award winning supporting performance in the hit film WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, playing a mousy, nasal-voiced neurotic. For the next few years, she would continue to play variations of that same character in a series of films that could only have featured Sandy Dennis, because there simply was no one else like her. In this film, her mousy, nasal-voiced character is less neurotic and even heroic. Still, it is a role tailor-made for Miss Dennis.

She plays Sylvia Barrett, a recent college graduate full of ideals and dreams of inspiring her students the way her teachers inspired her. What she finds upon entering the deteriorating hallways of Calvin Coolidge High School is a nightmare of noise, frustrating bureaucracy, and kids who are either apathetic, angry or downright dangerous. The story involves her encounters not only with students, but with parents, school administration officials and fellow teachers. The film is an updated version of previous works such as BLACKBOARD JUNGLE (1955) and BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG (1960), starring Glen Ford and Dick Clark, respectively, as young, idealistic teachers who attempt to reach out to their troubled students.

What's so surprising about UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE, and a point of contrast from the two previous movies, is that it has no violence. There are a few scenes where violence is threatened but not carried out. I find this surprising, not only because of the movie's subject matter, but because it was made in the Hollywood of the late 1960s where scenes of violence were becoming more commonplace and more graphic. Perhaps the reason for this restraint is because the protagonist is a woman. Maybe the filmmakers wanted to present a more feminine, even feminist, viewpoint. Compare, for example, the brutal attempted rape of a teacher (Margaret Hayes) in BLACKBOARD JUNGLE with the scene in UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE where Sylvia is cornered in her classroom after hours by a student (Jeff Howard) who tries to seduce her. Although the situation is very tense and frightening for Sylvia, the boy doesn't harm her physically. In fact, he barely touches her. Rather, his attempt at seduction is slow, erotic and mostly verbal. Sylvia is finally able to stop him by simply cupping his face with her hands and telling him no. And he walks away from her. Unrealistic, perhaps, but it's a novel approach that no one would have expected at the time, and certainly not in today's cinema.

It's also interesting to me that there is absolutely no profanity in this film. Cinematic standards in this regard were only beginning to change in 1967 and there was still a lot of restraint. All linguistic hell would break loose in the next few years.

As the story progresses, Sylvia deals with potential dropouts, disgruntled parents, racial conflicts, attempted suicides and cynical colleagues, all played by talented actors speaking believable dialogue. Dennis is supported by an excellent group of character actors like Patrick Bedford, Eileen Heckart, Sorrell Booke, Ruth White and Jean Stapleton. The students were played by non-professionals, many of them in high school themselves. Standouts were the aforementioned Jeff Howard, a 20-year-old college student, and Jose Rodriguez and Ellen O'Mara, both seventeen. Though the film did well critically and financially, it was somewhat outclassed, one might say, by the runaway British hit TO SIR, WITH LOVE, released later the same year, featuring Sidney Poitier standing in for Sandy Dennis.