Blackboard Jungle (DVD)

US Import

Richard Dadier is a man eager to make a difference. Or, some might say, he's a believer in lost causes. Dadier is a new teacher at a inner-city North Manual High.

Racial and sexual tensions. Violence. Gangs. Apathy. What Blackboard Jungle tackled 50years ago are still hot-button issues in schools. Glenn Ford as Diadier clings to his ideals and pays a price vying with teen misfits led by Vic Morrow and, in a star-making performance, a too-cool-to-cope Sidney Poitier. Directed by Richard Brooks, Blackboard Jungle is a brisk, urgent, powerful. And it starts with the influential Rock Around The Clock, said to be the first use of rock 'n' roll in a mainstream movie. Think it'll catch on?