Blackboard Jungle

 

BLACKBOARD JUNGLE           B                                                                                            USA  (101 mi)  1955  d:  Richard Brooks

We, in the United States, are fortunate to have a school system that is a tribute to our communities and to our faith in American youth. Today we are concerned with juvenile delinquency--its causes--and its effects. We are especially concerned when this delinquency boils over into our schools. The scenes and incidents depicted here are fictional. However, we believe that public awareness is a first step toward a remedy for any problem. It is in this spirit and with this faith that Blackboard Jungle was produced.                                                              —Introduction prior to opening credits

A contentious film about juvenile delinquency, an outdated term that’s not even used much anymore, changed to juvenile offenders, perhaps due to the proliferation of inner city guns, where murder rates are through the roof, with so many juveniles placed in adult prisons, but the term was all the rage in the conformism of the 1950’s, made just a year after the 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education ordering the desegregation of American public schools, sending flocks of white parents out into the safer suburbs to avoid blacks and what they viewed as the inner city riff-raff.  Though heavy handed and overly bombastic, with almost non-existent character development, and glaring contrivances as a substitute for a social message, the film remains one of Hollywood’s most iconic depictions of deviant American youth, with South London screenings provoking vandalism and riots in the theaters by disenchanted teenagers known as the Teddy Boys, thuggish, working class white hoodlums known for making unprovoked attacks on blacks and newly arriving immigrant groups, viewing them as a threat to their already disintegrating communities.  Whatever you may think about it, the film was extremely controversial for its day, shocking contemporary audiences with revelations on teenage violence, sexuality, and racial antagonism, provoking discussions about the need to improve public education in America.  Adapted from the 1954 novel by Evan Hunter, aka Ed McBain, a noted crime fiction writer who embellished his substitute teaching experiences at a Bronx Vocational High School in New York City, claiming none of the depicted incidents actually occurred, but were “within the realm of realistic plausibility.”  Nonetheless, the topic was hailed by Time magazine as “nightmarish but authentic,” while the Saturday Review called it “the most realistic account I have ever read of life in a New York City vocational high school,” creating a moral panic about troubled youth in postwar America, with movie reviews focused on the more sensational aspects of the film, creating tabloid headlines warning us of the coming Apocalypse, where the film was debated, denounced, banned, and scapegoated for its violent content, denounced by teachers and principals, banned in Memphis, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia, claiming it was “immoral, obscene, licentious and will adversely affect the peace, health, morals and good order of the city,” screenings in New Jersey included a disclaimer that what’s depicted onscreen does NOT reflect local schools in the area, a Boston theater ran the first reel in silence for fear that the rock ‘n’ roll music on the soundtrack would over-stimulate audiences into violence, while U.S. Ambassador to Italy, Clare Boothe Luce, fearful of potential communist propaganda, prevented the film’s screening at the Venice Film Festival, claiming it was not representative of American values.  The film remains something of a cultural artifact from a forgotten era, literally frozen in time, certainly viewed differently with a modernist lens.  This is the first instance when a movie propelled a rock ‘n’ roll song to the top of the charts, where the jolting music of Bill Haley & the Comets “Rock Around the Clock” became a mainstream cultural phenomenon, Blackboard Jungle/Rock around the clock - YouTube (1:20), the first rock song to ever hit #1, selling 25 million copies, staying in the Top 100 for 38 weeks, specifically targeting a teen audience, with American Bandstand’s Dick Clark calling it “the national anthem of rock ‘n’ roll,” which at the time was blamed for “causing” juvenile delinquency.  There were also debates (particularly overseas) suggesting the film’s promotion of rock ‘n’ roll music was equally responsible for corrupting America’s youth, yet despite an overall tone of melodrama mixed with realism, one immediately senses just from the opening scene that this is a fantasia into public education, (macho guys holding hands and dancing with other macho guys just ain’t macho), a lead-in to the artful lyrics of Stephen Sondheim’s American musical WEST SIDE STORY (1961), originally staged in the summer of 1957,  West Side Story - Gee Officer Krupke! (1961) HD - YouTube (4:05), mockingly suggesting “Juvenile delinquency is purely a social disease.”  The film is also notable for launching the career of actor Sidney Poitier, who at age 28 plays one of the high school teenagers.  Ironically, he played a doctor five years earlier in No Way Out (1950).      

The film is a product of its times, an era when there were hundreds of teen gangs roaming the streets of New York City creating a wide array of vandalism and violence, when nearly 24% of American children ages 14 to 17 were not attending school at all, and 54% of students entering high school in the State of New York did not graduate, with reports also revealing that 50% of the male population in the Chicago public schools in 1953 were functionally illiterate.  In addition, incidents of teacher brutality against children were not uncommon, with children having little recourse other than dropping out.  In 1951, nearly 41% of all grade school teachers in America had no college degrees, with estimates in New York City that less than half even held teaching certificates, so the postwar state of American education was in dire straits, with this film serving as a public wake up call, putting the entire system on notice.  Like a plague spreading across the nation, the release of the film led to U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings chaired by Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, school board meetings, and plenty of talk festering about teenage dissent, gathering opinions from various experts, psychologists, child behavior professionals, and university researchers, including the harebrained suggestion that comic books led to the corruption of youthful minds, mirroring the post-McCarthyist hunt for subversive Communists lurking within, ignoring the rapid spread of racism that was ravaging through the urban expansion into suburbia, which were basically white-only places of refuge to escape the inner cities, setting up model schools that became distinguished by the quality of teaching and school districts that were flush with money, as opposed to the massively underfunded inner city schools that were largely ignored, becoming dilapidated relics of a failed system, eventually leading to a school-to-prison pipeline for predominately minority students.  It’s important to understand that the so-called remedy for this scourge of delinquency spreading across the nation was to accentuate a two-tiered system, one for the rich and one for the poor, an approach that continues to exist today.  In 1978 voters in California rebelled against funding public schools through the implementation of Proposition 13, dramatically lowering the tax base, leading a tax revolt that spread across the nation, literally decimating inner city public schools, gutting their resources, putting them at a decisive educational disadvantage, where today the everyday realities in largely minority inner city schools resemble decrepit conditions in Third World countries, driving wealthy kids into private schools reserved for the rich, while the expansive schools in the predominately white suburbs continue to flourish, with some resembling college universities.  This two-tiered system also translates into two unequal systems of justice and opportunity, which only accentuates the racial divide haunting our nation at the moment.  This film, however, feeds into the common stereotypical perception of minority criminalization, where minorities are viewed as criminals.  All the well-meaning teachers are white, while the out-of-control class in question is of mixed race, white, Latino, and black, mirroring the possibilities of desegregation, yet it’s viewed as a social experiment gone wrong, creating a disturbing atmosphere of social defiance and disobedience, contaminated by an element of criminalization.  All are tainted by the same broad brush, even if those most guilty are actually white, which actually matches a continuing perception of today, with whites mistakenly believing blacks are responsible for the majority of crimes committed in America, as if justifying their racial apprehension, yet the overwhelming majority are committed by whites, with more than double the amount of arrests and more than two-thirds of charged criminal offenses annually (FBI — Table 43).

Set in the all-boys North Manual Trades High School of New York, an inner city working class milieu, the film simmers with anxiety about race and how that translates to an American educational system that feels woefully inadequate.  Glenn Ford plays Richard Dadier, a Navy vet who got his education on the G.I. Bill, a naïve yet liberal-minded white teacher at a new mixed race school that is largely a collection of stereotypes, approaching the first day with a certain amount of apprehension, where all around him he sees examples of unruly behavior, where he is challenged right from the outset.  While the principal, Mr. Warnecke (John Hoyt), insists there is no discipline problem, all the evidence proves otherwise, where some of the indifferent teachers describe the school as “the garbage can of the educational system,” while calling these kids “savages” and “screaming animals,” suggesting there is no hope for them, as teaching methods are simply ignored.  As if on cue, one of the teachers is attacked in a brutal rape assault, with Didier coming to her rescue, then beating the tar out of the attacking kid, who leaves escorted by the police in a bloody mess.  His students aren’t too happy about that, refusing to cooperate in class, where traditional teaching methods immediately hit a wall of resistance, with students intentionally answering incorrectly followed by a series of smart remarks, making jokes about his name, calling him “Mr. Daddy-O.”  Sensing rebelliousness in their ranks, he attempts to single out an ally in one of the brighter students, Gregory Miller (Sidney Poitier), thinking if he could get one to cooperate the others would follow, but Miller has no interest in being anyone’s prized favorite, retreating into the disharmony of the class, refusing to stick out like a sore thumb.  Dadier and a new math teacher, Joshua Edwards (Richard Kiley), commiserate over drinks after work, with Edwards expressing an interest in bringing his prized jazz collection to school for his more advanced students, suggesting mathematics are a key component to jazz music, thinking his kids would take an interest, but his plan backfires when both men are assaulted in an alley by a group of students afterwards (payback for the earlier incident), and again when Artie West (Vic Morrow, doing his best Brando imitation) and his gang of goons decide to teach Edwards a lesson by sadistically throwing his records around in a game of keepaway before destroying his entire collection, leaving Edwards devastated, quitting his job shortly afterwards in a state of utter despair.  Dadier tries a similar technique, playing a 16mm cartoon projection of Jack and the Beanstalk, which does generate plenty of interest and enthusiasm, asking engaging questions afterwards, suggesting even a cartoon can get them to learn to think for themselves, thinking he may finally be breaking through, but he’s stymied on several fronts.  Unbeknownst to him, his pregnant wife (Anne Francis) starts receiving anonymous letters followed by prank phone calls suggesting her husband was having an affair with one of the teachers, causing her extreme anxiety, almost losing the baby in a premature birth (in the book the child dies).  Another student files a complaint against Dadier for his use of inflammatory racist language during a lesson, including the n-word, called into a conference with Mr. Warnecke, suspected of having racial motives, with Dadier angrily denouncing the accusations, suggesting the words were used as an example of what “not” to say.  In today’s politically correct culture, the teacher would be fired anyway, regardless of their intent.  It’s Poitier who provides the saving grace, heard singing and harmonizing the Negro spiritual “Go Down Moses” with several other black friends, almost like an apparition, The Blackboard Jungle (1955) – Leading The Group - YouTube (2:28).  Despite the apparent peace offering, Dadier faces more resistance in class when he catches West cheating in class, building to an inevitable confrontation, with West pulling a switchblade in defiance, leading to the dramatic spectacle of a knife fight.  This heavy handed approach is overly simplistic, setting the moral forces of good against evil, like the arrival of the cavalry, suggesting if you can remove the bad apples the rest will flourish, which is a technique still being used today, where there are record numbers of expulsions, routinely targeting minorities.  If only it were that easy, continuing the fantasy narrative by suggesting it is, becoming more of a cultural time capsule than a relevant social treatise, added to the National Film Registry in 2016.

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

Linda onstage singing with her father Gilbert

Left to right, Emmylou Harris, Ronstadt, and Dolly Parton

Ronstadt receiving National Medal of Arts from President Obama

LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE           B+               

USA  (95 mi)  2019 d:  Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman           Official site

I’ve been a singer all my life, so it’s very odd not to be able to do that.  Especially when I go to visit my family, as we always sang together and now we can’t.  But I can play music in my head ― I’ve got a huge jukebox in my brain.

―Linda Ronstadt

Probably most Americans under 40 don’t know her or aren’t familiar with her music, which was all the rage in the 70’s and 80’s, but she’s not an Internet sensation attracting millions of followers  Quoting from Peter Lewry’s 2010 book on Ronstadt, Linda Ronstadt: A Life In Music, written by band musician Andrew Gold in the Foreword, “She was, for a very long time in the seventies, the most famous female rocker in America.  As you may imagine, it was hectic and non-stop, but we were all young and ambitious, with a healthy dose of post 60’s party instinct to boot.  At the center, however, was of course the music.  The music came first always.”  Like Whitney (2018), most books or films doing biographies prefer to reveal something personal that offers deep psychological insight into one’s life, but in Linda Ronstadt’s case, that’s not the highlight, as it really is all about the music, becoming synonymous with family, as it’s what her family did together, where singing and sharing music was an essential act of love, as natural as the sky is blue, each with their own different tastes, all collaborating to form a collective musical consciousness.  So rather than search for deeper insights, this film plays the music that defines who she is, with Ronstadt providing background narration (some of it quite poetic) that literally tells the story of her life, but as it turns out, music is the expression of her heart.  While she doesn’t fit the profile of writing her own songs, making them autobiographical, instead she takes other people’s songs and makes them her own, making her rendition uniquely powerful, yet heartfelt, with Cameron Crowe revealing “When you become that sharp of a song stylist, you get authorship, in a way,” where what mattered to her was whether the songs meant something, revealing “Every song that I sing has a face I sing it to,” finding a core meaning in the message that she so beautifully conveys through radio, records, or live performances.  In the late 60’s, a comparable song stylist to Ronstadt might have been Dusty Springfield, who could get down and dirty with the soulful Dusty Springfield - Son of a preacher man - YouTube (2:26), but mostly she perfected a studio sound that emphasized sophisticated strings.  Ronstadt didn’t dance like Tina Turner or have a background group singing harmony and dancing in unison like The Pips, providing none of the visual imagery of musical stars of today, she simply faced the audience and poured her heart out, with musicians harmonizing, usually dislaying her preferance for performing barefoot, where you quickly realize that despite her small frame (only 5 feet two inches tall) her voice is a powerhouse that fills the entire space of large auditoriums, a force of nature where her command of range is seemingly so effortless, developing a reputation for being capable of singing anything, from country to pop, classic Rock ‘n’ Roll to R & B, light opera to big band standards, even singing classical mariachi music.  Undaunted throughout her career, she continued to defy categorization, often the lone female rock star in a male-dominated industry, she remains one of the most important vocalists on the American music scene, the first artist to top the pop, country, and R & B charts simultaneously, with five straight platinum albums, 11 overall, nominated for 26 Grammy awards, winning ten of them.  Yet despite her acclaim, all the other boy bands received entry into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame before she did belatedly in 2014, which, if anything, means the industry continues to underrate the significance of her career.  Perhaps this film may change a few minds.  When asked why she sings, she says it’s for the same reasons birds sing: “They sing for a mate, to claim their territory, or simply to give voice to the delight of being alive in the midst of a beautiful day, so the subsequent generations won’t forget what the current generation endured or dreamed or delighted in.”  Starting out in the Laurel Canyon folk-rock scene of Los Angeles in the late 60’s, she stopped singing publicly in 2009, as the inflection in her voice changed from Parkinson’s disease, the same ailment that afflicted Muhammad Ali late in his career (eventually losing his voice), a progressive nerve disease for which there is no known cure.  So the film is something of a revelation, playing it back, reliving so many of her performances, where she became a musical icon, but remained modest and humble about her own abilities, never full of herself, avoiding the spotlight, always praising others, where the essential beauty of her character is just how unassuming and unpretentious she is, where for her, she lets the music speak for itself.  With that in mind, this is the right kind of film for the occasion, as it is wall-to-wall music, offering joyful praise for her immense musical contributions.    

Ronstadt was born in Tucson, an Indian, Hispanic, and Anglo mix, about an hour’s drive to the border in Nogales, which allowed her to hear the radio airwaves on both sides of the border growing up, from Mexican songs, Country and Western, as it was called then, or the upstart youth music of rock ‘n’ roll.  Her grandfather Fred was a Mexican immigrant who ran a popular hardware store, while a well-traveled Aunt Luisa used to perform around the world in the 20’s and 30’s, bringing back songs from around the globe.  Ronstadt’s maternal grandfather Lloyd was a prolific inventor, holding many patents, creating an early form of a toaster, many refrigerator devices, the grease gun, and one of the first electric stoves, while his design for an ice-cube tray made him millions, much of which he spent tying to find a cure for his wife’s Parkinson’s disease.  Her mother Ruth was from Flint, Michigan, but attended college in Arizona, serenaded by her father Gilbert, a rancher who sang songs beneath her window at night, marrying and eventually settling on a 10-acre farm in Tucson, where the family was actually featured in a magazine spread of Family Circle in 1953, with Linda, the third youngest of four children, owning her own horse in childhood.  Her father ran the family hardware store but was a singer during the Depression of the 30’s, playing in local clubs and social functions, bringing that love of music to the family, with an eclectic record collection that included Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald, though Linda’s favorite Mexican singer growing up was Lola Beltran, while her sister loved Hank Williams but performed in a Gilbert & Sullivan musical at school, with Linda learning the lyrics to all the songs.  In the hot summer months, many were inclined to stay indoors, where her favorite activity was listening to the radio, with evening broadcasts of “Race music,” as it was called at the time, often imitating the music she heard.  Convinced she would be a singer, she got her start with her brother and sister, calling themselves The Three Ronstadts, singing at various functions in and around Tucson.  One of their bass players, Bobby Kimmel, headed out to Los Angeles to start a band in 1963 when Linda was enrolled in Arizona State University, urging her to come out West and join him, which she did, leaving after finishing one semester of college.  Much like Elton John in Rocketman (2019), though a decade earlier, they headed to the Troubadour in West Hollywood, where playing on open mike night could gain exposure, as talent agents were always present searching for the next big thing, though most groups at the time were singing Elizabethan Folk Ballads, the kind of thing that might headline coffee shops, but nothing more.  Hanging out at the Troubadour introduced Linda to Jackson Browne, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, all aspiring musicians at the time searching for their own niche in the music industry, mostly emulating the folk-rock sound of The Byrds, with Linda sharing a cheap Santa Monica beach house at the time.  Linda headed a group called The Stone Poneys, an eclectic folk act that captured the attention of Frank Zappa’s manager Herb Cohen, a notorious bad-ass who liked the girl and ditched the rest of the band, turning the rather amateurish sounding, somewhat psychedelic Stone Poneys - Different Drum (Live) YouTube (2:27) into a hit record with a little kick to it, featuring Linda’s distinctive voice and her gorgeous All-American girl look front and center, Different Drum YouTube, 1967 (2:39), recording a record album, where the song was a hit on the radio, sounding nothing like the rest of the album, mostly getting airplay in the LA area.  Not immediately catching on, she continued to record music, but took a turn away from folk, venturing into country music, but what surprised her most was hearing another Troubadour act play an exact rendition of one of her own signature songs, with Don Henley and his band Shiloh performing her version of Linda Ronstadt - Silver Threads and Golden Needles - YouTube 1969 (2:26), eventually inviting Henley and Glenn Frey to go on the road with her, where the two guys eventually got the bright idea to form their own band called The Eagles.  While there was plenty of drugs and alcohol to go around on the bus, what was clear is the superb craftsmanship of the musicians, a prerequisite throughout Ronstadt’s career, brilliantly concise, emphasizing but never overpowering the message of the song.   

Ronstadt’s next big hit is kind of a throwback to an earlier era, a heartrendering ballad that retains roots to the folk era, Midnight Special-Linda Ronstadt "Long, Long Time" 1972 YouTube (3:22), which earned her first Grammy nomination, giving us signs of that big voice that would come to define her, remaining vulnerable, yet ultra-feminine.  The film develops Ronstadt’s brief romantic flirtation with singer/songwriter JD Souther, who wrote many of the biggest hits for The Eagles, as well as Ronstadt, like Linda Ronstadt - Faithless Love (live 1975) - YouTube (3:06), co-producing one of her albums, but her biggest leap is pure rock ‘n’ roll, a song reveling in defiance, Linda Ronstadt ~ When Will I Be Loved 1976 OGWT1 - YouTube (2:11), “I’ve been cheated, been mistreated, when will I be loved?”  The enormous sound just leaps off the stage right at you, making a direct hit, literally shaking you to the bones, with Ronstadt becoming synonymous with songs of heartache and pain, where she simply belts out that wounded anguish in ways that are easily understood, becoming a megastar in the process, a fusion of vulnerability and sensuality, the most spectacular female singer of the rock era.  Touring is what generates big bucks and the instant success, yet it’s such a self-destructive endeavor, singing the same songs “over and over again until they start sounding like your washing machine.”  In an era when there were few girl singers singing rock music, probably the most incisive remarks come in an interview at her Malibu home during a walk along the beach, Linda Ronstadt Full Interview Wonderland 1977 (RARE) YouTube (5:41), speaking about the emotional toll of being on the road, the only girl surrounded completely by guys who already have an ego problem being labeled sidemen for a chick singer, but then she expounds on a male aggressive industry directing their hostility against women that unfortunately becomes adapted as part of the overall culture.  Her description of the effects drugs have on rock stars is piercingly accurate, becoming more and more isolated and self-destructive, literally destroying their music, if not their lives.  As if to combat that dilemma, Ronstadt went through a period of taking over-the-counter diet pills to retain her nightly energy, but also decided to stop playing in such enormous arenas, as the experience was so dehumanizing for her as an artist.  So instead, she simply keeps reinventing herself, becoming a trend setter, choosing her own material against the wishes of her agent and record producer, but following her heart, which makes all the difference, singing what she wanted as opposed to what sells commercially.  Because of her enormous popularity, every turn she takes becomes a proven success, because of the careful manner in which she meticulously rehearses and arranges every song, making sure each is her best effort.  The film delves briefly into the decade-long public romance she has with California Governor Jerry Brown, beautifully encapsulated here, Linda Ronstadt Playboy interview | The Pop History Dig, though also wonderfully articulated in an interview for Australian television explaining why differences in political views don’t stop her from performing in troublesome regions, Linda Ronstadt-Don Lane Show 27th October 1983 - YouTube (16:21).  Featuring a host of interview footage about her from artists like Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, singing a duo with Emmylou, Linda Ronstadt - "I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You" YouTube, 1974 (2:27), reserving some of the best material for that trio of female singers (who collectively share a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame), Dolly Parton Linda Ronstadt Emmylou Harris - The Sweetest Gift YouTube, 1976 (2:46), championing other female performers where she generously defers to their talent, but also includes an unfamiliar detour, where she’s positively adorable, nominated for a Tony Award in 1981 as best actress for her role in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, Poor Wandering One - YouTube (4:58) before collaborating with a few old friends, Randy Newman, Linda Ronstadt & Ry Cooder - YouTube 1983 (4:01), even singing with the Muppets, Linda Ronstadt The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) plus ... YouTube, 1985 (2:58), doing a cameo guest appearance on The Simpsons, The Plow King Commercial (59 seconds), and meeting new friends alike, such as Aaron Neville, Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville Don't Know Much ... - YouTube 1989 (3:35), amusingly reminding him at the Grammy Awards to thank his wife, before breaking out into classic Mexican mariachi music, just killing it with some of the more upbeat and colorful renditions ever heard, LINDA RONSTADT.... La Charreada. - YouTube 1989 (3:35), a ridiculously cheerful song, becoming the best-selling Spanish-language album ever released, including a portion with her 75-year old proud father singing with her onstage, as he was the one that originally brought these songs into their home.  While it’s a long and beautiful career, the incredibly sad end is beyond description (as it was with Mohammad Ali), quite a contrast to the bubbly effervescent girl featured in the film, a perfectionist with a sense of personal integrity, yet a reminder for all to tread carefully and make each moment count, something she did with each and every song, leaving behind a remarkable legacy of star power and poetic grace. 

From an online search, this may be one of her better recorded concerts at the peak of her popularity available for viewing, Linda Ronstadt - Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany 1976-11-16 (1:16:00).