Up the Down Staircase (1967)

The Worst Film Ever

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Sandy Dennis plays a young teacher who is assigned to an inner city school in NYC in the early 1960s. You see here deal with tons of red tape at the school and students who don't care.Based on a 1964 book written by an actual NYC teacher. The tone of the film (and book) is light but it doesn't ignore the problems the students have. It offers no solutions but brings up some interesting questions. Shot at an actual NYC high school during the summer break which helps lead realism to the movie. All the acting is excellent.

Up The Down Staircase is directed by Robert Mulligan, has a screenplay by Tad Mosel, is based on the novel by Bel Kaufman and stars Sandy Dennis and Patrick Bedford.Sylvia Barrett(Sandy Dennis) is an enthusiastic and idealistic young teacher who starts a job as English teacher at a New York High school. The majority of the students don't want to be in school and she has to deal with bad behaviour, learn the rules of the school and try not to let the pressure of the job get to her.Dennis is superb in the lead role, you really feel for her as she tries to reach her students and get them engaged in lessons. Her co star Patrick Bedford steals the film from her though. Bedford plays Paul Barringer, another teacher at the school who is just going through the motions and has long since given up trying to be inspirational. When a young student writes him a love letter he callously corrects the grammar in it in front of her, instead of talking to her about it's content. His inability not to talk to her about her feelings has tragic consequences.Barringer's rant in Barrett's class later in the film is a highlight.A great film about how difficult it can be to be a teacher. Getting students interested in subjects and indeed in learning in general is not always easy and sometimes fails to happen at all, but many teachers will keep on trying and this film shows that.

Having watched the film, it seems quite appropriate now that during one of its key sequences, schoolteacher Sandy Dennis is guiding her unruly English literature students through the famously antithetical opening of Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities". That's because the sheer glossiness of UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE makes its intended 'realistic' portrayal of the American school system self-defeatingly superficial. On the other hand, however, its cliché-ridden narrative – the troubled class punk is truly a highly intelligent individual, a sensitive soul bearing an unrequited love for the school's playboy-teacher attempts suicide, a painfully shy student finally blossoms into a flamboyant actor, the schoolteacher eventually sticks her neck out for her put-upon students but, ungratefully, almost gets 'raped' into the bargain, she is about to quit her job but, naturally, thinks better of it at the end, etc. – is actually what makes it enjoyable viewing. It also helps that Sandy Dennis is very good in the lead, as she herself gains confidence in her dealings with the kids as the film moves along (to Fred Karlin's playful score).

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!!