Watch Up the Down Staircase For Free

Wow! Such a good movie.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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.

Bel Kaufman's book concerning the frazzled first term for an idealistic young schoolteacher in a tough, underfunded New York high school becomes literate, if unexciting dramatic film. Sandy Dennis (indeed frazzled, but with a firm jaw) slowly gains control of her homeroom, which is full of the usual rabble rousers and teenage clichés: the apple-polisher, the quiet kid awaiting a breakthrough, the lonely poetry-lover, the tough kid in his leather jacket, the racial hothead, the class clown, et al. Those in the administration and faculty are predictable cut-outs as well, and the actors (though well-cast) cannot overcome their overly-pointed vignettes with such facile dialogue (as with the librarian complaining about an overdue book checked out by a student who attempted suicide). Once our heroine announces her intended resignation, all we have left to wait for is one student to tell her she's made a difference. It's terribly well-meaning, but not very cognizant of honest human behavior. We can chart Dennis' progress and growth as a teacher, but we never get to know her personally (and this seems deliberate). One can easily read a book while the film is on and still catch all the programmed nuances it carefully slips in. **1/2 from ****

This a well done, faithful adaptation of the book of the same name. The filming is quite gritty, which adds to the reality of the movie. No studio sets. Even the sound is quite echos at times, like a real room or in some cases, the hallways of the school. Neat that all scenes take place either on the outside or in the school itself. No homes, cafes, etc. You never hear much about Sylvias life, where or how she lives except that she talks to her mother every Sunday. It would have been nice to have some of her background. Sandy Dennis is quite good in her role. Her quirkiness is a bit annoying at times, but that was her style. I could see where she would be hard to cast in many roles and didn't really make that many movies. The supporting cast, even the kids, did very well, especially the girl who played the doomed love starved student, Alice. The only complaint I have with these "teacher type films" is that they only show one class. Didn't Sylvia have at least five other classes? Why concentrate on just one? Where her other classes a difficult as the one focused on? A movie of this ilk should be made someday showing DIFFERENT classes that a teacher rules. Others like this that come to mind are BLACKBOARD JUNGLE; DANGEREOUS MINDS and the newest one, FREEDOM WRITERS. Let's show MORE THAN ONE CLASS.

And there are many levels....The late Sandy Dennis gave a tour de force performance as the rookie teacher who not only enters where angels fear to tread- New York's inner city Calvin Coolidge High School- but also has the guts to retain her compassion against overwhelming odds and even fight a system that would crush her students into urban oblivion. Her Sylvia Barrett is portrayed with nuance and grace that is a real pleasure to see.The large supporting cast is equally fine: Jeff Howard, as the tragically wasted Joe Ferone; Sorrell Booke, as the wryly humorous school principal, Dr. Bester; Jose Rodriguez, as Jose Rodriguez, the shy boy who quietly soaks in the value his new teacher has to offer. Patrick Bedford, as the frustrated writer, who breaks free of the trap he finds himself in. And there are many, many more.Tad Mosel's script, based on the best-selling novel by Bel Kaufman, touches a wide range of human situations, dramatic, romantic, humorous. One of my favorite lines: Pupil: (As Miss Barrett instructs her class on taking mid-term exams.) "If you're standing at the back of the room, how do we know who you're watching?" Miss Barrett: (Correcting his grammar.) "Whom. '....Whom I'm watching.'"Robert Mulligan is a very underrated director with a long string of wonderful films, including To Kill A Mockingbird and The Stalking Moon, but Up The Down Staircase may be his best achievement. He brings together a microcosm of society- people, processes, authority, and the struggle against ignorance- all embodied in one small New York City neighborhood, and offers it up with wisdom and love.Fred Karlin's highly original musical score provides whimsical counterpoint to the stark realism of the settings (all filmed on location) and reinforces the optimistic theme of the story, and yet retains a funky edginess to underscore the more serious moments of the film. I catch myself humming his tunes now and then.Sylvia Barrett is just a woman, an individual swept up- and nearly swept away- by the complexities of modern city life. But more than anything else, this movie is about courage- hers and that of her students.I first saw Up The Down Staircase in '67, when I was in high school, and it's stayed with me ever since. If only I had had a teacher like Syl Barrett! For all its realism, adversity, bureaucracy, and pessimism- and while not epic in scale- Up The Down Staircase remains one of the most inspiring, uplifting shows I know of. A triumph of the human spirit. Very highest rating.