This movie is a must see for teachers. It really helps one to see the humor and the obstacles teachers face. Sandy Dennis is wonderful as the naive new teacher and all that she goes through during her first year. I recommend highly.

Fresh from her acclaimed portrayal of the young professor's frail alcoholic wife in Mike Nichols' classic adaptation of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Sandy Dennis stars in this forgotten 1967 drama that covers familiar territory in the movies, the idealistic high school teacher who must get through to a classroom full of unruly inner-city teens. Variations of the same storyline can be seen in a variety of films like Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds, the recent Freedom Writers, and another 1967 film, To Sir, With Love with Sidney Poitier. Resuscitated from obscurity in a 2007 DVD release, this one is surprisingly free of the predictable cliches that mar most of the films of this genre. Produced by Alan J. Pakula and directed by Robert Mulligan, the same team that made two of my favorites from the 1960's, To Kill a Mockingbird and Love With the Proper Stranger, this film forges its own identity as a positive yet realistic view of the common problems faced by an urban high school overrun with students, short on funds and run by administrators and teachers more interested in maintaining civility in the classrooms than providing an actual education.

Into the chaos of Calvin Coolidge High School walks Sylvia Barrett, a young, inexperienced teacher intent on making a difference through the naive methods she developed from her insular, college-trained perspective. You can figure out how her methods are initially greeted and how indifferent her fellow teachers have become to such optimism. However, she perseveres with a blend of patience and subtle defiance, and there is a wonderfully liberated scene where her students become enraptured by the opening paragraphs of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. As Miss Barrett gets to know her students and fellow teachers, so do we, and her personal journey leads to revelations that lend emotional resonance to the viewer thanks to Tad Mosel's incisive, unsentimental screenplay (based on Bel Kaufman's 1965 best-seller). Interestingly, we never see her life outside of school, which makes the drama within the school environs all the more compelling.

Known for her idiosyncratic style and perpetually nervous manner, Dennis uses her unique style to strong effect resulting in a remarkably empathetic performance. Familiar faces dot the supporting cast - Eileen Heckart as a cheery teacher masking an inappropriate crush on a student, Jean Stapleton as a harried administrator, Roy Poole as the tough-minded principal, Sorrell Booke as the poker-faced superintendent, Ruth White as a veteran teacher who teaches Sylvia how to survive the urban jungle, and Florence Stanley as an unctuous, absurdly organized counselor. Looking like a cross between Sal Mineo and John Stamos, Jeff Howard, who later played bit parts in Hal Hartley's films, cannily handles the role of a delinquent with potential, though Patrick Bedford somewhat overdoes his role as a lecherous teacher who dismisses a shy schoolgirl's romantic advances. My only reservation is that the film runs a bit long at 124 minutes. The DVD's only significant extra is the original theatrical trailer.

Reading Jim Kohl's outstanding book Noble Poverty: A Teacher's Life in Silicon Valley, I was reminded of one of my favorite movies, UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE. To begin with, the movie is heady nostalgia for me. It was filmed at an inner city high school, on location, two years after I graduated from my own inner city high school. The kids look and dress the same, the classrooms and physical plant look the same, and much of what occurs is reminiscent of my own high school days.

On top of that, the movie is a very accurate description of what education has since become. The bureaucracy and other problems teachers who CARE face are well documented by some brilliant actors and a sensitive story line from the book written by a veteran teacher. I was unhappily reminded of many of the problems Jim Kohl talks about in his book, as well as the experiences my wife encountered teaching at a high school in American Samoa.

A true "education classic", this one is well worth your time. Five Stars.
John W. Cassell

John W. Cassell is the author of five novels on the American Counterculture of the late 1960's and early 1970's as well as i the action/ adventure/cops and robbers genre including Crossroads: 1969 and DeVilliers County Blues: 1972. he has recently published three guest opinion columns in Israel National News and is the author of several short stories in the politico-military/action/adventure genre, including: The Flight Lieutenant's Court Martial - Part 1 and Armageddon: 1973 - Part 1

One of my favorite movies. As an innercity public high school student, I remember the snooty kids visiting us from an all-white suburban camelot academy mentioning that it reminded them of "Up the Down Staircase". The late Sandy Dennis' performance as idealistic English teacher Miss Barrett was one of the most undervalued and underrated, and I thought it criminal that she didn't rate at least an Oscar nomination. A wonderful supporting cast, including a pre-Edith Bunker Jean Stapleton and Eileen Heckert, and the students being played by real high school kids makes this special. I think you might be surprised how relatively mild these "delinquents" act in comparison with the kids today. At least no kids were packing heat back then!

Great this is coming to DVD.

...so why, oh WHY, hasn't this wonderful film been released on DVD??
Sandy Dennis, the queen of quirkiness, was unforgettable in this, her very best role (we miss you Sandy)!!
And while we're at it, how about releasing some of her other "lost" films on DVD, such as Robert Altman's "That Cold Day In The Park"-- and let's not forget one of the all-time guilty pleasures (based on the D.H. Lawrence novella), "The Fox."
I'm BEGGING here...get these movies released p l e a s e.....