Up the Down Staircase (1967) (original) (raw)
Sylvia Barrett is a rookie teacher at New York's inner-city Calvin Coolidge High: her lit classes are overcrowded, a window is broken, there's no chalk, books arrive late. The administration is concerned mainly with forms and rules (there's an up and a down staircase); bells ring at the wrong time. Nevertheless, she tries. How she handles the chaos and her despair in her first semester makes up the film: a promising student drops out, another sleeps through class, a girl with a crush on a male teacher gets suicidal, and a bright but troublesome student misunderstands Sylvia's reaching out.
Sylvia Barrett is a rookie teacher at New York's inner-city Calvin Coolidge High: her lit classes are overcrowded, a window is broken, there's no chalk, books arrive late. The administration is concerned mainly with forms and rules (there's an up and a down staircase); bells ring at the wrong time. Nevertheless, she tries. How she handles the chaos and her despair in her first semester makes up the film: a promising student drops out, another sleeps through class, a girl with a crush on a male teacher gets suicidal, and a bright but troublesome student misunderstands Sylvia's reaching out. (less)
Director: Robert Mulligan
Writer: Tad Mosel
Starring: Sandy Dennis, Eileen Heckart, Patrick Bedford, Ruth White, Jean Stapleton, Sorrell Booke
Producer: Alan J. Pakula
3
fans
72
DVD
collections
22
Digital
collections
21
iTunes
collections
7
Prime
collections
12
MA
collections
| | My rating | 6.9077% like it | | ----------- | --------------- |
 7 25Torment1944  |
 7 123Detachment2011 |
 7.3 59Things to Come2016 |
 7.5 113The Wave2008 |
 7.5 150The Class2008 |
 7.1 65Love Is Strange2014 |
 6.9 66Blackboard Jungle1955 |
 7.8 450Wake in Fright1971 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 7.3 321To Sir, with Love1967 |
 6 42The English Teacher2013 |
 6.4 137Take the Lead2006 |
 7.6 314Lean on Me1989 |
 6.7 70Girlhood2014 |
 6.6 55Wiener-Dog2016 |
 7.6 214CODA2021 |
 7.5 35The Browning Version1951 |
Show more titles »« Show less titles