Idealistic young Sandy Dennis (as Sylvia Barrett) gets her first teaching job, as an English and homeroom teacher at "Calvin Coolidge High School" in New York City. She can quote Emily Dickinson and Charles Dickens, but Ms. Dennis not prepared for an overcrowded and unruly classroom. Dennis gets some of the stereotypical students you've seen, probably, in more movies than high schools. Additionally, she must contend with shrill office secretary Jean Stapleton (as Sadie Finch) shouting orders demanding paperwork; and, everyone has to listen to what has to be the worst bell you will ever hear in a high school setting. No wonder Dennis goes "Up the Down Staircase"...Eileen Heckart, Ruth White, and Frances Sternhagen are credible school personnel. Outstanding (in more ways than one, as he doesn't arrive in time to claim one of the classroom's limited seats) is handsome Jeff Howard (as Joe Ferone), a misunderstood delinquent who mistakes Dennis' teacherly interest as sexual. Also notable is awkward Ellen O'Mara (as Alice Blake), who has a crush on frustrated writer-turned-teacher Patrick Bedford (as Paul Barringer). Highly intelligent and ethnic, but low academic performers fill in other seats. The students call Dennis "Teach" (that's short for "Teacher") derisively, as the school year rolls along... Warner Bros. must have had high hopes for "Up the Down Staircase", with accomplished director Robert Mulligan steering Sandy Dennis immediately after her award-winning performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966). Unfortunately, this film was blown out of the theaters by Columbia Picture's immensely popular Sidney Poitier film "To Sir, with Love", which was released almost simultaneously. Another problem was the fact that the high school teenagers in "Up the Down Staircase" do not possess the level of infectious juvenile delinquent appeal present in "To Sir, with Love", "Blackboard Jungle" (1955), and others..."Up the Down Staircase" was entered in Moscow's film festival, where its depiction of slummy American schooling enjoyed guarded praised. Ms. Dennis received "Best Actress" nominations from the "Film Daily" (she placed third) and the "New York Film Critics" (she placed seventh). Moody newcomers Jeff Howard and Ellen O'Mara received "Film Daily" nominations in the juvenile award category, and the trade publication placed the film itself at #7 for the year. Definitely a passing grade. ****** Up the Down Staircase (7/19/67) Robert Mulligan ~ Sandy Dennis, Patrick Bedford, Jeff Howard, Eileen Heckart

A bit didactic but nonetheless entertaining film starring Sandy Dennis as a new teacher at an inner city high school. Dennis faces the standard juvenile delinquents and then some: the threatening thug; the homely, suicidal girl; the parent-less teen who actually cares; the portly know-it-all. Director Robert Mulligan confines the lion's share of the action to the school (Grover Cleveland High School in the film; three different NYC schools in real life) so the focus is really on the acting, which is mostly good and occasionally superb. Your tolerance of Dennis's affectations will determine how you feel about her performance but the supporting cast is a terrific collection of New York character actors. Jean Stapelton, Eileen Heckart, Sorrell Booke, Florence Stanley (surprising as an unusually efficient guidance counselor), Roy Poole as the less than sympathetic principal, and Ruth White as Dennis's most realistic co-worker. Patrick Bedford gives an exceptional performance as an English teacher with dreams of being a real writer and Ellen O'Mara is a standout as the tragic student in love with him.

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 starred 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 clichés 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 naïve 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.

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!!