Crisis at Central High (1981) (TV)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Lamont Johnson

Writers:

Elizabeth Huckaby (memoir)
Richard Levinson (writer)

Release Date:

4 February 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

Story of the federally-ordered integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. |

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Joanne Woodward	...	Elizabeth Huckaby
Charles Durning	...	Jess Matthews
Henderson Forsythe	...	Glenn Huckaby
Calvin Levels	...	Ernest Green
William Russ	...	J.O. Powell
Tamu Blackwell	...	Caroline Fuller (as Tamu)
Shannon John	...	Donna Kirby
Bill Morey	...	Virgil Blossom
Tony Frank	...	Hildebrand
John William Galt	...	Mr. Kirby (as John Galt)
Robert Ginnaven	...	General Thomas Woods
Lori Grupe	...	Marlene
Irma P. Hall	...	Lulu Richards
Jerry Haynes	...	General
Rosanna Huffman	...	Mrs. Farrow

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Central High School - 1500 Park Street, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Company:

CBS Entertainment Production

Trivia:

The interiors were shot in historic Woodrow Wilson High School (built 1928) in the Lakewood area of Dallas, Texas. Many students, including the late Lance Bircher, were used in the filming. The students had trouble understanding the concept of separate schools for blacks and whites and the resulting struggles as the school was cited by the Supreme Court as a model for natural integration during the Dallas desegregation case. They were thrilled to receive a visit from Miss Woodward's husband, Paul Newman.

Little Rock Integration

I first saw this movie in 1981, the first time shown on television. I likewise have the video. Most of it is fact and the other Hollywood. Back then a student wouldn't scream uncontrollably at a Principal, Superintendent and the school board like Donna Kirby did. After Minijean Brown was expelled, Donna was passing out cards one down eight to go. The Boy's vice Principal got one. She was called in and was suspended. Yet she screamed and her Mother took it up. In real life Donna would have been expelled, not to mention time in Juvenile Hall. Her Mother would have been arrested for attacking Mrs. Huckaby with an umbrella. The school authorities back then knew how to handle nonconforming students. That's our trouble today. We need to get control back in our schools. It wouldn't have bothered me, if I had been in school there, at the time it happened. My parents were living in Little Rock, when this all happened. People carried drinks to the National Guardsmen, protecting the black students. I have gone to school with black children. Today there is still hatred towards black people. Donna Kirby should have been given a whipping, with a nice long leather strap, for her screaming, as well as causing trouble. I would have expelled her no questions asked. She even told the Superintendent, he should be fired. She wouldn't have talked that way here, where I live. Our Superintendent would have buried her alive, in the school yard.