Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Sandy Dennis | ... | Sylvia Barrett | |
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Patrick Bedford | ... | Paul Barringer |
Eileen Heckart | ... | Henrietta Pastorfield | |
Ruth White | ... | Beatrice Schacter | |
Jean Stapleton | ... | Sadie Finch | |
Sorrell Booke | ... | Dr. Bester | |
Roy Poole | ... | Mr. McHabe | |
Florence Stanley | ... | Ella Friedenberg | |
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Vinnette Carroll | ... | The Mother |
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Janice Mars | ... | Miss Gordon |
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Loretta Leversee | ... | Social Studies Teacher |
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John Callahan | ||
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Denis Fay | ||
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Otto Lomax | ||
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Martha Greenhouse | ... | Alberta Kagan |
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. A discussion of Dickens, parents' night, and a mock trial highlight the term. Can she make it? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
It's hard to compare this movie with other films of the genre. "The Principal", "Dangerous Minds", "Lean on Me", and "Stand and Deliver" really don't have much in common with UtDS. Nevertheless, this film is very good and Sandy Dennis is outstanding as the young teacher who is starting out in a tough New York City high school.
What makes UtDS unique is that there's no focus on gang fights, or ghetto culture, or the teachers' private lives. Instead, the story focuses almost entirely on the classroom. More specifically, it focuses on an English teacher (Dennis) and her students. That may seem boring, but this movie is anything but. The student characters are well developed and their relationships with each other, their parents, their teachers, and the school administrators are extremely realistic.
Anyone who is tired of the mindless, inhuman **** being shown in multiplexes all over America should give this film a look. It'll be a breath of fresh air. It's a positive, intelligent, engrossing story.
Unfortunately, it's not likely to be in your local video store. But if you should have the rare opportunity of seeing UtDS - perhaps on premium cable or on a VHS tape from a public library - you will not be disappointed!