Sandy Dennis delivers one of the more memorable roles of her career in “Up the Down Staircase.” She plays an idealistic young teacher who receives her first assignment at an overcrowded New York City high school filled with troubled students. How she deals with them in her low-key and reserved manner makes for interesting drama. Dennis seems born for the part.
Co-stars include Eileen Heckart, Patrick Bedford, Ruth White, Jean Stapleton, Sorrell Brooke, Roy Poole, Florence Stanley, Vinnette Carroll, and Frances Sternhagen as the school librarian. Stapleton and Brooke would go on to fame and fortune on popular television programs: The former as Edith Bunker on “All in the Family” (1971-1979) and the latter as Boss Hogg on “The Dukes of Hazzard” (1979-1985).
The well-written screenplay by Tad Mosel was adapted from the 1965 novel of the same name by Bel Kaufman. “Up the Down Staircase” was popular in theatrical release for director Robert Mulligan (“To Kill a Mockingbird” 1962), producer Alan J. Pakula, and Warner Bros. Pictures.
Up the Down Staircase (1967)
cinema
My Review
Sandy Dennis delivers one of the more memorable roles of her career in “Up the Down Staircase.” She plays an idealistic young teacher who receives her first assignment at an overcrowded New York City high school filled with troubled students. How she deals with them in her low-key and reserved manner makes for interesting drama. Dennis seems born for the part.
Co-stars include Eileen Heckart, Patrick Bedford, Ruth White, Jean Stapleton, Sorrell Brooke, Roy Poole, Florence Stanley, Vinnette Carroll, and Frances Sternhagen as the school librarian. Stapleton and Brooke would go on to fame and fortune on popular television programs: The former as Edith Bunker on “All in the Family” (1971-1979) and the latter as Boss Hogg on “The Dukes of Hazzard” (1979-1985).
The well-written screenplay by Tad Mosel was adapted from the 1965 novel of the same name by Bel Kaufman. “Up the Down Staircase” was popular in theatrical release for director Robert Mulligan (“To Kill a Mockingbird” 1962), producer Alan J. Pakula, and Warner Bros. Pictures.