MovieChat Forums > Blackboard Jungle (1955) Discussion > The records!!! Not the RECORDS!!!

The records!!! Not the RECORDS!!!


That was hard to watch. You should not mess with a music fans record collection.

The kids should've been sent to jail for the rest of their lives!

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[deleted]

You're right. Everyone acted wonderfully in this film, though.

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I came on here to post the same thing! I was so aggravated after that. 15 years of collecting, Jesus.

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I came here looking for this very post. That guy was an idiot if he didn't think that was inevitable. Kind of like the cliched character in a war movie that you just KNOW is going to get killed.

It was like Edwards was just begging for that to happen. Should've hung a sign.

LOL




"Affirmative action is a stain on the American soul." - Charlton Heston

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Really. I'd understand his ignorance if he brought the records in on his first day, but by the time he did, he already knew (or should have known) the score. What's next----lend the students his car?

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That was a great ending, though.
Sidney Poitier ROCKS!



"Affirmative action is a stain on the American soul." - Charlton Heston

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[deleted]

I know. I felt so bad for the teacher. That is terrible to destroy his belongings!!

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The records weren't intended to be listened to by that group of students. He was caught off guard waiting for his next class, and one he realized it was a bad situation, he tried to go with the flow hoping that it wouldn't occur.

Honestly, this happens every day to someone. You hope for the best in humanity and get screwed.

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Couldn't agree more, Texas Greek. He was asking for it.

And so was Miss Hammond. Futzing with her stockings like that going down the stairs. Got what she deserved.

(Yes, I'm kidding. But it was an amazingly stupid move to bring in those records.)



I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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Amazingly, that scene stood out more than when the kids beat him up. After getting beat up, I don't know why he brought in his most treasured collection.

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In the classroom, when Dadier is taking up the collection to replace the record player, he says "Those records can't be replaced".

I've been a collecter for nigh on thirty years and even now, there's nothing especially rare about those records.

You mean to tell me that you couldn't find Bix Beiderbecke or Charlie Barnett records in 1955???

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Well, considering that Bix died in 1931, an original record from the 1920's might be hard to find, even in 1955. I spent over 20 years searching for and eventually finding an original Decca 3033, Ted Lewis and his band "The Old St. Louis Blues". When my mother told me that her worn copy was a rarity that she searched for through the 1940's, I was sure she was wrong. But after she passed away in 1985, it took me 20 years to finally find an original at an obscure record auction. The cost? $5.00!!! What a bargain!! LOL!

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I really feel your comments. As a life long jazz fan, (I really believed that Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong were my Uncles because that's what my daddy always told me. I was a devastated five before I found out they weren't.) I know the greatest jazz recordings are not easy to come by! I'm now 70, and Pandora is my new best friend! They do a great job of digging up the wonderful old stuff! And it learns what I want as time goes by!!

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Maybe there was something special about those records (different labels, rare songs, etc.)

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I felt so bad for him...the actor portraying him did a really good job.

Dammit Carol Sue, where is the vodka?!

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A lot of people over the years seemed to have agreed with all of you, because Richard Kiley (who played the jazz-fan teacher, and later went on to greater acclaim in "Man of La Mancha") regularly received collections of old jazz records from well-meaning fans for the rest of his life! I wonder what he ever did with them?

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Dude. I think I cried (or almost did) watching that scene, and I'm only 21. One of the films most painful moments in a movie filled with painful moments.

But oh, well, what else could he have done? This is a man who is so passionate about his career as a teacher that he would sacrifice anything, anything, just to give those kids an education. That's basically what's happening through the whole movie. These teachers are doing everything, no matter how awful or painful it is, just to get those poor kids to learn. This movie sure makes you feel so bad for teachers everywhere, doesn't it?

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[–] WildHamster235 13 years ago
Dude. I think I cried (or almost did) watching that scene, and I'm only 21. One of the films most painful moments in a movie filled with painful moments.

But oh, well, what else could he have done? This is a man who is so passionate about his career as a teacher that he would sacrifice anything, anything, just to give those kids an education. That's basically what's happening through the whole movie. These teachers are doing everything, no matter how awful or painful it is, just to get those poor kids to learn. This movie sure makes you feel so bad for teachers everywhere, doesn't it?


Beautifully written post! I hate the other posts saying that Josh was "asking for it."

I don't think Josh was unaware that record playing could backfire with the delinquent students. He was hesitant, but he wanted so much to reach his students through the music he loved and was passionate about that he ultimately took that chance.

While I think his records being destroyed got to him, I think the above is what ultimately broke Josh and drove him to quit. No matter how many times I watch the film, this scene is so hard to watch.

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Jail? How about give them the death penalty for that! Nobody smashes my records in front of me, nobody.

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I saw a scene from some movie, with Ian Holm, if I'm not mistaken, where a guy is questioned at gunpoint and when he doesn't say the right thing, his records are being smashed in front of him. Blackboard Jungle was the second movie I saw that in. What was that teacher thinking... )

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asgard-5, I believe there is a scene like that in KISS ME DEADLY.

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I think that the teacher Edwards did NOT intend to use the records with the Vic Morrow class; he had obviously been using them for the previous class and even said that he was going to use them for the next class. His mistake was not moving fast enough to put them away before Morrow and company entered.

"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"

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The dude was just asking for it - bringing `one` record to that zoo would have been bad enough, but his whole precious collection... oh man. That move really took a braintrust to cook up.

And the first time this guy`s face showed up on screen, somehow it was clear something terrible, and stupid, was gonna happen to him.



"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

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It was more than the records' rarity. I'm sure that at one point Edwards told Dadier that he'd carried much of his collection and a portable phonograph with him while serving in the South Pacific. So his records managed to survive humidity, heat, gunfire, etc. before encountering a pack of morons.

"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"

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