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Up the Down Staircase

Play trailer Poster for Up the Down Staircase 1967 2h 4m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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78% Tomatometer 41 Reviews 69% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
On her first day at Calvin Coolidge High, fledgling teacher Sylvia Barrett (Sandy Dennis) encounters an apathetic faculty, a delinquent student body and an administration that drowns its staff in paperwork. The following days go from bad to worse as Sylvia struggles to reach her most troubled students, bright underachiever Joe and sensitive Alice. When Alice's crush on a male teacher (Patrick Bedford) leads her to attempt suicide, Sylvia questions her ability to help the disadvantaged teens.
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Up the Down Staircase

Up the Down Staircase

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Critics Consensus

While it occasionally approaches its source material from the wrong direction, Up the Down Staircase remains a worthy story that benefits from Sandy Dennis' strong performance.

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Critics Reviews

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Charles Champlin Los Angeles Times It is at once warm and chilling, tough and sentimental, greatly moving, notably honest, improvisationally fresh, wryly and ribaldly funny, disturbing yet infused with a quantity of optimism no larger than the human heart. Jul 6, 2022 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times We need more American films like Up the Down Staircase. We need more films that might be concerned, even remotely, with real experiences that might once have happened to real people. And we need more actresses like Sandy Dennis. Rated: 4/4 Jul 6, 2022 Full Review Kathleen Carroll New York Daily News In the final examination it is like the student who gets an average grade when he's capable of a 95 -- the underachiever. Rated: 3/4 Jul 5, 2022 Full Review Richard Schickel LIFE Up the Down Staircase is one of those rare films in which all the important talents mesh to form a wonderfully coherent, humane and sensitive vision of an aspect of our reality. Jul 6, 2022 Full Review Lee Steele Toledo Blade As the fledgling teacher, Sandy Dennis is big-sisterish and convincingly pitying in the part of Miss Barrett. She is the epitome of that contemporary yet ancient phenomenon: the dedicated mentor with the maternal instinct. Jul 6, 2022 Full Review Judy Ludlum Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Teach's" trials do get a bit laborious -- and the theater seat gets a little hard -- before the 124 minutes are spent. Jul 5, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Tony H It is a time capsule to 1967. This movie was released about the time that I was born, and it gave me a window into this time period. It is very entertaining and shows how typical lives can be worth watching. The movie's greatest feat is that it shows us that we really need to be nice to each other because we don't know what the people we're dealing with are going through. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/26/24 Full Review CodyZamboni Movie is not what I thought it would be. Realistic, you are there 1967 inner city school and surrounding low income neighborhoods. Strong commited performance by Sandy Dennis as she tries to reach her students, and fight an educational system that has given up on the kids. Movie pushes all the right emotional buttons. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 07/31/23 Full Review Audience Member So not worth 02 hours: and 04 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review jeff s Accurate depiction of what teaching is really like. Great performances. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review s r Can a new school teacher have an impact in the toughest of schools? Inspirational and authentic. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Sandy Dennis becomes a star in this Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Up the Down Staircase

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Cast & Crew

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Robert Mulligan

Director

Sandy Dennis

Sylvia Barrett

Patrick Bedford

Paul Barringer

Eileen Heckart

Henrietta Pastorfield

Ruth White

Beatrice Schacter

Jean Stapleton

Sadie Finch

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Up the Down Staircase

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Movie Info

Synopsis On her first day at Calvin Coolidge High, fledgling teacher Sylvia Barrett (Sandy Dennis) encounters an apathetic faculty, a delinquent student body and an administration that drowns its staff in paperwork. The following days go from bad to worse as Sylvia struggles to reach her most troubled students, bright underachiever Joe and sensitive Alice. When Alice's crush on a male teacher (Patrick Bedford) leads her to attempt suicide, Sylvia questions her ability to help the disadvantaged teens.
Director
Robert Mulligan
Production Co
Park Place Productions
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 22, 2016
Runtime
2h 4m
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