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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 07/06/2022
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. Go to Full Review
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 07/06/2022
4/4
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. Go to Full Review
Kathleen Carroll New York Daily News 07/05/2022
3/4
In the final examination it is like the student who gets an average grade when he's capable of a 95 -- the underachiever. Go to Full Review
Richard Schickel LIFE 07/06/2022
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. Go to Full Review
Lee Steele Toledo Blade 07/06/2022
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. Go to Full Review
Judy Ludlum Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 07/05/2022
"Teach's" trials do get a bit laborious -- and the theater seat gets a little hard -- before the 124 minutes are spent. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Tony H 08/23/2024 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. See more CodyZamboni 07/05/2023 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. See more 07/23/2022 So not worth 02 hours: and 04 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more jeff s 07/22/2018 Accurate depiction of what teaching is really like. Great performances. See more s r @ScottR 11/10/2014 Can a new school teacher have an impact in the toughest of schools? Inspirational and authentic. See more 05/13/2012 Sandy Dennis becomes a star in this See more Read all reviews
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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