Taglines: Simple words that could start a war.
Up the Down Staircase is a 1967 American drama film directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Sandy Dennis, Patrick Bedford, Eileen Heckart, and Jean Stapleton. The plot concerns the first, trying assignment for a young, idealistic teacher. Tad Mosel wrote the screenplay adaptation of the novel of the same name by Bel Kaufman.
Sandy Dennis took the role of Sylvia Barrett after winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? This was her first and only film with producer Alan J. Pakula and director Robert Mulligan. The film also featured early appearances from Bud Cort and Jean Stapleton. The film was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival where Sandy Dennis won the award for Best Actress.
Outdoor street scenes were filmed on 1st Avenue and 100th Street in East Harlem. The outdoor school scenes were filmed on the same block, at Junior High School 99 at 410 East 100th Street (now the Renaissance Charter High School for Innovation). Some indoor school and classroom scenes were filmed at the former Haaren HS on 59th St and 10th Ave (today’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice), and a production studio in Chelsea.
The actors portraying the students were non-professionals, and most were themselves high school students. Jeff Howard, 20 years old, was a Long Island University student. Jose Rodriguez, playing the quiet student who blossoms during the trial sequence, was a 17-year-old student at the New York School of Printing, now the High School of Graphic Communication Arts. Ellen O’Mara, who plays a love-struck student, was also 17 and attended Washington Irving High School. Salvatore Rasa, playing the student body president of the fictional high school, was 17 and had that role in real life at Bishop Ford High School.
Up the Down Staircase (1967)
Directed by: Robert Mulligan
Starring: Sandy Dennis, Patrick Bedford, Eileen Heckart, Ruth White, Jean Stapleton, Sorrell Booke, Roy Poole, Florence Stanley, Vinnette Carroll, Salvatore Rasa, John Fantauzzi, Maria Landa
Screenplay by: Tad Mosel
Production Design by: George Justin
Cinematography by: Joseph F. Coffey
Film Editing by: Folmar Blangsted
Costume Design by: Ann Roth
Art Direction by: George Jenkins
Music by: Fred Karlin
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Seven Arts
Release Date: July 19, 1967
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