Blackboard Jungle
(1955)THE CONTROVERSY Set in a poor urban school, Jungle raised eyebrows both for its gritty depiction of a teacher (Glenn Ford, left) battling against juvenile delinquents (like the young Sidney Poitier, right) and for its first-ever use of a rock & roll song on the soundtrack (Bill Haley and the Comets' ''Rock Around the Clock'' played during the opening and closing credits).
THE FIRESTORM Rock-loving audiences in the U.S. and U.K. were so excited by Haley's song that they vandalized theaters. U.S. Ambassador to Italy Clare Boothe Luce got the Venice Film Festival to pull the movie because of its unflattering portrayal of American generational warfare.
THE AFTERMATH Jungle earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Screenplay. Rock & roll was here to stay on movie soundtracks, and juvenile delinquency remained a popular topic onscreen, from Rebel Without a Cause to To Sir With Love (also starring Poitier, but this time as the teacher).
