Halls of Anger

Halls of Anger is an American drama directed by Paul Bogart. The drama features Calvin Lockhart, Janet MacLachlan, Jeff Bridges and James A. Watson Jr. A predominantly black high school is integrated by white students. Roger Greenspun, the film critic for The New York Times, gave the film a mixed review, and wrote, "The picture initially portends sensationalism, with the racial scales reversed and the well-behaved white youngsters harassed and tormented by the black students. What steadies the whole thing is the excellent performance of Calvin Lockhart, as a sane, realistic Negro teacher who... more or less holds together the teeming school and the picture itselfBut the picture's urgent plea for racial sanity in the classroom is almost methodically blunted by the use of standard-seeming types. The few faculty whites are oafs or hard-heads. There is the pretty Negro teacher, nicely played by Janet MacLachlan, who supports and comforts Lockhart. As the fieriest black student and the spunkiest white newcomer, James A. Watson Jr. and Jeff Bridges do well in characterizations that rate more exploration.
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