MovieChat Forums > Up the Down Staircase (1967) Discussion > The Joe Ferone Storyline

The Joe Ferone Storyline

posted 13 years ago by Danusha_Goska
3 replies | jump to latest

There's one thing that bugs me about this movie, as much as I love it, and love the book it's based on.

The Joe Ferone storyline.

Sylvia really does fail Joe Ferone.

The book and movie tells us that she FEELS like she failed Joe Ferone.

But she really did fail Joe Ferone.

I don't mean that in a mean, harsh way. She's a new teacher and everything is hard and she's making it up as she goes along in a hostile environment.

But she really does drop the ball with Joe, and it bugs me even more because his story line is never resolved, not in the movie, not in the book. he just disappears

I wish the book and movie had just said more clearly: Sylvia really did fail, here. There were things she could have done and didn't do them and she lost Ferone, at least as someone she could have helped.

Heck, he's probably a rich, retired stock trader, now.

(The book is really a great read and if you have not read it, please do. If you loved the movie, you'll love the book.)

[–] Dominik528 10 years ago

Yeah, it was a bit disappointing, but somewhat fitting, that we don't see him again after he backs off from Sylvia. Kind of open-ended, like, how will their relationship play out next time?
I also realized that Alice didn't get any real closure, too -- we know that she survived the fall, but that's it.

[–] greenleafie 10 years ago

I think it's a little unfair to say that she failed Joe. Her job was to educate him, not let herself be seduced as some sort of bribe, in exchange for his attending class. Joe dropped out, something she had no control over. Had he stayed in school, she might have won.

She might have done better with Alice.

[–] thecrux-1 10 years ago

I concur. Joe made it clear he wasn't going to engage academically at all, and all he made of Sylvia's attempt to reach out was a she was that much more of a pushover or a target for his amorphousness.

I also concur she well may have had better luck with the Alice character. For the want of a 5 minute personal conversation ( previous attempts to do so were interrupted ) she could have given her much needed perspective, and how inappropriate or unrealistic a relationship with a teacher at least 10 years older than her really is. In the end, it's a shame she more or less martyred herself for a person who flew right under his radar, almost to the point of contempt.