#817) The Jungle (1967)

#817) The Jungle (1967)

Directed by Charlie “Brown” Davis, Jimmy “Country” Robinson, and David “Bat” Williams

Class of 2009

The Plot: “The Jungle” showcases the life of 12th and Oxford, a gang of teenage delinquents in North Philadelphia. In the style of a docudrama, “The Jungle” shows us the gang as they get into fights with rival gangs on their turf, as well as internal fights between individual members. That’s about it plot-wise, but what if I told you that this short was written and directed by the gang itself? How do you like that?

Why It Matters: What the NFR write-up lacks in superlatives for “The Jungle”, it more than makes up for with historical context.

But Does It Really?: This is a film where the story behind it is just as fascinating as what we see on the screen. On its own, “The Jungle” is an interesting if somewhat messy examination of gang life. But once you learn that the film was made by the gang itself, it becomes more fascinating. “The Jungle” makes the NFR as one of the rare “bio-documentaries” on the list, as well as for representation of independent African-American filmmaking. It’s a unique story told from a unique perspective, and that’s all the justification I need to see “The Jungle” on the NFR.

Everybody Gets One: In West Philadelphia born and raised, Harold Haskins began his professional career as a social worker at the Temple University Health Science Center. While there, Haskins was working primarily with gangs, and received a small grant to make a film about 12th and Oxford. He hired a filmmaker from a local TV station to train the gang members how to make a film on both sides of the camera, and the final film was created solely by 12th and Oxford, with Haskins serving as a “Project Consultant”.

Title Track: The Jungle is the gang’s nickname for their neighborhood, in part because of their African heritage, but also because of the neighborhood’s less-than-ideal conditions. Side note: It’s hard to Google this movie without getting results for another, much more popular film that also came out in 1967 with the words “The Jungle” in the title.

Seriously, Oscars?: “The Jungle” never received a theatrical release, so no Oscar nod for the film. Apparently “The Jungle” won a few festival prizes, but I can’t find anything official. For the record, the Documentary Short winner of 1967 was Trevor Greenwood’s “The Redwoods”.

Other notes

The version of “The Jungle” that’s currently available on YouTube (embedded above) appears to be a VHS rip of a black-and-white print. My research shows that the film may have been shot in color. There’s also this version in higher quality, but is missing the credits for some reason.

I don’t have a lot of notes about “The Jungle”, in part because I was more intrigued by the film’s behind-the-scenes story. One thing I know for sure: I wouldn’t last a second on these streets.
“The Jungle” would make a good companion piece with “The Cool World”, the Shirley Clarke docudrama that tells a similar story about a Harlem street gang. The rough presentation of “The Jungle” makes “Cool World” look like “West Side Story”.
The film ends with one gang member being pressed about why he’s in 12th and Oxford. He cites several reasons, including wanting to belong in a group and to be like his older brother. But the reason that stuck with me is one word: “Respect”. I cannot begin to imagine what life was like for any of these kids, but I understand how important it is to feel respected, especially if you’re not getting respect from anyone else in your life. The saddest part comes when he’s asked if he’s tired of being in a gang: Yes, but “it’s a little too late now”.

Legacy

While “The Jungle” never received a theatrical release, it did get distributed to schools by Churchill Films starting in 1968. There were occasional screenings, though Harold Haskins always insisted that the film be presented by its filmmakers, which was the first time many of them had been outside of their Philadelphia neighborhood.
Due to their filmmaking exposure with “The Jungle”, several members of 12th and Oxford went back to school, earning their high school diplomas and in some cases even college degrees. Upon the film’s NFR induction, surviving members of the 12th and Oxford gang reunited for a screening at Philadelphia’s Scribe Video Center.
Harold Haskins would earn his bachelor’s degree in public administration from Temple University and became University of Pennsylvania’s dean of students in 1973, a position he held for 34 years. Harold Haskins died in 2020 at age 85.

Further Viewing: “Three Young Americans in Search of Survival”, a 1969 TV documentary narrated by Paul Newman, and one of the three young Americans is our very own Harold Haskins! The Haskins section features many behind-the-scenes moments from the making of “The Jungle”, all in color. “Three Young Americans” is available for viewing in the University of Georgia Media Archives.