The High Wall (1952)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good morning, doctor. >> Morning. >> Two kids. Ward three. Another gang fight over outside the police would like a full report. >> Called me about it. >> Seems to be a lot of these fights lately. >> Another fight. Two kids hurt. stab wound in lower omen right fracture radius infection condition satis Gregory 18 fractured ribs lower left perforated left no infection condition satisfactory that is the laboratory of no infection nothing that showed up under a microscope or in a test with nothing you drug or serum Mission satisfactory? I doubted it. The two boys mind if I talk with them? >> Yes, they'll talk. [Music] >> How you feeling? >> Okay. >> My name's Nordolf. >> Do you know what a psychiatrist is? >> I've seen movies. >> So have I. Tell me, why did you and your friends attack the other crowd? >> You kidding? They started it and we're going to finish it. We're going to settle with those ones. >> Wait a minute. The police report says that you and your friends went to Peter Zenwit's house and started the fight. >> I'm Peter Zenwitz. >> Oh, I see. >> And we didn't start the fight. They did. >> Everyone makes mistakes. I made the common mistake of judging byes. Everyone, even a psychiatrist, makes snap judgments sometimes. Often it's final judgment, passing sentence for a crime that never committed. [Music] >> What have you got against Peter Zenwitz? >> He's like all the rest of them. The rest. The rest of what? >> Pocks. Always horny and with the not wanted. Who asked them to come over here anyway? Who do they think they are? >> Who do you think they are, Tom? >> Pocks. Dirty stinking pocks. >> The old familiar hate words. Here it's dirty stinking pocks. Other places it's dirty day, mix, greasers, kites, chinks, [ __ ] How does hate like this begin to pile up? Where does it start? What do you do about it? That's what the police wanted to know. That's what I was supposed to tell them. First of all, I had to get the whole story. And a case worker, Jeff Holland. Jeff was experienced at this kind of thing. How does the hate begin to pile up? Where does it start? Jeff would try to find the answers. He went down to the south side to the Polish section, an American section actually, in which many of the residents are of Polish ancestry. Their parents and grandparents came from a poor country, wanting a better life, willing to work for it. Some have done pretty well. For others, it's been a struggle. Different customs, different backgrounds, but the same human needs and wants. Above all, the desire to belong, not to be an outsider, which is sometimes a struggle in itself. It's hard to understand why you have to get kicked around for having a different sounding name for speaking different accent. >> You want to know how it happens? Well, I ask you how it happens. Why those kids make trouble for us? Those hoodlams, the police, what do they do? Why don't they stop it? >> Papa, he's not from the police. He comes only to ask us why. >> We are trying to stop it, but I've got to have your help. These things just don't happen. There's always a reason for it. >> Tell me, do you know the Gregories? >> Oh, I know them. All right. Gregory, what papa means? We don't really know. We know only about them. They don't, how should I say it, bother with our neighborhood. It's hard to explain. There are some people that way. Jeff learned a little from the Zenwitz family. He hoped to learn more from the Gregory's just a few blocks away from the Polish section. A modest house on a street of modest houses like countless other houses on countless other streets. A neighborhood of people who go to church, read the newspapers, listen to the radio, have their friends in now and then. People who lead a quiet, orderly life. They're taking good care of him. There's nothing he needs. >> He will be all right, won't he? I mean, he'll get well. All right. Ah, >> he'll be all right. Don't worry. But I must know more about what happened. >> Oh, for the life of me, I I just don't know. We can't figure it out. >> It's terrible. I hate to think what the neighbors must be saying. >> Was there a bad feeling between the two boys? >> Not as far as I know. Of course, Tom is quiet. He doesn't say much. >> No, that's because I've always made him tow the line. It's the way I was brought up and well, that's the way we've tried to raise Tom. >> You know, I've just been to see the Zenwitzes. >> Can't pay much attention to what they say. You know what they're like. >> What do you mean what they're like? >> They're pulocks. Oh, now I'm not trying to excuse Tom, but well, you know what troublemakers they can be. >> Oh, that's silly. What? They're no better and no worse than Laura. >> Mother, you don't even know them. You've never let yourself know them. I do. Peter's a friend of mine. Why, I know lots of Polish kids. >> They're not our kind. They're a different sort of people entirely. >> Is that bad? My hair is longer than yours. Should I cut it off? >> That will be enough out of you, young lady. >> What are they? Wild animals or something? >> Laura, you heard your father. >> Laura has heard her father for many years. But Laura, it seems, has learned to do her own thinking. She has her own ideas. She has confidence in herself and what she believes. She doesn't need to step all over people in order to build herself up. Harold Gregory does. As Jeff found out, like everyone, he wants to get ahead, have people look up to him. He always wanted praise, even as a child. Instead, he got discipline and punishment. In his job, he's standing still. Others always seem to get the prizes he wants. 15 years at the same desk. A bookkeeper for a steel company. Quiet, unobtrusive, fairly competent. A few small raises, but no promotions. Why? Favoritism, dirty politics. Why else are the Plex moving in and moving up? Gregory has his own answer. It's because they're so aggressive. because they're so tricky and unscrupulous. Some of them down at the mill make almost as much as he does. How come? Fine way to treat an American. If at first you don't succeed, blame somebody else. The Plex, the hunks, the foreigners. They're stupid and dirty, but they're smart and tricky. They're lazy, but they're too ambitious. They're anything he wants them to be. A handy target for his own feeling of inadequacy. He could work harder, but it's easier to find a scapegoat. He could accept his limitations and try to live with them, but it's easier to shift the blame. Mrs. Gregory considers herself a conscientious mother. I've I've tried to bring my family up properly and see that they have a good home and behave nicely and associate with nice children. But I don't know why Tom's been such a problem. Good, right, nice, proper. But Jeff was to find out they added up to something else. Fear of not being good enough. fear that she would always stay in the same rut, that she would never climb the social ladder. There are many who have the same fear. Joined together, they have strength of a kind. There is always someone more vulnerable. >> Therefore, I move that we reject the applications of Mrs. Lubo and Mrs. Branicki. Believe me, I have the slightest personal feeling, but well, it's a question of background. We just don't see things the way we do and we don't want to lower our standards. >> She doesn't know why Tom has been such a problem. It was a gradual process. No child is born prejudiced. Children have to be taught how to hate, whom to hate. She raised Tom carefully. She knew about smallpox and other infectious diseases. She had him immunized. She didn't know that she herself could infect him, thinking all the while she was doing the right thing. >> Esthe. Hello. Oh, Mildred. How are you? I I didn't know that you traded here. >> Well, they do have wonderful bargains. >> Yes, I suppose they do. That's the way they take things away from our own people. >> Still, if their prices are lower. >> Well, I don't mean to tell you your business, Ethel. After all, if you want to shop here, that's up to you. Personally, I don't think it's right. After all, the polls are so clanish and untrustworthy, and we really have to think of our own people. Why? >> The infection was slow to take hold. >> Tom couldn't see anything wrong with the kids in the Polish section. He didn't notice that they were different. >> Yay. >> Now, you get >> What are you doing here? Come on. But you stay in your own backyard. What are you doing over here? I told you that you weren't to play with those children. I told you that you were to stay in your own backyard. Tommy, you're a bad boy. You're a very bad boy. >> You do as you're told. Understand? Stay away from those polocks. They're no good. No good. Why no good? Never mind why. Don't ask questions. Do as you're told. The little man at the office becomes the big man at home. The voice of authority. Authority wielded a thousand times, darkening the years that should be filled with sunshine. Home becomes a place of rules and regulations, of too much discipline and not enough love. [Music] Is that my knife? [Music] Let's go out and play. [Music] It takes takes time, but the pattern develops. No chance to work off his aggressions normally, he finds other ways. Ways to get even with parents who hold too tight a rain on him. [Music] A problem child at the age of 11. Sulky, fertive, hemmed in, unsure of himself, running off sometimes to play with the poles, wanting to feel superior to somebody. Kids like Pete Zenwitz, Anton Milikovski, Leo Cubic, Stan Lubof. Funny names, but they can shoot a BB gun. All right. Well, who can't? >> Let me try. [Music] >> I'm better than the dumb Pax any day in the week. [Music] I could have a BB gun if I wanted one. >> Why haven't you got one then? >> I rather have a 22. Would you like maybe some piroki? >> Oh, may we have one? We have one cheese. >> Oh, thank you. Thank you. >> This is good. I love it. >> Hey, what's the matter? >> Don't you like it? No, strange food, strange ways, strange people, different foreign. He senses hidden things, mysteries, a different kind of church where they speak a strange language, Latin. Strange, different, therefore bad, dangerous. >> Hey, why don't you go home where you belong? >> I can't find my best kitchen knife. Have either of your children seen it? >> Not me. You know what? Pete Zimwit has got a brand new BB gun. A repeater. >> What were you doing over there? >> Walking by. Leo Cubic's got a bike. How come I can't have one? >> Daddy can't afford it, dummy. >> I'll decide what I can afford. >> Where did the Pocks get all their money? >> It's not nice to call them pocks. Maybe I can get you a bike next year. >> Next year? Gee, >> that's enough. I'll eat your dinner and keep quiet. [Music] Tom was learning to hate and not just at home. There were others who contributed their share. There was Miss Barnett, never really interested in teaching, frustrated, unloved, resenting her drab life and taking it out on the kids. Peter Zenwitz, stand up. What do you mean disrupting the class? >> I was only going to ask him. >> No back talk, young man. If you hope to amount to anything, you'll drop those shiftless Polish habits and attend a business. Do you understand that? Do you understand me, Peter Zenwitz? >> Yes. >> Yes. What? >> Yes, ma'am. What's dumber than a half win? A thin wind. >> So gangs develop, insiders against outsiders. The outsiders have been beaten, but once isn't enough. You have to go on proving yourself. Out of fear and frustration, the hate grows. Out of insecurity, the need to be powerful. The master, the conqueror. Your kids come out this fooling around. Well, go on downstairs and help your mother with breakfast. >> Yes, father dear. >> You're too old for this kid stuff, Tom. Now, I don't want any more of it. Yes, sir. >> Good morning. Good morning, dear. Why is dad such a sour puss? Can't we have any fun around here? >> I won't have you talking like that. >> Laura, that's the way to pour meal. >> Why does everyone have to do things the same way? That's the trouble with you. >> There's a right and wrong way to do everything. >> I disagree. >> Laura, >> besides, I like my way best. >> I won't speak to you again, young lady. >> Is that a promise? >> Laura gets away with it. She is rebellious, but her rebellion doesn't really count. In the Gregory world, it's the man's opinion that matters. But Laura's not having it that way. She has set a course, her own course, and she intends to follow it. She studies hard pin as there are different kinds of people. No one is going to tell her how to choose her own friends. >> Well, I'll call you tonight. Hi. >> Hi. >> Hey, Laura. >> Oh, hi. >> Hi. Going my way. >> Oh, it depends. You going my way? >> Then I'm going yours. >> Good tonight, Laura. Do you think you can come? >> Well, you know, I'm terribly busy these days. >> Oh, got a date? >> You're very fortunate. I just happen to be free this evening. >> Good. >> If she likes a boy, she likes him. whether his name is Jon Jones or Peter Zenwitz. But to those whose minds are surrounded by high walls, differences are wrong, dangerous. They hate whatever is different, and the hatred wells them together. They tell themselves it's masculine to hate. >> Hey, Laura's getting up in the world hobnobbing with Pete Zen. >> She gets along just fine with those pocks. What's the secret of her success? >> Ah, she's a dope. >> I wonder if they get anywhere with her. >> How about it, Tom? Give us the lowdown. Huh? >> Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you. >> Shut your mouth. [Music] >> Now, once more, I'm going to ask you, how long have you been playing around with Zenwitz? I'm not playing around with him. How many times do I have to? Peter's having a party tonight. He asked me to come. That's all. >> Darling, there are lots of nice boys. >> Well, what's wrong with Peter? >> He's a polock. >> He's a polock. That settles everything as far as you're concerned. >> Listen, I don't want any sister mine running around. >> He's never fit as good as you are. >> Laura, >> you better watch on what you're saying, young lady. Now, I don't want to hear any more about it. Go and call him up and tell him you're not going. And that's final. >> What? >> Final. >> I told her off. All right. So the old man. She won't be playing around with that pock anymore. >> Thanks, brother. >> Yeah, you're not kidding. >> Hey, I got news. They're having a party over at Pete's sandwiches. Big deal. >> Ah, that's no news. >> What they doing? Kazatski. Say, how you don't get invited? >> Yeah, how come? See, I feel like having some fun tonight. What do you say we uh crash the party? Ever figure they might get sore? What's the matter? Chicken? [Music] Who's chicken? I'll crash any party I want. Now you're one of us. Let's go, boys. Pick up those things to bottom, boys. Got everything? >> Well, let's go. Come on. Here you go. [Music] [Music] Oh, what? [Music] A gang fight on the south side. the sort of eruption that might happen almost anywhere when the pressure of hate becomes strong enough. [Music] We knew now where it began in the home with the parents and probably with their parents before then. We knew the source and how it developed. But there remained another bigger question to be answered. How to cure it? Not just here but everywhere. For prejudice is a disease, a communicable disease. It shows up in many places. Takes many forms. If few of us recognize the symptoms in ourselves, testing oneself like testing eyesight. Is my vision distorted? Do certain names frighten or anger me? certain colors, faces, accents, certain religions. If so, then I too am infected, a menace to everyone around me, my own worst enemy. For make no mistake about it, prejudice is a crippling disease. But no one is born with this disease. No one is born prejudiced. He has to be taught how to hate whom to hate. It begins in the home, transmitted from parent to child. It spreads because it's contagious. It feeds on frustration and insecurity, on a feeling of social inferiority, on the thwarted need for love, on stifled aggressions. It can turn into hate and violence. Prejudice can be cured by recognizing it in ourselves and fighting it. But how much wiser and easier to immunize against it from the very beginning, providing love and security for the infant and the growing child. A chance to let off steam by making things and destroying them if he wants. Not wholesale destruction, but a chance to get rid of a gustling. The chance to learn that we're not all alike. That being different in itself is not dangerous or wrong. Putting everyone's talents to good use. Playgrounds free to everyone. Decent sanitary housing for every family. An equal chance to earn a living. Healthy competition. a chance to work off excess energy and hostility. All of these help make us immune to prejudice. And why not? By immunizing ourselves, we no longer fear smallpox, dtheria, and many other diseases. Why not do the same with the disease of prejudice? This is our hope, our real hope for the future. [Music]