There are several people I like better as actors, but I can’t think of any actors I admire more as a person.
“Lilies of the Field” was the first movie of his I ever saw. The byplay between him and the old German nun was priceless.
Was that movie controversial at the time?
The “slap” heard around the world. I heard that in some theaters, the crowd cheered.
“What are you gonna do about it?”
“I…don’t know.”
Well if anyone wants to watch his last movie (which probably no one here has) it is free with ads on Tubi (another streaming service I have never heard of):
https://tubitv.com/movies/576118?utm_source=justwatch-feed&tracking=justwatch-feed
I watched it when it aired on TV. Who’d miss watching Poitier?
I got this from the top review at IMDB:
This film was supposed to air on CBS on April 15, 2001. For some reason CBS ended up changing the schedule so as far as I know this film as never been shown. I got a promo copy somehow. Sidney Poitier is a 73 year old brickmaker. He has recently lost his wife. He befriends a young troubled boy and teaches him some of life’s lessons. The movie is predictable but still worth taking a look at if you are a Sidney Poitier fan.
It certainly was shown. I especially remember his character referring to the collective plural noun (?) “brick” instead of “bricks”, as in “500 brick over there”. It was a pretty informative movie all around.
When the movie was scripted and filmed, inter-racial marriage was illegal in one third of the country. It was just six months before its release that the Loving decision was handed down by the Suprme Court.
Even today, there’s a large enough percentage of people in the United States who decry inter-racial relationships. Check out Annie X-mas’s thread from 7 1/2 years ago.
The closing scene of Lilies of the Field. Amen Sidney Poitier!
However, it’s not Poitier singing, according to WIkipedia. His acting in the scene is still great, though.
“Jester Hairston, who wrote the gospel arrangement of Amen used in the film and who arranged the vocal parts, dubbed the vocals for Poitier, who was tone-deaf.”
Am I the only one who saw his film, To Sir, with Love II?
I know To Sir, with Love was based on E. R. Braithwaite’s autobiography, but I have no idea if the sequel (a made-for TV movie) was also autobiographical or if it was just fiction.
I saw it!
I know that Sneakers (1992) is unlikely to make any mentions in his obituaries, but that film was my introduction to Poitier and remains one of my favorites.
“You get to do all the fun stuff.”
Well, I was just a child when it was released (ahem), so I can’t say, but it’s probably safe to assume that it was.
I remember watching The Defiant Ones (with Tony Curtis) years ago, it was a great movie, I’d love to see it again.
I was going to link to a clip from Pressure Point, but it seems that the whole movie is on YouTube. - YouTube
And yet it was a big hit at the time even in the South. The Wikipedia article links to some criticism at the time from the black community that Poitier’s character was unrealistically perfect. A script problem of course, not an acting problem. The film got a lot of publicity for its subject matter but also because Spencer Tracy died 17 days after filming. I happen to agree with the criticisms. It’s overwrought at times and filled with unrealistic soliloquies. It might be better suited for the stage. The acting from 3 out of the 4 leads (really 5 out of 6) were fine to great but the script was not. I believe it’s a case where the film is much more important than it is good.
On the other hand I could watch In the Heat of the Night every day for the rest of my life. Two power house actors at the height of their abilities.
What?? Certainly not! (Of course, ya have to be old to have seen it when it first came out…which I am.)
I love that movie! I own it and have watched it a zillion times. Great cast! Poitier is fabulous. The best part is when the blind David Strathairn drives the van in reverse!
Wonderful Poitier story:
At the opening night of A Raisin in the Sun–
…
My grandfather said that the Broadway audience gave it a standing ovation, cheering as flowers were brought up to the cast, followed by ovation after ovation, Poitier glorious and dynamic. My grandfather and others began calling for “the writer!” and Poitier looked about before leaping from the stage and into the audience, racing through the applauding patrons to find and pick up onto his shoulder the diminutive Lorraine Hansberry and carry her through the cheers to the stage.
…
Whoa! That gives me goosebumps all over! What a moment!
Who would have thought that the first member of the main cast to die would be the youngest one (River Phoenix, who died of a drug overdose the following year)?
As for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Sidney Poitier’s character is almost too perfect, as a doctor working for the WHO. (And note that the actress playing the daughter was Katherine Hepburn’s real-life niece.)
Wonderful story! And, sadly, Lorraine Hansberry died 57 years ago. She was only 34 and born in 1930, 3 years after Poitier.