SIDNEY POITIER

When they talk about people who came up hard, it would be difficult to top Sidney Poitier. Not many prominent people had to sleep in bus station toilets as a teen. A native of the Bahamas, he lived to the great old age of 94 and he left us with a legacy of fine performances and quiet dignity.

His first big movie role came in the 1951 version of Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country. As a sympathetic minister trying to help a fellow parson who is looking for his daughter (a jailed prostitute) and his son (jailed for murder). The terrible consequences of apartheid are presented without blinking. The 1995 version of this film, with James Earl Jones, is somewhat gentler and more hopeful. 

Blackboard Jungle (1955) was a real eye-opener about high school life in the city. Glenn Ford plays Richard Dadier, a teacher in a racially divided school in New York. Sidney Poitier portrays Gregory Miller, one of the most rebellious students in the classroom. But the teacher spots potential in the kid and keeps at him to straighten up. Poitier’s performance is very good.

Sidney Poitier was nominated for Best Actor for his performance opposite Tony Curtis (also nominated)  in The Defiant Ones (1958), but both men lost to David Niven for Separate Tables. Mr. Poitier and Mr. Curtis are escaped prisoners shackled together at the wrist. One is black and one is white and the symbolism is obvious but affecting. This is a fine film.

In 1961, Mr. Poitier appeared with Louis Gosset, Ruby Dee and Ivan Dixon in Lorraine Hansberry’s splendid A Raisin In The Sun, providing white America with a realistic view of a black American family. 

Sidney Poitier won an  Oscar in 1963 in the touching and winning Lillies of the Field. He plays a handyman who helps an order of German-speaking nuns realize their dream of having their own chapel. The scene where he leads the nuns in learning to sing a Negro spiritual is really good.  This is a moving, quiet little film that holds up well.

Mr. Poitier is excellent as the big-city detective Virgil Tibbs in In The Heat Of The Night (1967). Redneck sheriff Rod Steiger (Academy Award) reluctantly accepts help from Tibbs to solve a murder that’s over his head. This is still a superb sociological thriller with something for everyone. It captured five Oscars including Best Picture. My favorite moment is when a white redneck slaps Virgil and he unhesitatingly slaps the guy right back! When I saw this in the theater there were cheers at that scene (from white people!). The sequel, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs (1970) is just okay.

To Sir, With Love (1967) is another big hit for Sidney Poitier. He plays Mark Thackeray, an immigrant from British Guiana. While waiting for his dream engineering job to open up, he agrees to teach high school in London’s gritty East Side. There are ups and downs as Thackeray gradually earns the grudging respect of the kids. The title song, sung by Lulu, was number one on the Billboard chart in 1997. She is the only other recognizable name in the film. 

All of the movies in this column are available on DVD. All are suitable for 12 and up.