Forum Home

Master Index of Archived Threads


What's Your Glass of Poitier?


1. [i]Blackboard Jungle[/i] (1955) 0 votes

2. [i]The Defiant Ones[/i] (1958) 1 votes

3. [i]Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?[/i] (1967) 3 votes

4. [i]In the Heat of the Night[/i] (1967) 3 votes

5. [i]The Lilies of the Field[/i] (1963) 1 votes

6. [i]Paris Blues[/i] (1961) 0 votes

7. [i]A Patch of Blue[/i] (1965) 1 votes

8. [i]A Raisin in the Sun[/i] (1961) 1 votes

9. [i]To Sir, With Love[/i] (1967) 2 votes

10. [i]Uptown Saturday Night[/i] (1974) 0 votes

11. Other (please name) 0 votes

Edgy MD
Jan 07 2022 05:38 PM

Even when a Sidney Poitier film isn't particularly good, he brought an iconic presence that makes it last and invite rewatching. A stature that makes him 12 inches taller than anybody in the room.



Who's to say what that is? I dunno. But I invite you to name your quintessential Sidney Poitier movie.



[BIGPURPLE]1) [fimg=250]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51sT4CEKprL._SY445_.jpg[/fimg] 2) [fimg=250]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/24/Defiant_Ones_poster.jpg[/fimg] 3) [fimg=250]https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B1%2F1%2F3%2F4%2F5%2F11345993%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D[/fimg]

4) [fimg=250]https://www.originalposter.co.uk/uploads/993084132671356_mainphoto.jpg[/fimg] 5) [fimg=250]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51YFAFS3KLL._AC_.jpg[/fimg] 6) [fimg=250]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71XAF4z2D9L._AC_SY679_.jpg[/fimg]

7) [fimg=250]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTJiZTNiOGQtZjY3My00MjY3LTkzNjYtMzc1ODdmYTEwMTk5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjE5MjUyOTM@._V1_.jpg[/fimg] 8) [fimg=250]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51nqHT8bejL._AC_.jpg[/fimg] 9) [fimg=250]https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/b24e08fe-46a7-494f-a404-f143ea563f6b_1.a4908e392b92063ab890e05aac24cb2f.jpeg[/fimg]

10) [fimg=250]https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/279d3b15-5d38-415f-afac-90721e2a0a9c_1.4561b133fe83fded3ee011a1c2b2b6a2.jpeg[/fimg] 11) Other (please name)[/BIGPURPLE]

whippoorwill
Jan 07 2022 07:07 PM
Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

Always loved To Sir With Love

Edgy MD
Jan 07 2022 07:16 PM
Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

This probably belongs in the movie forum, but I'm gonna let it ride here for a bit.

Willets Point
Jan 07 2022 07:36 PM
Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

I haven't seen many of these but I'm going with In the Heat of the Night for now

kcmets
Jan 07 2022 07:56 PM
Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

Not at all familiar with Blackboard Jungle.



Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was great but geez did Spencer Tracey ever

play a role in a movie when he wasn't playing himself. Fuck him.



To Sir With Love was ahead of it's time. It's like a Who rock opera.



Going of course with A Patch of Blue. If you haven't seen it, make it so.

Fman99
Jan 07 2022 08:00 PM
Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

A Raisin in the Sun is pretty powerful stuff. Read it in high school and then realized that I had already pictured his character as he played it.

Edgy MD
Jan 07 2022 08:17 PM
Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

Not at all familiar with Blackboard Jungle.


Blackboard Jungle is kinda To Sir With Love, 10 years earlier and flipped on it's lid, in that it's thematically similar, with Sid playing one of the alpha-male juvenile delinquents. It features almost all the teens played by actors who are clearly and unapologetically adults — making the menace of an all-boy (or "boy") classroom that much more intimidating. It's mostly known for being the first major release featuring a shamelessly rock 'n' roll soundtrack — launching "Rock Around the Clock" toward #1, and with it, the rock 'n' roll revolution.



Watch Glenn Ford face off against Vic Morrow with VIOLENCE in the air. Sid steals the scene just by being Sid, but the one line he has in the scene is terrific.



[YOUTUBE]x53MiglduxY[/YOUTUBE]

Edgy MD
Jan 08 2022 01:38 PM
Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

Some sensational taglines with these films.


[list=1]

  • [*]Blackboard Jungle (1955)
    [list]
  • [*]"The sensational novel...now on the screen!"

  • [*]"A DRAMA OF TEEN-AGE Terror!"

  • [*]"THE SCREAM IN THE SCHOOL ROOM!"

  • [*]"SHOCKING!"

  • [*]"A shock story of today's high school hoodlums!"

  • [*]"I'm a teacher. My pupils are the kind you don't turn your back on, even in class!"

  • [*]"The Most Startling Picture In Years!"
    • [/list]
  • [*]The Defiant Ones (1958)
    [list]
  • [*]"One of the great ones!"

  • [*]"Chained Fury!"

  • [*]"chained to each other like animals!"

  • [*]"at each other's throats like animals!"
    • [/list]
  • [*]Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1967)
    [list]
  • [*]"a love story of today"
    • [/list]
  • [*]In the Heat of the Night (1967)
    [list]
  • [*]"They call me Mister Tibbs"

  • [*]"They got a murder on their hands. They don't know what to do with it."

  • [*]"They're going to pin something on that smart cop from Philadelphia ... maybe a medal ... maybe a murder!"
    • [/list]
  • [*]The Lilies of the Field (1963)
    [list]
  • [*]"Perhaps The Most Extraordinary Story Of Courage, Conflict & Devotion Ever Filmed"

  • [*]"Sidney Poitier as the life-loving ex-GI who one day encounters five nuns escaped from beyond the Berlin Wall..."

  • [*]"He is not of our faith nor of our skin," said Mother Maria. "But he is a man of greatness..."

  • [*]"A FILM AS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL AS A SUMMER DAY!"

  • [*]"A MOTION PICTURE WITH A LIGHT-HEARTED DIFFERENCE!

  • [*]"SOMETHING TO GIVE YOUR HEART A LIFT!"

  • [*]"A MOTION PICTURE OF OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT!"
    • [/list]
  • [*]Paris Blues (1961)
    [list]
  • [*]"A Love So Spectacular, So Personally Exciting, You Feel It Happening To You!"

  • [*]"They Live Every Wild and Wonderful Moment of Its Brash Excitement!"

  • [*]"...so personally exciting, you feel it's happening to you!"
    • [/list]
  • [*]A Patch of Blue (1965)
    [list]
  • [*]"A man...a girl...captives in their own worlds...finding escape in each other..."

  • [*]"Love is color blind."
    • [/list]
  • [*]A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
    [list]
  • [*]"The Prize-Winning Drama That Warms The Screen With Its People and Its Passions!"

  • [*]"THE MOTION PICTURE THAT COMES TO THE SCREEN WITH A HERITAGE
    • [/list]
  • [*]To Sir, With Love (1967)
    [list]
  • [*]A STORY AS FRESH AS THE GIRLS IN THEIR MINIS ... AND AS COOL AS THEIR TEACHER HAD TO BE

  • [*]Turned-on teens ... and the teacher who had to tame them!
    • [/list]
    [list]
  • [*]
    • [/list]
  • [*]Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
    [list]
  • [*]They get funny when you mess with their money.

  • [*]JOIN SIDNEY POITIER IN THE LAUGH PARTY OF THE YEAR!

  • [*]grab your best girl—and get yourself into the time of your life

  • [*]Two guys with a little good luck ... and a lot o' bad.

  • [*]A couple of lightweights in heavy company!

  • [*]They had it in the bag — then somebody ripped off the bag!!
    • [/list][/list]

    Frayed Knot
    Jan 08 2022 04:45 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    I think I've seen only TO SIR WITH LOVE






    Edgy MD wrote:

    Not at all familiar with Blackboard Jungle.


    Blackboard Jungle is kinda To Sir With Love, 10 years earlier and flipped on it's lid, in that it's thematically similar, with Sid playing one of the alpha-male juvenile delinquents. ... It's mostly known for being the first major release featuring a shamelessly rock 'n' roll soundtrack — launching "Rock Around the Clock" toward #1, and with it, the rock 'n' roll revolution.


    Rock Around the Clock was originally released in back in 1954 (and possibly written as early as late '52) where it garnered ... not much success at all.

    As noted, only after its inclusion in 1955's BLACKBOARD JUNGLE did it get a second life way beyond its initial one which, in turn, gave it the unofficial title of the first R&R record.

    I mean, it wasn't ['what you all are calling 'Rock & Roll' is Rhythm and Blues and I've been playing it in New Orleans for the last 15 years' -- Fats Domino] -- but it was

    often cited as such and as R&R's early 'anthem' due to its timing of coming out just ahead of the hits of Elvis, Jerry Lee, Chuck, etc.

    Edgy MD
    Jan 08 2022 09:05 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    More than a few good Poitier films from the seventies on are not shown, including several he directed. Deadly Pursuit (1988) has a 100% critics rating at RottenTomatoes, but only a 64% audience rating.

    Lefty Specialist
    Jan 09 2022 06:39 AM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    Poitier was rumored to be one of the actors considered to play the President on The West Wing, which certainly would have made it a different kind of show from the Martin Sheen version.



    Lotta good cinema there, but I always liked To Sir With Love.

    Edgy MD
    Jan 09 2022 08:06 AM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    Did you vote fer it? It seems to only have two votes.

    ashie62
    Jan 09 2022 08:41 AM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    In 1967 4th grade me and a couple others crossed the Troy brook and went to the theater and saw Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. That's my vote and yes us kids got ratted out.

    batmagadanleadoff
    Jan 10 2022 04:50 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    Forbidden Poitier. Porgy & Bess (1959), banned for about 40-45 years. But when I was a kid, I remember the commercial/trailer for this movie being played all the time on the Million Dollar Movie ad.



    [YOUTUBE]YIdrZxaP-gE[/YOUTUBE]

    Edgy MD
    Jan 10 2022 08:22 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    If you're voting for that, that'll be our first "other" vote.



    Here's some hot, sexy, chained-man-on-man action from The Defiant Ones.



    [YOUTUBE]AWi8x9ctlps[/YOUTUBE]



    Worth noting that Sidney's money punch is a left uppercut to the mid-section — the same blow we just saw him take out a classmate with in Blackboard Jungle. He also blasts the wind out of a hoodlum with that very same left in To Sir With Love.

    batmagadanleadoff
    Jan 11 2022 12:12 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    Edgy MD wrote:

    If you're voting for that, that'll be our first "other" vote.


    Wasn't voting. Just noting. If I hadda vote, though, I think I'd vote for To Sir. Not necessarily saying I think it's SP's best, but that it's my sentimental favorite, and definitely the first Poitier flick I ever saw, probably while I was in elementary school. In fact, I might've seen To Sir two or three times before I ever saw any other SP flick.



    Also, was always aware of just what a year Poitier had in 1967. That's some impressive run of three starring roles in same year releases: the aforementioned To Sir With Love, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Any other actors had a same year run like that one? Probably. Can't think of anyone right now, though.



    FInally, by reading this thread, it dawned on me that I never saw Guess Who's Coming in its entirety, from start to finish, straight through. I always got the impression that the movie would be severly dated. But having never really seen it, I'm not sure if that's accurate.

    Edgy MD
    Jan 11 2022 12:28 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    One more note about The Defiant Ones: Stanley Kramer wanted Poitier and Marlon Brando. Brando had another commitment, so Kramer was willing to wait for him before shooting, until he realized that, by the time Brando would be available, Poitier would have a conflict. So having to choose one or the other, he chose Poitier.



    It was 1957 and every director on earth wanted Brando, but given the choice of having Brando or Poitier in his film, Kramer went for Poitier.



    As for Guess Who?, I would mostly agree with Willets, in that it's dated, both in style and substance, but it still has value.



    [YOUTUBE]AhPCRPmHcxE[/YOUTUBE]



    Worth noting that Loving vs. Virginia struck down anti-miscegnation (what a word) laws during the time between the film's wrap and its release, and two days after Tracy's death.

    kcmets
    Jan 11 2022 12:40 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    I've seen Spencer Tracy in maybe a half dozen films and I'm thinking he

    always 'played himself?' Maybe it was just my (un)luck of the draw.

    Edgy MD
    Jan 11 2022 12:45 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    He may deserve a poll of his own.

    batmagadanleadoff
    Jan 11 2022 12:47 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    Edgy MD wrote:

    He may deserve a poll of his own.


    That'd be a tough vote for me. Loved him in Bad Day at Black Rock and especially in Inherit the Wind.

    batmagadanleadoff
    Jan 11 2022 12:52 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?


    Edgy MD wrote:

    He may deserve a poll of his own.


    That'd be a tough vote for me. Loved him in Bad Day at Black Rock and especially in Inherit the Wind.


    Spencer was the studio's first choice to play the Penguin in the mid 60s Batman TV show. He turned down the role because he wanted to kill Batman in his episode. Obviously, the show wouldn't work if that scenario were to come to pass.

    cal sharpie
    Jan 11 2022 01:44 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    My vote went to The Defiant Ones. I remember seeing it as a kid and it really hitting me -- saw part of it again recently and it held up pretty well (unlike Guess Who's Coming to Dinner).

    Willets Point
    Jan 11 2022 02:11 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    =batmagadanleadoff post_id=84379 time=1641928357 user_id=68]




    Also, was always aware of just what a year Poitier had in 1967. That's some impressive run of three starring roles in same year releases: the aforementioned To Sir With Love, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Any other actors had a same year run like that one? Probably. Can't think of anyone right now, though.



    And somehow Poitier was not nominated for Best Actor for any of these movies.



    I don't know if one can watch Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in 2022 as just a movie without thinking of its significance of Hollywood making a social statement with a light touch to audiences in 1967. Without that historical context, the movie gets really corny.

    Willets Point
    Mar 18 2022 07:00 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    I watched Buck and the Preacher tonight and it has quickly become one of my all-time favorite Westerns. Poitier, Belafonte, and Ruby Dee are on FIRE in this movie.

    Edgy MD
    Mar 18 2022 08:49 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    I haven't seen GWCtD? in a while, but an architect friend of mine told me that Tracy and Hepburn's characters seem to live in the unlikely address of Coit Tower.



    I seem to remember them living in Telegraph Hill, but she insisted the perspectives suggested they must've lived right in the tower.



    I'll keep my eyes peeled for Buck and the Preacher.

    Willets Point
    Mar 19 2022 11:01 AM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    I don't remember seeing any Diego Rivera murals in their house.

    Edgy MD
    Mar 19 2022 12:29 PM
    Re: What's Your Glass of Poitier?

    Another interesting thing is that future Emmy-winner Isabel "'Weezy" Sanford played their housekeeper, and was taking the bus to the set everyday. Katherine Hepburn overheard this in the dressing room and thought it was unseemly. Being Spencer Tracy's workwife (and more), she went to Spence and said, "Spencer, this is unacceptable."



    Tracy was all "I've got one foot in the grave — what do you want me to do about it?" but Hepburn was persistent in that that offbeat pushy way and he went to the producers and they arranged for Ms. Sanford to get picked up by a taxi every day.