Not Rated
The 1968 Academy Awards show
was postponed two days due to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
just several days earlier. This also was the year that the cinematography
categories were merged back together (after 28 years) meaning there would no
longer be separate awards for black and white films versus color. Now, aren’t
those two very interesting tidbits of information considering this year’s Best
Picture winner is about an African American man encountering racism in a
Southern white town? I sure thought so.
This story opens, as you’d
guess, in the heat of the (middle of the) night, in Sparta, Mississippi. A
well-known businessman has been killed and found lying in the streets. The
officer on duty is told to search for subjects and stumbles across a black man-
the only man sitting in a deserted train station: Virgil Tibbs (if this famous
line popped into your head: “They. Call. Me. Mister. Tibbs!”, then you’re right, it’s from this movie: ). He’s
immediately silenced, searched, and taken into custody. The chief ends up
putting his foot in his mouth when he discovers his officer just arrested
Philadelphia’s leading homicide detective. Well, isn’t that a nice coincidence
though? After realizing just how knowledgeable and valuable this guy is, the
chief recruits him to help figure out the case. But being in the South, the
locals aren’t too keen on a colored man, much less a colored law enforcer, in
their community, so tension arises thus adding to the heat.
I had never seen a film
starring the great Sidney Poitier and I was satisfyingly impressed; I loved him
in this film. He has a certain presence in this film that demands respect.
Sure, it could have just been the character he was portraying, but he gave off
the air of a respectable actor. (It amazes and saddens me to learn that having
an African-American man in a leading role was so controversial during that time
that many scenes had to be filmed in Illinois- far, far away from the Deep
South!) This was not the only film Sidney Poitier starred in this year… he was
in the other racially-charged fellow nominee “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”
which was the first mainstream movie made about inter-racial marriage, in addition to “To Sir, With Love”. I
was very surprised to see that Rod Steiger won the Best Actor award from this
movie for his portrayal of the bigoted cop instead of Sidney Poitier… Sidney
wasn’t even nominated! It looks like it was stiff competition though which
included Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Paul Newman, and Spencer Tracy.
This film is a classic murder
mystery/”who-dun-it?” which is very rare to find in the long list of Best Picture
winners, making this film’s win a bit of a surprise, especially considering on
specific film it was up against. Nonetheless, it brought home five awards from
its seven nominations. This film’s competition included “Bonnie and Clyde”,
“Dr. Doolittle”, “The Graduate”, and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. I’ve only
seen bits and pieces of “Dr. Doolittle” when I was growing up- (it’s with Rex
Harrison from “My Fair Lady”)- and don’t think it needed to be nominated. “The
Graduate”, however, is a very popular movie (that I haven’t yet seen). Because
of this film’s success, two sequels were made and Sidney reprised his role for
both: “They Call Me Mister Tibbs!” in 1970 and “The Organization” in 1971.
FAVORITE SCENE:
I loved it when Mr. Tibbs
reveals the depth of his knowledge of homicides to the officers at the station.
Although it’s still infuriating that they doubted him so, it’s a little bit of ‘ha HA! In your face!’ satisfaction. (I couldn’t find a picture of
this scene online, so instead I found this for you….)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnvmOY1NUGo
(specifically 1:04-1:07)
and Disney’s nod…
LESSONS LEARNED:
Pray for ignorance to be
extinguished and for racism to end.
Treat people with respect, especially if you want it in return.
Don’t let pride or
embarrassment keep you from apologizing,
especially if you’re wrong.
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