The T-Vees channels and Hollywood are throwing just about anything made fresh with Black Actors this month. Rather than recoomend some BLM-inspired crock (which I have not seen and will not waste my time with), allow me to send you to a darn good movie. In The Heat Of The Night.
Great acting and a great script. If you have not seen this classic, do yourself a favor because Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger gave a masterful performance.
Great choice.
May I add “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”?
My favorite Sidney Poitier movie is Lillie of the Valley. That’s a classic.
I heard Sydney Poitier was able to demand 25% of the GROSS to appear in a movie during his heyday. That is Star Power.
I saw an interview with Cleavon Little (Sherrif Bart in Blazing Saddles), and he blamed Hollywood for not having more black actors in movies and shows. “The audience wants to see talent”, he said, and either implied (or outright stated, but I can’t remember) that Hollywood execs don’t think the audience wants to see black people.
Of course, these days we know Hollywood’s preferred audience — China — REALLY doesn’t want to see black people.
I saw Heat of the Night just a few weeks ago. Brilliant. The “extra features” on the DVD were really good as well. One interesting tidbit is that, with one exception, none of the filming was done in the South. Southern Illinois was the main location. The one exception was a brief detour into Kentucky (?) to film the cotton field scene. The reason is that Sidney Poitier flat out refused to set foot in the South.
Did you know that Sidney Poitier was Ambassador to Japan?