The Yellow Tower of the Abbey of St. Mary

The Yellow Tower of the Abbey of St. Mary
Trim, Ireland

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Sidney Poitier, Man, Myth, Legend

Alyssa and I watched "In the Heat of the Night" yesterday, which has to be my second favorite Poitier film, behind "Guess Who's coming to Dinner". Two scenes in particular resonate with me. The first when the chief asks Virgil Tibbs what they call him where he comes from, and he responds, with righteous indignation, "They call me Mr. Tibbs!" and the second when he slaps the rich fat cat back after being slapped himself. Both scenes were enough to give me chills. It's also nice to see the evolution of the chief as he begins to understand Virgil's value both in general and regarding the murder case he's assisting on. Anyhow, great movie.

2 comments:

kathy said...

Matt, just catching up on your neat blog. Wanted to tell you that Charlie and my first date in June of 1969 was to see "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" A lovely evening all around.

Matt said...

It sounds like a great evening! The way they moved filming around to accomodate Spencer Tracy's failing health almost makes the whole movie tragic but is really a testament to how much the cast and crew believed in the premise. The idea of interracial marriage being controversial seems quaint to me but at the time it was a topic that they obviously all felt so strongly about.