Wednesday, February 4, 2009
In the Heat of the Night
I never liked "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" starring Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy. It's preachy...stilted--and doesn't hold up well today. No, Sir. For my money, Sidney Poitier's best work from that era (other than the seldom-seen, but powerful "Brother John") is 1967's "In the Heat of the Night." Poitier is tightly-coiled and cool as a Philadelphia police detective forced help a sheriff, played by Rod Steiger, solve a crime in a racist southern town. And the above scene is one of my favorites.
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2 comments:
Agreed. 'Guess' was too formulaic, trite and as you said preachy. 'The Heat' had two great performances, one from Poitier and the other from Rod Steiger.
Steiger really was amazing. He and that wad of gum he was chewing.
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