Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier is one of the finest afro-american actors whose movies I fortunately got to see. All the roles that he has played seem to be tailor made for him, be it the Mark Thackrey in To sir with Love or Dr Prentice in Guess who’s coming for dinner or Noah in Simple life of Noah Jones. He has given the most outstanding performance with neat elegance that kind of made me watch his movies over and again. His performance I feel over shadows all other characters and you just get that feel good factor when you finish watching them.

To Sir With Love

In this movie Sidney plays the role of a school teacher Mark Thackrey who out of no choice opts to be a teacher. He is supposedly an electrical engineer and gets rejected in places where he applies since he is a “colored” man(which is not directly told to him) or he is over qualified than the “white” men who might be their seniors or junior colleagues. So out of no go he joins this school that’s completely not as he imagines. The children have absolutely no discipline, no interest towards learning, have more problems than they can handle and are not even tidily dressed. He isn’t accepted at first but then the students start respecting him and follow what he has to offer. Sidney has done outstandingly well and his acting so perfect that you can feel the whole book unfolding in front of your eyes. The book is more elaborate though and I think I enjoyed the book more, but nevertheless the movie is the best becos  of Sidney. I think it’s a must see just like the next 2 movies I will write about.

 

Guess who’s coming for Dinner

The movie is about a white girl falling in love with a colored man and how they need their parents approval for the marriage.You can see the review of this movie in http://rjayanthan.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/guess-whos-coming-to-dinner-review/ who has very brilliantly written what I would have wanted to. Sidney Poitier who plays Dr Printice in this movie Is an absolute Gentleman. His expressions and dialogue deliveries are so crisp and so mature that you could just fall in love with the character. The way he carries off an attitude of a man with values and who is determined not to get married to the girl he absolutely loves without the consent of both sides of parents is so well done. His acting seemed natural and realistic. I don’t know if anyone could really do it so well as him.

 

The simple life of Noah Jones

I think this must be one of his recent movies, this was done in late 90’s I guess. But again a splendid performance. Noah Jones is the character he plays, a carpenter by profession and someone who is more than 100 yrs old. Some builders want to capture his land and convert it into a shopping mall. In this Sidney acts as a man who is completely aloof of the world and is absolutely untouched by people or technology. A total loner for whom the world is his work and nothing else. His world revolves around doing his work and not socializing with people. An elderly person whose innocence and quite nature is taken advantage of. Sidney Poitier’s expression does the magic. Very few dialogues but very brilliant role and a rather strong role. By far a nice movie that you could watch on a beautiful nite. The ending of the movie where he actually caresses a a dog is so cute and the way he cares for the girl who saves his land is very touching.

Overall Sidney Poitier is one fine actor and I would love to watch his movies  over and again for the performance he shows on screen. Simply Superb….

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~ by Anjali on February 9, 2011.