Teaching overseas, I had the opportunity to do a unit of American Lit on The Harlem Renaissance...at the end, I explained its legacy, which included inspiring a writer to script, A Raisin in the Sun. We took the time to read it aloud in class and the students--many of them Muslims and none of them Americans, enjoyed it tremendously. A great play.
This clip should have ended further along when the wife said - "Please ignore my husband, he's drunk", then she walks off saying (about the sister) "I don't know what her excuse is". Outstanding movie.
The delivery of those words spoken by Sidney Poitier gave substantial weight enough that everyone (when I originally saw the movie) was crying. Back in those days, people cried in movie theaters 🎭 unsure if men still do that anymore. (So confused since moving to Florida…from the west coast. Emotionally very different area for me). I miss Mr Poitier as well. His voice, he “way” of speaking and yes, he happened to be easy on the eyes as well. Hope he’s enjoying wherever he is…dancing with Betty White in a joyful place.
@Cheryldee Huddleston It's great to see people like that in real life. My one Poitier-connected encounter was spotting Anthony James who played the diner owner in In The Heat Of The Night. It was in a diner in Cambridge Massachusets and I approached and told him how much I enjoyed his work. He was a very nice chap unlike most of the characters he plays!
"This is my sister. And she is going to be a doctor. And we are very proud." First time I heard this line I cried. Okay, I still do. The friction between brother and sister were NOT about any problem with her, it was about his angst over unfulfilled desires for success. He needed to say he was proud of her, and she needed to hear it. So beautifully written and performed.
The man who plays Virgil Tibbs telling the man who does the voice of Piglet how it's going to go down. This movie simply doesn't get enough recognition.
This bought an unfortunate truth 2 today's situation with blacks. Their parents & grandparents worked themselves 2 death to be able 2 pay off a home 2 pass down to their kids & when they die the selfish kids just sell it 4 lil of nothing. B/c they are that desperate.
Watch this scene and tell me Poitier performance is not Oscar worthy. This is why we loved Sidney. Hollywood may never see another like him. RIP. You gave us years of enjoyment and did it with style and class.
I used to guest host a radio program on a little independent public radio station WAIF called "Talking Drums" and Olatunji was front and center of our Playlist .
This movie initially fooled me -- it made me think, "yeah, he can sell that house and get back the money he lost." But of course that's not true. He could get back the $3500 his mother gave as down payment, and perhaps a bit more (that the white folks offered -- minus transaction costs, which could be considerable if his mortgage didn't have an early payoff clause). So...selling the house was really NO solution, nor was deciding not to move, as Lena stupidly seemed to plan to do. What was she going to do, NOT move into the house she bought, but then...make the payments anyhow? Since she surely did not plan to sell it, that ridiculous idea could be the only thing she was thinking of (other than just abandoning the home to the bank). After all, she had PLANNED to live in the house WITHOUT the remaining $6500, because she gave it away to her son, etc. It's a great movie and, sure, the key of the movie is when she gave her son the money, in order to make a man out of him (which he promptly failed at, LOL -- especially by STEALING his sister's $3000). All the movie after that doesn't really make financial sense -- he's still out that $6500 he was conned out of, and he would be no matter what they did with the house.
That's good financial logic, but drama is about human logic. I get the feeling that you think George Bailey was a fool for not taking Mr. Potter's job offer, and that Scrooge is right in being aggrieved for giving Cratchit Christmas Day off.😏 [The point of all three films is that love and dignity are more important than money.]
One of great movies of all time. It captured the rawness of the desire to emerge and the frustration of being caught in a seemingly endless cycle of stay in your black man.
