Sidney Poitier: His Own Person
At the BFI this January
This January marks three years since the death of the iconic Bahamian American actor, director and activist Sidney Poitier, who broke multiple barriers with performances that showcased his dazzling vitality and made him cinema’s first Black superstar. To mark the anniversary and celebrate his incredible legacy, BFI Southbank are hosting a season of films and events that show the progression of his career across more than 40 years. From the outset of his career Sidney Poitier projected a new and dignified African American character – one that dismantled longstanding racist stereotypes. Conscious of his responsibility as the only major Black actor in Hollywood, he initially cultivated a persona of virtue and respectability, but as the winds shifted and audiences began demanding an edgier Black hero, he also used his clout to make films that reflected the new mood.
Sidney Poitier: His Own Person is programmed by writer and curator Jonathan Ali and includes early work such as his landmark debut film No Way Out (1950), where he plays a medical intern accused by a racist hoodlum of murdering his brother while both were in the Black doctor’s care. Poitier shines in a groundbreaking role that challenged Hollywood stereotyping of Black characters, while establishing the compassionate and dignified persona that would come to dominate his roles over the subsequent two decades. Also screening will be Blackboard Jungle (1955), a drama that became both a scandal and a box-office success, in which Poitier plays Gregory Miller, the leader of an interracial gang at an inner-city school where Glenn Ford’s new teacher struggles to maintain control. Although a supporting character, Miller Poitier is unforgettable – a sullen, self-assured, sexually charged Black counterpart to the Hollywood youth antihero of the 1950s.
Following his breakout roles, Poitier went on to become Hollywood’s biggest box-office draw, culminating in 1967 with arguably his most famous role as Detective Virgil Tibbs. Now one of the great lines in film history, ‘They call me Mr Tibbs!’ announced the arrival of Poitier’s detective to Rod Steiger’s racist Mississippi sheriff in In the Heat of the Night (1967). They find themselves working together on a potentially incendiary murder case. Winner of the Best Picture Oscar and spawning two sequels, this police procedural cemented Poitier’s legacy as a Black cinema icon, and remains as electrifying today as it was when it was first released. Also made in the same year was Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967); seeking to convince Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn’s liberal couple that he is a worthy prospective son-in-law, John Prentice comes across as the epitome of the accomplished, clean-cut Poitier hero. Stanley Kramer’s social conscience drama was a commercial hit in the US and became a cultural milestone. Shot in vivid Technicolor, the film is presented in the season in a sumptuous new restoration.
As the times changed, so did Poitier’s persona – from star to director to legend, with Poitier using his clout to make films which shifted away from his former, more clean-cut screen persona. One such film, A Warm December (1973), that was also directed by Poitier, sees him play an American widower who visits London and becomes enchanted with the striking niece of the ambassador of a newly independent African nation. She is also a woman with a tragic secret. In his first effort as sole director, Poitier movingly imbues his drama with the spirit of Pan-African awareness. Also screening will be the first film Poitier directed but didn’t act in, Stir Crazy (1980), a buddy comedy starring two comedy legends – Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder – who play wrongly convicted best friends who hatch an elaborate escape plan involving a prison rodeo. Poitier makes space for these two comic greats to showcase their considerable improvisational talents and it became the first film by a Black director to gross over $100m at the box office.
With further contextual events, including a season introduction – For Love of Sidney Poitier – on 6 January, a compilation of UK Television shows featuring Poitier drawn from the BFI National Archive on 9 January, a screening of a 4K restoration of Cry, The Beloved Country (1951) introduced by film historian Marcus Powell on 6 January, and a free-to-access Collection Focus on Poitier in the BFI Reuben Library taking place all month, Sidney Poitier: His Own Person is a fitting tribute to a screen legend who will continue to inspire audiences for generations, a man who, above all, imbued all his characters with an emotional truth, which cemented his position as Hollywood’s first Black superstar.
