Sidney Poitier was America's first above-the-title black movie star. He was more than a 25 movies into his career when this film came out and did another 25 films after.
I had SUCH A CRUSH on Rod Steiger in this role. He was/is so adorable with his accent and his tinted glasses. The character he plays is very complex. You don't 'like' him, but you understand him. Very fine balancing act. Sidney Poitier just shined in this role. When he slapped that white man back, I almost fell off my chair the first time I saw it. Great mystery, set in a time/place that many of us shake our heads in disgust at.
Winner of 5 Oscars including Best Picture. Rod Steiger plays the racist sheriff with a heart of gold, whom despises Tibbs, but learns to respect him. They did a TV series based on the movie, it ran from 1988-1992 on NBC, and the final seasons ran on CBS from 1992-1995.
Also two sequels with just Tibbs on other cases. Which wasn't the best idea, since however great an actor Poitier is, removing the character from this racial environment and someone like Gillespie to bounce off of means he's just a totally generic cop character, and neither is very good.
I don’t think Gillespie is particularly racist, he’s a product of his environment and time, follows the flow of rural Mississippi without necessarily being a dyed in the wool racist. Would he invite him to his home if he were? The scene in Gillespie’s home is incredible and shows his true heart - ‘nobody comes here’ - that’s the crux of his anger, fear and bitterness. Once the initial meeting has played out he treats Virgil like a fellow officer albeit with spikes of anger, bitterness and discontent which has nothing to do with race. It’s a nuanced and complex character (like we don’t get that often anymore) and a masterclass acting job, hence the Oscar
As a white "male" growing up in the middle of nowhere pre-internet. (was born 1980) This film was my real first look into what life was really like for black people in my country. I am very glad I got to watch it.
Thank you so much for doing this one! What a controversial movie near the end of the civil rights movement. I do believe this was the first time a black person was a detective in a major motion picture. The slapping of a white man by a black man was also a first, and something that Poitier demanded to be written in. The original script had Tibbs get slapped without slapping back. Great reaction! Keep up the awesome work.
I can't believe someone actually reacted to this. This is one of my favorite movies, so much I also listen to the book when driving many times. Amazing just amazing acting. Real true talent in this movie. Thank you so much for reacting to this forgotten gem, hopefully other reactors will do this movie.
The actor who played Harvey, Scott Wilson, was in the Great Gatsby not too long after this. He also played Hershel in the Walking Dead. There were so many great character actors back then. Warren Oates, the deputy, was in a ton of great movies.
Scott Wilson was a good character actor with a long career. He died recently, and the last thing I saw him in was the TV series "The OA". I think his best film was "In Cold Blood" which is very worthy of a UA-cam reaction.
Don't forget Scott Wilson in the movie "In Cold Blood", he was great in that movie, he was also in "The Right Stuff". I think he was an underrated actor. He really made Dick Hickock in Cold Blood, very unsympatic, yet fascinating.
@@hannejeppesen1809 Oh yeah. In Cold Blood is an excellent movie. And Scott is excellent in it. There were so many amazing side/character actors back then.
Some people don't realize that Sidney Poitier had three great movies released in 1967. So it probably would've been impossible to win an Oscar that year. In the heat of the night, To Sir with love and Guess who's coming to dinner were all released in 1967
First saw this movie in 1967 when I was in the service. This is a very great movie, excellent acting all around, but you have to remember this is the sixties south. great reaction. Happy Valentines Day!
NBC created a TV series based on In The Heat Of The Night. CBS later picked up the series after NBC let it go. It was a pretty good show, Carroll O'Connor, who played Chief Gillespie in the TV series, won an Emmy for the role in 1989. The Chief, much more tolerant in the TV series, had his own issues in Mississippi in the 90s with people who didn't approve of the close company he kept. Though tolerant in the 90s, his past was brought up on the show.
The acting in this movie is off the wall. Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier are perfect. I saw it when it first came out, one of my favorite movies ever, and one of the best.
Thank you for your priceless reactions, Sam, I was a high school student when I first saw this film back in 1967. Reactions by younger people is very invaluable.. you offer different perspectives that I find invaluable.
An amazing movie. Sidney Poitier is one of the best actors. I've never seen a movie of his I didn't like. I'd love to see you react to more of his stuff. Blackboard Jungle, To Sir with Love, A Patch of Blue, Lillies of the Fields, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Defiant Ones, and many more!
1. I love your righteous anger on behalf of Tibbs and black people in general. 2. If this made you so angry and frustrated 12 years a slave is gonna make you rage quit your entire day
My god, Sam!!! LOL!! As a man of color who LOVES this movie, seeing your outrage has me laughing so hard. Very anger inducing, but pretty much accurate of the times. Not that we can't enjoy the movie for what it is, but yeah, my family is from the South East USA , Virginia, N and S Carolina, so this is the type of stuff they dealt with growing up in the same era. "THEY CALL ME MR. TIBBS!!".
I just can’t help but react the way I do to stupid racists 💀 Like of course I understand that this was what things were like, but to me that doesn’t matter because it’s ridiculous no matter what to me, yknow?
@@OGBReacts It's only ridiculous by the standards you fortunately apply today. It was a very commonplace regional attitude back then (and it was not the only place with the attitudes, just the last part of the country to hang on to de jure segregation, long after it was theoretically legally abolished...racism was alive and well all over the country, which led to the white flight from northern cities, along with the de facto segregation that remains even today in many places).
The greatness of Sidney Poitier is that he never played "types." He played real people with whom everyone, no matter from what background, can relate. A one dimensional hero would not have had the wonderfully positive effect of his performances. My three favourite Poitier films are: A Patch of Blue, Lilies of the Field, and To Sir With Love.
Just imagine how many people, of all complexions, were hanged or fried in the swath of states from Arkansas to South Carolina, in the 20th Century on the same or lesser evidence than they had against the first suspect.
We used to call that BIV or Black in the Vicinity. Any crime committed - the first black person they saw was arrested. Evidence - what's that. It's the reason why my parents fled the South in the 50's.
My husband was born in Upstate NY in 1957. I, compared to my mom's rural Georgia relatives, was born in 1959 in Orlando and a sophisticated suburbanite. Very few of my mom's family lived in the city, and I could never tell if my boy cousins were actually racist or just being adolescent boys, who pick fights as a matter of course. Everyone else was country poor. Black folks were always around and nobody seemed to think twice about it, much less talk ugly about anyone. My dad, an aerospace engineer, grew up in Boston and it always seemed like he regarded blacks as Other Than, probably from complete inexperience. The little messaging I picked up from the media framed prejudice as very negative, which was what my husband picked up too. There were various ethnic groups around for him too. By the 1970s we younger folks considered the folks portrayed in the town in this movie dinosaurs at best, and when I was old enough to vote the last of the old Dixiecrats were leaving and the newer folks were coming in. The MAGA insurrection cadre is worse than the Dixiecrats ever were. They would have seen the government antagonizing Tourism, The Military, the Space Industry and Insurance companies suicidal. And it is. Chasing the immigrant population away also cripples agriculture. When the Bush family got what it wanted from Florida they left their machine in place, but the idiots in charge now are too incompetent to run it. I grew up when the Chamber of Commerce ran ads about being a Friendly Floridan, and it was one of the most laid back places in the country to live. Now I find the friendliest thing I can do is warn folks to stay away. Especially if you are a woman of child bearing years or have a wife or daughters. She won't get the care she needs here, and though I miss her, I'm glad our daughter lives up North. We thought we were done with these morons. The whining they are doing now about how they are going to be "replaced" is no different than how they were whining in the 1970s when women entered the workforce, and we all adjusted just fine!!
GREAT REACTION , exactly the same way I felt when I first saw this excellent film ,such good acting from Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier as Gillespie and Tibbs ,the supporting cast members Lee Grant ,Warren Oates etc all played their parts well, good script skillfully directed by Norman Jewison.
This was the first major Hollywood film in color that was lit with proper consideration for an actor with dark skin. Haskell Wexler recognized that standard lighting used in filming produced too much glare on dark complexions and rendered the features indistinct. He toned down the lighting to feature Sidney Poitier with better results.
I've watched this movie many times but only now did I check the credits to see that the falsely arrested Harvey Oberst was played by the late actor Scott Wilson, popularly remembered for his role as Hershel Greene, Maggie's father, in the series "The Walking Dead".
The war between the states turned out to be just a military victory- it didn't change anyone's mind. If you don't believe that, take a tour through the south today.
They were going to put a stunt double in for the man who played Endicott for the slap, but the actor - can't remember his name - didn't want to lose any power in the scene. He also insisted that it not be a stunt slap, but a real one. He felt pain. Poitier was hesitant, but they talked and agreed that they couldn't - figuratively and literally - pull any punches in the scene. The actor who played Endicott was nothing like his character in real life. The woman who played the dead guy's widow channeled her real life anger in this movie - the first full length movie she had been in for over a decade when she was blacklisted for refusing to give information on her radical ex-boyfriend during the McCarthy madness. Quincy Jones was responsible for the soundtrack. He wrote most of the music, including Fowl Owl on the Prowl, which is more interesting than it sounds when you listen to the somewhat dark lyrics.
Sam, I gotta say it was SO entertaining watching you all angry and eye rolling, dead-staring at the camera! So mad hahaha! Keep it up, as always please do Top Secret! ❤🇨🇦🤓Ottawa
This movie is really good....they also made a TV series, it was on when I was growing up, late 80s early 90s (I graduated HS 1996) that was really good as well. 🙂
Sidney Poitier was in some great movies. If you want to see a very up lifting film watch "Lillies of the Field". He won an Academy Award for this film.
Great reaction! Thanks for doing this film--it's an important one and seems to be overlooked by reactors. It's not a pleasant film due to the racism on display. Although the overwhelming majority of it is by the white people of Sparta, even Virgil is not immune because he lets his personal feelings toward Endicott--who he views as a relic and symbol of plantation slavery--affect his judgement. The acting by Poitier and Steiger is top notch.
It’s hard to realize that everyone’s attitudes were normal for that time and place, and surprising to consider that many people who were young at the time are still with us. Yes, this is still recent history.
A follow-up Sidney Poitier film is "Lilies of the Field," a touching film where Poitier plays an itinerant fellow who works odd jobs along the way. He gets hired by a group of German nuns who want him to build a chapel. The stubborn head nun and he clash in amusing ways.
WARREN OATS! The peeping tom deputy, is so overlooked. He was Sgt. Hulka in the Bill Murray movie Stripes. Had a terrific career as a character actor in the 50s and 60s. He starred and played Dillinger in the movie by the same name, which is worth a look. Love your reactions
I love this movie. Not enough reactors react to it. Other Sidney Poitier movies you could react to if they’re not already on your list are: Guess who’s coming to dinner? Lilies Of the field No way out (actor Richard Widmark had to use the N-word a lot in this movie and he would apologize to Sidney Poitier every day because he hated using that word. It was in the script but he still hated it) Raisin in the sun Sidney Poitier was one of the best actors. He was born in Florida but raised in the Bahamas which is where his parents are from. He said he either never saw his face in a mirror or wore a pair of shoes until he was 10. I can’t remember which one it was.
I love this movie and your reaction is hilarious! The casting and acting in this movie is so superb that it has you completely invested in the drama. It’s like you’re watching real life. Rod Steiger is perfect. Oh and btw Sam Wood didn’t have sex with Dolores Purdy. She lied about that. He would just look at her parade in the nude every night while on patrol.
Another Sidney Poitier movie, The Defiant Ones, with Tony Curtis, from 1958 was, I think, just as radical and pre-dated In The Heat of the Night by almost a decade.
I knew Sam would go ape-sht watching this film, not that I know Sam but I had a feeling and I was right, and it was entertaining and nice to see someone outraged at the lunacy of "the south". I grew up in two very conservative, racist southern towns from the 70's to 2001 (with some time away for college/grad school), and I had the same feeling of disgust as Sam for much of the time I lived there. The big difference with me is my parents were not from the south so they were strongly against racism, but it was all around, the "n" word used casually by some folks, confederate flags in front of homes, etc. Thankfully I moved to a Western state in my 20's, whew!
Edit: I just finished watching! Have never seen this movie myself (I think the only Sydney P. movies I've seen are A Raisin in the Sun and To Sir, With Love), but now I want to watch it! Even seeing it this way was good. I liked your reaction. Also, are you taking movie suggestions? Have you ever seen Glory??
Landmark, awesome, solid gold movie. I’ve been watching it for 50 years, over and over. The gold standard for liberal justice from the burning heart of the 60s along with Mississippi Burning
Rod Steiger said he was against the chewing gum thing. Too cliche. But Jewison insisted. So Steiger tried to use it to indicate his character's mood, chewing faster when agitated.
Originally, this was going to be filmed in the south. Because of ongoing agitation there, they wound up doing it in Sparta,Ill. A couple of goofs happened because of this. In the chief's office the calendar says that the date is Sep. 13. When the chief is out apprehending Harvey, the leaves on the trees are clearly fall colors. Leaves don't turn in Ms. for another month. Also, when Harvey is running on the bridge(presumably from Ms. to AK) it is early in the morning.The sun should have been at his back, but is instead in his face. Therefore it was probably filmed in the evening.
Sam, nothing insane or ridiculous here. This film is about everything American history has tried to cover up. This is what it was like in the south, (and still is to some degree). One of my favorite top five! The performances by Poitier and Steiger power drive your emotions. Please react to "Is Mississippi Burning?", and "Green Book"! Enjoy!
Genuine anger at how people acted, good on you. I recommend 'Harlan County, USA' (available on youtube), it should spike your blood pressure too. It's about a coal miners strike in 1973. It won't even require a suspension of belief because it is a documentary.
you got to remember what decade this movie was made even in the North during this decade freedom isn't like what it is now, he's a black man at night alone in a train station in a town in the deep South and they're looking for a murderer unfortunately it was the way it was back then, great film, and performances by Poitier and steiger
Yes this movie is disturbing in many ways and thats exactly why need to remember how it was it hopefully will never be again. Thats what also makes this detective from up North running circles around this Southern police department is so special and oh BTW he is a black detective at that. I love this movie granted it does have many cringe moments but again lets not forget our past and let it help us heal our future ❤ Thank you again for reacting to the classic. ✌️🙂
Not trying to attack you, but this viewing could be a wake-up call for your personal education on racism. The fact that this particular flavor of racism surprised you so much, and you couldn't put your feelings into words beyond "they're lame" just shows you have a lot to learn. Like all the worst evils, racism isn't just people being dumb - they have their reasons. And dismissing those reasons as unintelligent allows your own views to be dismissed in the same way. If you find a hole in your education, be glad you found it and do something to fix it. Because only being shocked won't get you far in life. And although racism isn't gone, it's up to each of us to understand it and keep it from returning to times like this. As a bonus, someday you might be able to see this story with new eyes. There is a lot of depth here when you can recognize and appreciate the different "levels" of racism of the characters. This Best Picture Oscar was well-deserved.
In all honesty, I’m getting so tired of reading comments like this about this reaction. I’m getting treated like a child or someone who’s immature or unknowledgeable because I’m angry about the racism I’m seeing on the screen. I know this is a part of history. I know this happened (and still happens). I know that there’s more to it than these people being unintelligent, but at the end of the day, to me? It’s not more than that. Overall it’s not more than that. At the end of the day, racists are fucking stupid and if you’re genuinely pissed off that I feel that way, then that’s concerning. I’m sorry but this is how I feel. Stop treating me like I’m someone who just doesn’t fully understand. This is a reaction video. Let me react with my emotions.
It's Black History month...You need to learn more of the history of civil rights in the South...A good film for that is Mississippi Burning, a somewhat fictionalized account of actual events in the mid-60s...In many parts of the South, it WAS closer to the 1860s than the 1960s...In some places it still is :(
Your reaction is typical of young people of this time. Your parents were probably not even alive during this time. You don't understand how this country was back then, especially in the South. I am not saying this was right in any way, but that's how it was.
@@garymathena2125 What people like you fail to understand when watching my reaction is that I’m well aware that this is what it was like, but it still saddens/angers me that it WAS like that, that there are STILL things that are bad like this, that’s all. I’m not living in a fairytale world where I don’t believe anything bad has ever happened, and it’s insulting that just because I showed emotion about something like this, people think that about me. I’m 28. My parents were born in the late 50s. Do not talk about me in this way as if you know me, it’s disrespectful and insulting.
I really don’t understand why people are annoyed or upset that I’m angry about racism lol. I’m not a child. I can show my emotions and still enjoy a movie.
No matter how hard this masterpiece is to watch today it spawned one of the best insights to how hard it was to change the American mindset and laws from the movie till today decades later
Lilies of the Field (1963) A comedy/drama... just Sidney and four German nuns... he arrives as a handy man and winds up staying around for a while. Great story with lots of laughs It has always been one of my favorite Sidney Poitier films and he did win a Academy Award for this film in 63' ... a well deserved one.
The moment Mr Tibbs slapped Endicott is a seminal moment in cinema history. Rod Steiger won the Oscar but Poitier deserved one too even though he already had one.
There's some controversy over how Rod Steiger won an Oscar for this film, while Sidney Poitier wasn't even nominated. But it makes perfect sense to me. Poitier was very well established by 1967 for this exact kind of character, and had already gotten an Oscar for it a few years earlier. Meanwhile Steiger is playing a character completely different from what he was like in real life, and for most of his screentime has to go directly toe to toe with Poitier and be just as interesting.
Poitier won his deserved Oscar for the wonderful Lilies of the Field, while Steiger's Oscar for this is, IMO, a make-up for the crime of letting Lee Marvin beat him a few years earlier when Steiger's performance in The Pawnbroker was the best of his career and the best of that year.
@@flarrfan The Pawnbroker is brilliant, with Sidney Lumet in the director's chair. It's the first American film to approach the Holocaust, specifically a survivor's viewpoint. MGM was supposed to release it, but the studio execs changed their minds. So, American International Pictures, which is best known for their silly beach party movies, released it. This was Quincy Jones's first job for music scoring.
My memory says Sidney Poitier had THREE movies that year (what a year!), this one, To Sir With Love a few months earlier, and Guess Whose Coming to Dinner. I feel like all 3 movies split the votes not giving enough for any one role to make the top 5.
We lost this film's director Norman Jewison just last month at age 97. He had an amazing six decade career with plenty more movies like this which seriously challenge you to think about serious topics, all while also never once making the same kind of movie twice. This included two more movies specifically about anti-black racism, A Soldier's Story and The Hurricane.
He was also going to direct the Malcolm X movie, which I'm sure he would have done a great job at. However, Spike Lee, the director of Do The Right Thing, criticized the studio for not having a black director make it and Norman graciously stepped down and Spike went on to direct it.
I highly recommend To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the greatest movies made about racial injustice with an iconic lawyer role by Gregory Peck. Also, Sounder is about a black family of sharecroppers in 1933 dealing with various injustices of that time but also a heart-warming family story. Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield were both Oscar nominated best leading actors in their roles. Both are beautifully shot and have emotional stories.
This film generates so much emotion that you may forget that they’re all actors. Powerful performances from all and the director, too.
The racism angle is so dominant in this film it is easy to miss that there is also a lot of commentary on poverty in this film as well.
Sidney Poitier was America's first above-the-title black movie star. He was more than a 25 movies into his career when this film came out and did another 25 films after.
I had SUCH A CRUSH on Rod Steiger in this role. He was/is so adorable with his accent and his tinted glasses. The character he plays is very complex. You don't 'like' him, but you understand him. Very fine balancing act. Sidney Poitier just shined in this role. When he slapped that white man back, I almost fell off my chair the first time I saw it. Great mystery, set in a time/place that many of us shake our heads in disgust at.
Poitier was a massive talent and highly respected actor at this time. It's sad that the new generations know nothing about his work.
A Patch of Blue is another great one.
Winner of 5 Oscars including Best Picture.
Rod Steiger plays the racist sheriff with a heart of gold, whom despises Tibbs, but learns to respect him.
They did a TV series based on the movie, it ran from 1988-1992 on NBC, and the final seasons ran on CBS from 1992-1995.
Also two sequels with just Tibbs on other cases. Which wasn't the best idea, since however great an actor Poitier is, removing the character from this racial environment and someone like Gillespie to bounce off of means he's just a totally generic cop character, and neither is very good.
I’m not sure he despises Tibbs. My vibe was that he feared him more and was overwhelmed by his expertise, confidence, etc.
I don’t think Gillespie is particularly racist, he’s a product of his environment and time, follows the flow of rural Mississippi without necessarily being a dyed in the wool racist. Would he invite him to his home if he were? The scene in Gillespie’s home is incredible and shows his true heart - ‘nobody comes here’ - that’s the crux of his anger, fear and bitterness. Once the initial meeting has played out he treats Virgil like a fellow officer albeit with spikes of anger, bitterness and discontent which has nothing to do with race. It’s a nuanced and complex character (like we don’t get that often anymore) and a masterclass acting job, hence the Oscar
As a white "male" growing up in the middle of nowhere pre-internet. (was born 1980) This film was my real first look into what life was really like for black people in my country. I am very glad I got to watch it.
"They call me Mister Tibbs!" - ICONIC
Thank you so much for doing this one! What a controversial movie near the end of the civil rights movement. I do believe this was the first time a black person was a detective in a major motion picture. The slapping of a white man by a black man was also a first, and something that Poitier demanded to be written in. The original script had Tibbs get slapped without slapping back. Great reaction! Keep up the awesome work.
I can't believe someone actually reacted to this. This is one of my favorite movies, so much I also listen to the book when driving many times. Amazing just amazing acting. Real true talent in this movie. Thank you so much for reacting to this forgotten gem, hopefully other reactors will do this movie.
The actor who played Harvey, Scott Wilson, was in the Great Gatsby not too long after this. He also played Hershel in the Walking Dead. There were so many great character actors back then. Warren Oates, the deputy, was in a ton of great movies.
Scott Wilson was a good character actor with a long career. He died recently, and the last thing I saw him in was the TV series "The OA". I think his best film was "In Cold Blood" which is very worthy of a UA-cam reaction.
Don't forget Scott Wilson in the movie "In Cold Blood", he was great in that movie, he was also in "The Right Stuff". I think he was an underrated actor. He really made Dick Hickock in Cold Blood, very unsympatic, yet fascinating.
@@hannejeppesen1809 Oh yeah. In Cold Blood is an excellent movie. And Scott is excellent in it. There were so many amazing side/character actors back then.
Some people don't realize that Sidney Poitier had three great movies released in 1967. So it probably would've been impossible to win an Oscar that year. In the heat of the night, To Sir with love and Guess who's coming to dinner were all released in 1967
I saw all of them, all good movies. However, In the heat of the night is my favorite.
Norman Jewison was a truly great movie maker.
First saw this movie in 1967 when I was in the service. This is a very great movie, excellent acting all around, but you have to remember this is the sixties south. great reaction. Happy Valentines Day!
NBC created a TV series based on In The Heat Of The Night. CBS later picked up the series after NBC let it go. It was a pretty good show, Carroll O'Connor, who played Chief Gillespie in the TV series, won an Emmy for the role in 1989. The Chief, much more tolerant in the TV series, had his own issues in Mississippi in the 90s with people who didn't approve of the close company he kept. Though tolerant in the 90s, his past was brought up on the show.
The acting in this movie is off the wall. Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier are perfect. I saw it when it first came out, one of my favorite movies ever, and one of the best.
Thank you for your priceless reactions, Sam, I was a high school student when I first saw this film back in 1967. Reactions by younger people is very invaluable.. you offer different perspectives that I find invaluable.
An amazing movie. Sidney Poitier is one of the best actors. I've never seen a movie of his I didn't like. I'd love to see you react to more of his stuff. Blackboard Jungle, To Sir with Love, A Patch of Blue, Lillies of the Fields, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Defiant Ones, and many more!
1. I love your righteous anger on behalf of Tibbs and black people in general.
2. If this made you so angry and frustrated 12 years a slave is gonna make you rage quit your entire day
Racism is evil regardless of the skin color of the person carrying it or being targeted by it.
Or Django Unchained.
I am excited about this reaction! I do hope you watch "To Sir, With Love".
We need more reaction videos to this! I also love Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?
My god, Sam!!! LOL!! As a man of color who LOVES this movie, seeing your outrage has me laughing so hard. Very anger inducing, but pretty much accurate of the times. Not that we can't enjoy the movie for what it is, but yeah, my family is from the South East USA , Virginia, N and S Carolina, so this is the type of stuff they dealt with growing up in the same era. "THEY CALL ME MR. TIBBS!!".
I just can’t help but react the way I do to stupid racists 💀 Like of course I understand that this was what things were like, but to me that doesn’t matter because it’s ridiculous no matter what to me, yknow?
@@OGBReacts Yourself being in LGBTQ+ community, this is my reaction when stuff like this happens on your end. But don't worry, we got you fam ❤
@@OGBReacts It's only ridiculous by the standards you fortunately apply today. It was a very commonplace regional attitude back then (and it was not the only place with the attitudes, just the last part of the country to hang on to de jure segregation, long after it was theoretically legally abolished...racism was alive and well all over the country, which led to the white flight from northern cities, along with the de facto segregation that remains even today in many places).
Amazing! I’ve been waiting for someone to react to this! Brilliant director Norman Jewison just died last month.
I think just about any movie with Sidney Poitier is pretty good. He definitely made some classic ones!!!!
The greatness of Sidney Poitier is that he never played "types." He played real people with whom everyone, no matter from what background, can relate. A one dimensional hero would not have had the wonderfully positive effect of his performances. My three favourite Poitier films are: A Patch of Blue, Lilies of the Field, and To Sir With Love.
Just imagine how many people, of all complexions, were hanged or fried in the swath of states from Arkansas to South Carolina, in the 20th Century on the same or lesser evidence than they had against the first suspect.
We used to call that BIV or Black in the Vicinity. Any crime committed - the first black person they saw was arrested. Evidence - what's that. It's the reason why my parents fled the South in the 50's.
I havent seen the movie, but the tv series is one of my favorite shows ever, since elementary school in the mid-90s
Virgil Tibbs .... The First Black Superhero!
Great movie!! 🎉❤
My husband was born in Upstate NY in 1957. I, compared to my mom's rural Georgia relatives, was born in 1959 in Orlando and a sophisticated suburbanite. Very few of my mom's family lived in the city, and I could never tell if my boy cousins were actually racist or just being adolescent boys, who pick fights as a matter of course. Everyone else was country poor. Black folks were always around and nobody seemed to think twice about it, much less talk ugly about anyone.
My dad, an aerospace engineer, grew up in Boston and it always seemed like he regarded blacks as Other Than, probably from complete inexperience. The little messaging I picked up from the media framed prejudice as very negative, which was what my husband picked up too. There were various ethnic groups around for him too.
By the 1970s we younger folks considered the folks portrayed in the town in this movie dinosaurs at best, and when I was old enough to vote the last of the old Dixiecrats were leaving and the newer folks were coming in. The MAGA insurrection cadre is worse than the Dixiecrats ever were. They would have seen the government antagonizing Tourism, The Military, the Space Industry and Insurance companies suicidal. And it is. Chasing the immigrant population away also cripples agriculture. When the Bush family got what it wanted from Florida they left their machine in place, but the idiots in charge now are too incompetent to run it.
I grew up when the Chamber of Commerce ran ads about being a Friendly Floridan, and it was one of the most laid back places in the country to live. Now I find the friendliest thing I can do is warn folks to stay away. Especially if you are a woman of child bearing years or have a wife or daughters. She won't get the care she needs here, and though I miss her, I'm glad our daughter lives up North.
We thought we were done with these morons. The whining they are doing now about how they are going to be "replaced" is no different than how they were whining in the 1970s when women entered the workforce, and we all adjusted just fine!!
GREAT REACTION , exactly the same way I felt when I first saw this excellent film ,such good acting from Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier as Gillespie and Tibbs ,the supporting cast members Lee Grant ,Warren Oates etc all played their parts well, good script skillfully directed by Norman Jewison.
This was the first major Hollywood film in color that was lit with proper consideration for an actor with dark skin. Haskell Wexler recognized that standard lighting used in filming produced too much glare on dark complexions and rendered the features indistinct. He toned down the lighting to feature Sidney Poitier with better results.
I've watched this movie many times but only now did I check the credits to see that the falsely arrested Harvey Oberst was played by the late actor Scott Wilson, popularly remembered for his role as Hershel Greene, Maggie's father, in the series "The Walking Dead".
And do you realize Harvey is the same actor who played Hershel on The Walking Dead?
Oh wow!
We as a nation have come a long way since then. It was happening every second back then.
It's so weird to think that slavery was legal not all that long ago. This film came out only 104 years after it was made illegal in the United States.
The war between the states turned out to be just a military victory- it didn't change anyone's mind. If you don't believe that, take a tour through the south today.
They were going to put a stunt double in for the man who played Endicott for the slap, but the actor - can't remember his name - didn't want to lose any power in the scene. He also insisted that it not be a stunt slap, but a real one. He felt pain. Poitier was hesitant, but they talked and agreed that they couldn't - figuratively and literally - pull any punches in the scene. The actor who played Endicott was nothing like his character in real life.
The woman who played the dead guy's widow channeled her real life anger in this movie - the first full length movie she had been in for over a decade when she was blacklisted for refusing to give information on her radical ex-boyfriend during the McCarthy madness.
Quincy Jones was responsible for the soundtrack. He wrote most of the music, including Fowl Owl on the Prowl, which is more interesting than it sounds when you listen to the somewhat dark lyrics.
The actor was Larry Gates.
And that actress, Lee Grant, is still alive.
One of my favorite all time films.
Did you recognize Dr. Hershel Greene from "The Walking Dead"? That's Scott Wilson portraying Harvey Oberst. This was his acting debut.
Thanks for the video!! See you later!! Stay safe.😊
Sam, I gotta say it was SO entertaining watching you all angry and eye rolling, dead-staring at the camera! So mad hahaha! Keep it up, as always please do Top Secret! ❤🇨🇦🤓Ottawa
Don't forget, Sam was a creep, but he didn't touch the girl.
Yeah I didn’t make that connection until after 😩 My bad
Oh nice. I didn't realize this had won. Awesome
This movie is really good....they also made a TV series, it was on when I was growing up, late 80s early 90s (I graduated HS 1996) that was really good as well. 🙂
Sidney Poitier was in some great movies. If you want to see a very up lifting film watch "Lillies of the Field". He won an Academy Award for this film.
Great reaction! Thanks for doing this film--it's an important one and seems to be overlooked by reactors. It's not a pleasant film due to the racism on display. Although the overwhelming majority of it is by the white people of Sparta, even Virgil is not immune because he lets his personal feelings toward Endicott--who he views as a relic and symbol of plantation slavery--affect his judgement. The acting by Poitier and Steiger is top notch.
It’s hard to realize that everyone’s attitudes were normal for that time and place, and surprising to consider that many people who were young at the time are still with us. Yes, this is still recent history.
"Guess Who's coming to Dinner" and "To Sir with Love"
It would be nice to just say they were monsters, and they are, but also humans. That's the scary part.
A follow-up Sidney Poitier film is "Lilies of the Field," a touching film where Poitier plays an itinerant fellow who works odd jobs along the way. He gets hired by a group of German nuns who want him to build a chapel. The stubborn head nun and he clash in amusing ways.
WARREN OATS! The peeping tom deputy, is so overlooked. He was Sgt. Hulka in the Bill Murray movie Stripes. Had a terrific career as a character actor in the 50s and 60s. He starred and played Dillinger in the movie by the same name, which is worth a look. Love your reactions
He was a great member of Sam Peckinpah's stock company of actors.
I love this movie. Not enough reactors react to it.
Other Sidney Poitier movies you could react to if they’re not already on your list are:
Guess who’s coming to dinner?
Lilies Of the field
No way out (actor Richard Widmark had to use the N-word a lot in this movie and he would apologize to Sidney Poitier every day because he hated using that word. It was in the script but he still hated it)
Raisin in the sun
Sidney Poitier was one of the best actors. He was born in Florida but raised in the Bahamas which is where his parents are from. He said he either never saw his face in a mirror or wore a pair of shoes until he was 10. I can’t remember which one it was.
yes! finally someone reacts to this. Great reaction. 👍
Would love to see a reaction to The Long Walk Home with Whoopie Goldberg and Sissy Spacek. Great film.
That "damn chewing" win him an Oscar🤣🎩
I used to love watching re-runs of this TV series with my grandma in the 90s. Such a great show.
I love this movie and your reaction is hilarious! The casting and acting in this movie is so superb that it has you completely invested in the drama. It’s like you’re watching real life. Rod Steiger is perfect. Oh and btw Sam Wood didn’t have sex with Dolores Purdy. She lied about that. He would just look at her parade in the nude every night while on patrol.
One of my favorites.
Another Sidney Poitier movie, The Defiant Ones, with Tony Curtis, from 1958 was, I think, just as radical and pre-dated In The Heat of the Night by almost a decade.
I knew Sam would go ape-sht watching this film, not that I know Sam but I had a feeling and I was right, and it was entertaining and nice to see someone outraged at the lunacy of "the south". I grew up in two very conservative, racist southern towns from the 70's to 2001 (with some time away for college/grad school), and I had the same feeling of disgust as Sam for much of the time I lived there. The big difference with me is my parents were not from the south so they were strongly against racism, but it was all around, the "n" word used casually by some folks, confederate flags in front of homes, etc. Thankfully I moved to a Western state in my 20's, whew!
Fantastic film and reaction. May I suggest 'Mississippi Burning' as your next movie for this kind of greatness.
Edit: I just finished watching! Have never seen this movie myself (I think the only Sydney P. movies I've seen are A Raisin in the Sun and To Sir, With Love), but now I want to watch it! Even seeing it this way was good. I liked your reaction.
Also, are you taking movie suggestions? Have you ever seen Glory??
Landmark, awesome, solid gold movie. I’ve been watching it for 50 years, over and over. The gold standard for liberal justice from the burning heart of the 60s along with Mississippi Burning
Rod Steiger said he was against the chewing gum thing. Too cliche. But Jewison insisted. So Steiger tried to use it to indicate his character's mood, chewing faster when agitated.
“ they call me Mr. Tibbs”
I really appreciate you reacting to this classic!
This is such an excellent movie, and groundbreaking at the time.
Great movie! Looooooved your reaction! ❤
Originally, this was going to be filmed in the south. Because of ongoing agitation there, they wound up doing it in Sparta,Ill. A couple of goofs happened because of this. In the chief's office the calendar says that the date is Sep. 13. When the chief is out apprehending Harvey, the leaves on the trees are clearly fall colors. Leaves don't turn in Ms. for another month. Also, when Harvey is running on the bridge(presumably from Ms. to AK) it is early in the morning.The sun should have been at his back, but is instead in his face. Therefore it was probably filmed in the evening.
Sam, please please add RABBIT PROOF FENCE to your movie list!!! Another movie that showcases the sad ignorance that exists around us.
Thank you....its about time somebody did this classic ✌️🙂
Lee Grant, roughly age ~98, is still with us.
There was a TV Show based on this movie from 1988-1995 Carl Weathers was in it the last 2 years. Not as Virgil Tibbs he play another character.
Sam, nothing insane or ridiculous here. This film is about everything American history has tried to cover up. This is what it was like in the south, (and still is to some degree). One of my favorite top five! The performances by Poitier and Steiger power drive your emotions. Please react to "Is Mississippi Burning?", and "Green Book"! Enjoy!
This reaction, chefs kiss.
When Sydney Poitier entere a room every other guy dropped in charisma points.
Genuine anger at how people acted, good on you. I recommend 'Harlan County, USA' (available on youtube), it should spike your blood pressure too. It's about a coal miners strike in 1973. It won't even require a suspension of belief because it is a documentary.
you got to remember what decade this movie was made even in the North during this decade freedom isn't like what it is now, he's a black man at night alone in a train station in a town in the deep South and they're looking for a murderer unfortunately it was the way it was back then, great film, and performances by Poitier and steiger
Yes this movie is disturbing in many ways and thats exactly why need to remember how it was it hopefully will never be again.
Thats what also makes this detective from up North running circles around this Southern police department is so special and oh BTW he is a black detective at that.
I love this movie granted it does have many cringe moments but again lets not forget our past and let it help us heal our future ❤
Thank you again for reacting to the classic. ✌️🙂
Foolishness = normal life in America for many years
This is a classic. Now watch the movie it beat out of the awards that year Cool Hand Luke. I believe it was Paul Newman's best work
I love this movie
She does not understand that this is a guy movie. Guys will yell and fight, but in the end, it is about getting the job done.
This was made in the 60’s.
Indeed it was- still baffling in the way that it’s ridiculous it ever happened
Not trying to attack you, but this viewing could be a wake-up call for your personal education on racism. The fact that this particular flavor of racism surprised you so much, and you couldn't put your feelings into words beyond "they're lame" just shows you have a lot to learn. Like all the worst evils, racism isn't just people being dumb - they have their reasons. And dismissing those reasons as unintelligent allows your own views to be dismissed in the same way.
If you find a hole in your education, be glad you found it and do something to fix it. Because only being shocked won't get you far in life. And although racism isn't gone, it's up to each of us to understand it and keep it from returning to times like this.
As a bonus, someday you might be able to see this story with new eyes. There is a lot of depth here when you can recognize and appreciate the different "levels" of racism of the characters. This Best Picture Oscar was well-deserved.
Any 'reason' for racism is dumb. Being surprised by any particular 'flavor' of racism is completely understandable if you're not a racist.
In all honesty, I’m getting so tired of reading comments like this about this reaction. I’m getting treated like a child or someone who’s immature or unknowledgeable because I’m angry about the racism I’m seeing on the screen. I know this is a part of history. I know this happened (and still happens). I know that there’s more to it than these people being unintelligent, but at the end of the day, to me? It’s not more than that. Overall it’s not more than that. At the end of the day, racists are fucking stupid and if you’re genuinely pissed off that I feel that way, then that’s concerning. I’m sorry but this is how I feel. Stop treating me like I’m someone who just doesn’t fully understand. This is a reaction video. Let me react with my emotions.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
It's a great film 🎉
It's Black History month...You need to learn more of the history of civil rights in the South...A good film for that is Mississippi Burning, a somewhat fictionalized account of actual events in the mid-60s...In many parts of the South, it WAS closer to the 1860s than the 1960s...In some places it still is :(
The Cheetah Girls
Your reaction is typical of young people of this time. Your parents were probably not even alive during this time. You don't understand how this country was back then, especially in the South. I am not saying this was right in any way, but that's how it was.
@@garymathena2125 What people like you fail to understand when watching my reaction is that I’m well aware that this is what it was like, but it still saddens/angers me that it WAS like that, that there are STILL things that are bad like this, that’s all. I’m not living in a fairytale world where I don’t believe anything bad has ever happened, and it’s insulting that just because I showed emotion about something like this, people think that about me. I’m 28. My parents were born in the late 50s. Do not talk about me in this way as if you know me, it’s disrespectful and insulting.
You really shouldn't watch old films, even Classics, if there going to upset you.
I really don’t understand why people are annoyed or upset that I’m angry about racism lol. I’m not a child. I can show my emotions and still enjoy a movie.
Aren't films supposed to evoke emotion, of any kind?!!!
No matter how hard this masterpiece is to watch today it spawned one of the best insights to how hard it was to change the American mindset and laws from the movie till today decades later
Guess who is coming to dinner is another great movie with an incredible cast.
Yes!!! It would be a great follow-up to this one. To Sir, With Love is another one she should watch, and A Patch of Blue. All very powerful films.
Lilies of the Field (1963)
A comedy/drama... just Sidney and four German nuns... he arrives as a handy man and winds up staying around for a while.
Great story with lots of laughs
It has always been one of my favorite Sidney Poitier films and he did win a Academy Award for this film in 63' ... a well deserved one.
@@bigbow62 one of my favorites
The moment Mr Tibbs slapped Endicott is a seminal moment in cinema history. Rod Steiger won the Oscar but Poitier deserved one too even though he already had one.
Lilies of the Field.
My favorite Sidney Piorter movie.
I think you'd like it.
My favorite as well,
Add me ! Such a fun and happy movie.
There's some controversy over how Rod Steiger won an Oscar for this film, while Sidney Poitier wasn't even nominated. But it makes perfect sense to me. Poitier was very well established by 1967 for this exact kind of character, and had already gotten an Oscar for it a few years earlier. Meanwhile Steiger is playing a character completely different from what he was like in real life, and for most of his screentime has to go directly toe to toe with Poitier and be just as interesting.
Poitier won his deserved Oscar for the wonderful Lilies of the Field, while Steiger's Oscar for this is, IMO, a make-up for the crime of letting Lee Marvin beat him a few years earlier when Steiger's performance in The Pawnbroker was the best of his career and the best of that year.
@@flarrfan The Pawnbroker is brilliant, with Sidney Lumet in the director's chair.
It's the first American film to approach the Holocaust, specifically a survivor's viewpoint. MGM was supposed to release it, but the studio execs changed their minds. So, American International Pictures, which is best known for their silly beach party movies, released it.
This was Quincy Jones's first job for music scoring.
My memory says Sidney Poitier had THREE movies that year (what a year!), this one, To Sir With Love a few months earlier, and Guess Whose Coming to Dinner. I feel like all 3 movies split the votes not giving enough for any one role to make the top 5.
We lost this film's director Norman Jewison just last month at age 97. He had an amazing six decade career with plenty more movies like this which seriously challenge you to think about serious topics, all while also never once making the same kind of movie twice. This included two more movies specifically about anti-black racism, A Soldier's Story and The Hurricane.
He was also going to direct the Malcolm X movie, which I'm sure he would have done a great job at. However, Spike Lee, the director of Do The Right Thing, criticized the studio for not having a black director make it and Norman graciously stepped down and Spike went on to direct it.
Being a boomer, I adored Sidney Poitier. A Patch of Blue is my favorite, but also To Sir With Love and Guess Whose Coming to Dinner.
I highly recommend To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the greatest movies made about racial injustice with an iconic lawyer role by Gregory Peck. Also, Sounder is about a black family of sharecroppers in 1933 dealing with various injustices of that time but also a heart-warming family story. Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield were both Oscar nominated best leading actors in their roles. Both are beautifully shot and have emotional stories.
Now you have to watch 'they call me Mr Tibbs'