Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) helps a redneck Southern sheriff (Rod Steiger) solve a murder in this fascinating study in racism that still strikes a resonant chord today. Steiger won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as the put-upon sheriff who comes to respect Tibbs's professionalism and ability. Norman Jewison directs this dramatic tale with a feeling for the cultural and social atmosphere of the time.
Jason
They call me MISTER Tibbs!
I've found it! I've found the whole reason I started this project.
For those of you who don't know I am a movie buff (which I guess is given since I'm doing this project), but I always felt like I've heard of every good movie out there. Then I found this list and realized I had never even heard of quite a few of these. This led me to believe that I was missing something and this movie proves it. Up until the time I watched it three days ago I had never even heard of it, and without this list I probably never would have, and it was great. I can only hope that as we get farther down the list this happens more and more.
Like I said this movie was great. I haven't seen a good detective movie in a really long time. I was enthralled by it's twists, and loved that I was able to figure out who the killer was along with Sydney Poitier.If I had to make one complaint about the movie it would be that once they told you who did it they didn't really give you time to think about the clues that led up to him being the one, they jumped right into more story.
I also enjoyed that this movie wasn't just your normal detective movie. It has a twist that gives it the edge over what is probably 100 similar movies. Using a small, racist town as a setting with a black detective gave the story a chance to not only be about a crime, but was also a chance for characters to change and develop in ways that other similar movies could not. My favorite example of this is the respect that Mr. Tibbs had earned from Gillespie.
One last thing I'd like to point out is my quote. Through out this project I have tried to avoid the popular quote. You know the quote that everyone thinks of when you talk about the movie (i.e. "I See Dead People" or "Run Forrest Run"). I do this not because I don't like the lines but because I don't always think that they are the most important lines in the movie. The reason I bring this up is because I did in fact pick the most popular line in the movie (I think its like number 44 on the AFI 100 greatest quotes list). I picked it because it was impactful. It was delivered perfectly and it actually gave me chills.
Final Thoughts- This movie is in my top 40. Its fucking awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment