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SIDNEY POITIER & HIS TRAILBLAZING CONTEMPORARIES, a four-week, 42-film festival paying tribute to both the late actor and lesser-known actors of his own generation, will run at Film Forum from April 1 through April 28.
The series, originally planned for 2020 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Poitier’s film debut (in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s No Way Out), includes Poitier classics like In the Heat of the Night, The Defiant Ones, Raisin in the Sun, Blackboard Jungle, A Patch of Blue, Paris Blues, and many others, along with films featuring contemporaries like James Edwards, Juano Hernandez, Canada Lee, Frederick O’Neal, Ivan Dixon, Frank Silvera, Brock Peters, William Marshall, and many others.
The series is a sequel to Film Forum’s 2019 Black Women festival.
The first major Black male movie star of his generation and the first to win an Oscar for Best Actor (for Lilies of the Field), Sidney Poitier (1927-2022) had a career (that included directing) spanning six decades. But there was little room for other Black stars in 1950s and ‘60s Hollywood. Poitier’s enormous popularity paved the way for the Black actors who followed him, though, with perhaps the exception of Harry Belafonte (a super-star in his own right), the actors of his own generation had fewer opportunities.
Says author, film historian and festival programmer Donald Bogle, “Poitier almost singlehandedly changed Hollywood’s image of Black America, and few other Black film stars have had as significant impact on Black audiences. For a time, Poitier answered the needs of both Black America and Hollywood. The Poitier image would further evolve in the 1970s, the age of Blaxploitation cinema with its highly charged heroes. He turned to directing and starring in more personal movies geared to the Black audience yet which often proved to be mainstream hits: the rousing Buck and the Preacher; the tender romance A Warm December; and the all-star comedy Uptown Saturday Night.”
Continues Mr. Bogle, “Joining Poitier—in contributing to a significant change in Black film representation — were other important actors: Ivan Dixon in Nothing But A Man; the groundbreaking James Edwards in Home of the Brave; the iconic Puerto-Rican-born Juano Hernandez in Intruder in the Dust; the quietly resilient Canada Lee in Cry, the Beloved Country; among many others. Ultimately, the sometimes overlooked performances of Poitier’s contemporaries proved to be stunning, complex, and powerful—and along with Poitier altered the face of American movies.”
Donald Bogle is the award-winning African American film historian, teacher, lecturer, and author of nine books on Black images in American motion pictures and television, including his seminal Tom, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, the first major study of African American images in American motion pictures. Mr. Bogle’s other books include Prime Time Blues (a history of Blacks on television); Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood; Brown Sugar: Over 100 Years of America’s Black Female Superstars; Dorothy Dandridge, the definitive biography of the Black movie star; and Hollywood Black: The Stars, The Films, The Filmmakers (a TCM Film Book). Select screenings will be introduced by Mr. Bogle, with other special guests and events planned.
SIDNEY POITIER & HIS TRAILBLAZING CONTEMPORARIES has been programmed by Donald Bogle and Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s Director of Repertory Programming.
Public Screening Schedule:
Names of actors spotlighted in series are boldfaced.
NO WAY OUT
U.S., 1950
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Sidney Poitier, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee
DCP. Approx. 106 min.
Friday, April 1 at 12:30
Saturday, April 2 at 2:45
Wednesday, April 6 at 4:45
EDGE OF THE CITY
U.S., 1957
Directed by Martin Ritt
Starring Sidney Poitier, John Cassavetes, Jack Warden
Story by Robert Alan Arthur
35mm. Approx. 85 min.
Friday, April 1 at 2:40
Sunday, April 3 at 7:25
Saturday, April 9 at 12:30
BLACKBOARD JUNGLE
U.S., 1955
Directed by Richard Brooks
Starring Glenn Ford, Sidney Poitier, Vic Morrow, Anne Francis
35mm. Approx. 101 min.
Friday, April 1 at 4:35
Saturday, April 2 at 12:30
Monday, April 4 at 5:15
Friday, April 15 at 7:10
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
U.S., 1967
Directed by Norman Jewison
Starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant
DCP. Approx. 109 min.
Friday, April 1 at 8:30
Saturday, April 2 at 7:00
Friday, April 8 at 12:30
Sunday, April 10 at 6:10
Monday, April 25 at 2:45
THE DEFIANT ONES
U.S., 1958
Directed by Stanley Kramer
Starring Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Charles McGraw
35mm. Approx. 97 min.
Saturday, April 2 at 4:55
Wednesday, April 6 at 12:30 | 9:10
Sunday, April 10 at 8:30
Thursday, April 21 at 12:30
BLACULA
U.S., 1972
Directed by William Crain
Starring William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas, Thalmus Rasulala
Screenplay by Joan Torres and Raymond Koenig 3
5mm. Approx. 93 min.
Saturday, April 2 at 9:20
Tuesday, April 19 at 9:15
A RAISIN IN THE SUN
U.S., 1961
Directed by Daniel Petrie
Starring Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon
Based on the play by Lorraine Hansberry
DCP. Approx. 128 min.
Sunday, April 3 at 11:00am | 4:45
Monday, April 4 at 2:35
LILIES OF THE FIELD
U.S., 1963
Directed by Ralph Nelson
Starring Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann
Screenplay by James Poe
35mm. Approx. 94 min.
Sunday, April 3 at 1:40
Monday, April 4 at 12:30 | 7:25
THE KILLING
U.S., 1956
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, James Edwards
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick based on a novel by Lionel White
35mm. Approx. 84 min.
Sunday, April 3 at 9:20
Tuesday, April 5 at 9:30
Saturday, April 16 at 2:40
KILLER’S KISS
U.S., 1955
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Frank Silvera, Irene Kane (aka Chris Chase), Jamie Smith, Jerry Jarrett
Screenplay by Howard Sackler
35mm. Approx. 67 min.
Monday, April 4 at 9:30
Saturday, April 16 at 1:00
Saturday, April 23 at 9:35
BRIGHT VICTORY
U.S., 1951
Directed by Mark Robson
Starring Arthur Kennedy, Julie Adams, James Edwards
Screenplay by Robert Buckner based on a novel by Baynard Kendrick
DCP. Approx. 97 min.
Tuesday, April 5 at 1:00 | 5:20
HOME OF THE BRAVE
U.S., 1949
Directed by Mark Robson
Starring James Edwards, Steve Brodie, Jeff Corey
Screenplay by Carl Foreman based on the play by Arthur Laurents
35mm print courtesy UCLA Film & Television Archive. Approx. 88 min.
Tuesday, April 5 at 3:10 | 7:30
PRESSURE POINT
U.S., 1962
Directed by Hubert Cornfield and Stanley Kramer
Starring Sidney Poitier, Bobby Darin, Peter Falk Screenplay by Hubert Cornfield and S. Lee Pogostin
Based on a story by Robert M. Linder
35mm. Approx. 91 min.
Wednesday, April 6 at 2:40 | 7:00
Friday, April 8 at 9:20
ANNA LUCASTA
U.S., 1958
Directed by Arnold Laven
Starring Eartha Kitt, Frederick O’ Neal
Screenplay by Philip Yordan
35mm. Approx. 97 min.
Thursday, April 7 at 12:30 | 5:10
PARIS BLUES
U.S., 1961
Directed by Martin Ritt
Starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier, Diahann Carroll
Screenplay by Jack Sher, Irene Kamp, and Walter Bernstein
35mm. Approx. 98 min.
Friday, April 8 at 3:00 | 7:15
Friday, April 15 at 12:30
NOTHING BUT A MAN
U.S., 1964
Directed by Michael Roemer
Starring Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln, Julius Harris, Gloria Foster
35mm. Approx. 95 min.
Friday, April 8 at 5:10
Monday, April 11 at 2:35
Sunday, April 17 at 5:20
Thursday, April 28 at 5:10
A WARM DECEMBER
U.S., 1973
Directed by Sidney Poitier
Written by Lawrence Roman
Starring Sidney Poitier, Ester Anderson, Yvette Curtis, George Baker
35mm. Approx. 101 min.
Saturday, April 9 at 2:30
Wednesday, April 13 at 12:30
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW
U.S., 1959
Directed by Robert Wise
Starring Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame
Screenplay by Abraham Polonsky and Nelson Gidding
35mm. Approx. 96 min.
Saturday, April 9 at 5:20
Monday, April 18 at 1:00
CARMEN JONES
U.S., 1954
Directed by Otto Preminger
Starring Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Brock Peters, Roy Glenn
Screenplay by Harry Kleiner DCP.
Approx. 108min.
Saturday, April 9 at 7:30
Tuesday, April 12 at 2:25
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
U.S., 1962
Directed by Robert Mulligan
Starring Gregory Peck, Brock Peters
DCP. Approx. 129 min.
Sunday, April 10 at 11:00am | 3:25
A PATCH OF BLUE
U.S., 1965
Directed by Guy Green
Starring Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman, Wallace Ford
Screenplay by Guy Green based on a novel by Elizabeth Kata
35mm. Approx. 95 min.
Monday, April 11 at 12:30 | 7:00
Friday, April 15 at 5:10
CAR WASH
U.S., 1976
Directed by Michael Schultz
Written by Joel Schumacher
Starring Richard Pryor, Franklin Ajaye, Bill Duke, Ivan Dixon
DCP. Approx. 97 min.
Monday, April 11 at 4:50 | 9:10
Friday, April 15 at 9:20
ONE POTATO, TWO POTATO
U.S., 1964
Directed by Larry Peerce
Starring Barbara Barrie, Bernie Hamilton, Richard Mulligan
Screenplay by Raphael Hayes and Orville H. Hampton
35mm. Approx. 115 min.
Tuesday, April 12 at 12:30 | 6:40
CLAUDINE
U.S., 1974
Directed by John Berry
Starring Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Tamu Blackwell
Screenplay by Tine Pine and Lester Pine
DCP. Approx. 92 min.
Tuesday, April 12 at 4:40
Saturday, April 23 at 12:30
Tuesday, April 26 at 2:45 | 9:20
MELINDA
U.S., 1972
Directed by Hugh A. Robertson
Starring Calvin Lockhart, Rosalind Cash, Vonetta McGee, Paul Stevens
Screenplay by Lonne Elder III, based on a story by Raymond Cistheri
35mm. Approx. 109 min.
Tuesday, April 12 at 8:35
Thursday, April 14 at 5:10
CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY
U.K., 1951
Directed by Zoltan Korda
Starring Sidney Poitier, Canada Lee, Charles Carson
Screenplay by John Howard Lawson DCP.
Approx. 103 min.
Wednesday, April 13 at 2:50 | 7:30
Thursday, April 14 at 12:30
Sunday, April 17 at 7:30
SOMETHING OF VALUE
U.S., 1957
Directed by Richard Brooks
Starring Rock Hudson, Sidney Poitier, Wendy Hiller, Juano Hernandez, William Marshall, Frederick O’Neal
Screenplay by Richard Brooks, based on the novel by Robert C. Ruark
35mm. Approx. 113 min.
Wednesday, April 13 at 5:10
Thursday, April 14 at 2:45 | 7:30
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER
U.S., 1967
Directed by Stanley Kramer
Starring Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Houghton
DCP. Approx.108 min.
Friday, April 15 at 2:40
Sunday, April 17 at 1:15
Thursday, April 21 at 2:45 | 6:25
SPARTACUS
U.S., 1960
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Woody Strode
Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, based on the novel by Peter Ustinov
DCP. Approx. 197 min.
Saturday, April 16 at 4:40
Tuesday, April 19 at 2:45
UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT
U.S., 1974
Directed by Sidney Poitier
Starring Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, Harold Nicholas
35mm. Approx. 104 min.
Saturday, April 16 at 8:30
Wednesday, April 20 at 12:30 | 5:20
LOST BOUNDARIES
U.S., 1949
Directed by Alfred Werker
Starring Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer, William Greaves
Screenplay by Eugene Ling
35mm print courtesy UCLA Film & Television Archive. Approx. 99 min.
Monday, April 18 at 3:10 | 7:40
MIRACLE IN HARLEM
U.S., 1948
Directed by Jack Kemp
Starring Sheila Guyse, William Greaves
35mm print courtesy Library of Congress. Approx. 70 min.
Monday, April 18 at 6:00
A SOLDIER’S STORY
U.S., 1984
Directed by Norman Jewison
Starring Howard E. Rollings Jr., Adolph Caesar, Denzel Washington, Robert Townsend
Screenplay by Charles Fuller
35mm. Approx. 101 min.
Tuesday, April 19 at 12:30 | 7:00
BUCK AND THE PREACHER
U.S., 1972
Directed by Sidney Poitier
Starring Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Cameron Mitchell
DCP. Approx. 102 min.
Wednesday, April 20 at 2:40 | 7:30
TO SIR, WITH LOVE
U.K., 1967
Directed by James Clavell
Starring Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson
DCP. Approx. 105 min
Thursday, April 21 at 4:05 | 8:40
Sunday, April 24 at 11:00am | 5:20
INTRUDER IN THE DUST
U.S., 1949
Directed by Clarence Brown
Starring David Brian, Claude Jarman, Jr., Juano Hernandez
Screenplay by Ben Maddow and William Faulkner
35mm. Approx. 87 min.
Friday, April 22 at 12:30 | 7:00
YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN
U.S., 1950
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Juano Hernandez
Screenplay by Carl Foreman and Edmund H. North, based on a novel by Dorothy Baker
35mm. Approx. 112 min.
Friday, April 22 at 2:30 | 9:00
Sunday, April 24 at 7:35
SERGEANT RUTLEDGE
U.S., 1960
Directed by John Ford
Starring Jeffrey Hunter, Woody Strode, Constance Towers, Juano Hernandez
Screenplay by Willis Goldbeck, based on a novel by James Warner Bellah
35mm. Approx. 111 min.
Friday, April 22 at 4:45
Saturday, April 23 at 5:10
BODY AND SOUL
U.S., 1948
Directed by Robert Rosen
Starring John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Anne Revere, Canada Lee, William Conrad
Digital. Approx. 104 min.
Saturday, April 23 at 2:45
Tuesday, April 26, at 4:45
LIFEBOAT
U.S., 1944
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Starring Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, Walter Slezak, Canada Lee
Screenplay by Jo Swerling, based on a story by John Steinbeck
16mm. Approx. 97 min.
Saturday, April 23 at 7:25
Sunday, April 24 at 1:15
THE SCALPHUNTERS
U.S., 1968
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Written by William W. Norton
Starring Burt Lancaster, Shelley Winters, Telly Savalas, Ossie Davis
35mm. Approx. 105 min.
Monday, April 25 at 12:30 | 7:40
THE LOST MAN
U.S., 1969
Directed by Robert Alan Arthur
Starring Sidney Poitier, Joanna Shimkus, Al Freeman, Jr.
Screenplay by Robert Alan Arthur, based on a novel by F.L. Green
35mm. Approx. 122 min.
Monday, April 25 at 5:10
Wednesday, April 27 at 4:40
COTTON COMES TO HARLEM
U.S., 1970 Directed by Ossie Davis
Written by Chester Himes, Arnold Perl, Ossie Davis
Starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, Calvin Lockhart, Judy Pace
35mm. Approx. 97 min.
Tuesday, April 26 at 12:30 | 7:10
UPTIGHT
U.S., 1968
Directed by Jules Dassin
Starring Raymond St. Jacques, Ruby Dee, Frank Silvera, Roscoe Lee Brown
Screenplay by Jules Dassin, Ruby Dee, and Julian Mayfield; based on the novel by Liam O’ Flaherty
Digital. Approx. 104 min.
Wednesday, April 27 at 1:00 | 8:25
Thursday, April 28 at 2:45
DUTCHMAN
U.K., 1966
Directed by Anthony Harvey
Starring Shirley Knight, Al Freeman, Jr., Frank Lieberman
Based on the play by Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
35mm print courtesy British Film Institute. Approx. 55 min.
Wednesday, April 27 at 3:15 | 7:00
THE LIBERATION OF L.B. JONES
U.S., 1970
Directed by William Wyler
Starring Lee J. Cobb, Roscoe Lee Browne, Lola Falana, Fayard Nicholas
Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant based on a novel by Jesse Hill Ford
35mm. Approx. 102 min.
Thursday, April 28 at 12:30 | 7:20
