SUTS Day 10: Sidney Poitier

Movie lineup (all times in EST):
6:00AM Brother John (1971)
8:00AM A Warm December (1972)
10:00AM Good-Bye, My Lady (1956)
*Previous TNT Alert! 12:00PM Edge of the City (1957)*
2:00PM Something of Value (1957)
4:00PM Buck and the Preacher (1972) *Previous Daily Cinema Alert! 6:00PM A Patch of Blue (1965)* When was it featured? SUTS Day 31: Shelley Winters (2015)
8:00PM To Sir, With Love (1967)
*Daily Cinema: 10:00PM The Defiant Ones (1958)*
12:00AM In the Heat of the Night (1967)
2:00AM The Bedford Incident (1965)
4:00AM Cry, the Beloved Country (1952)

Daily Cinema: The Defiant Ones (1958)

This drama stars Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis (woof) as two inmates who escape from a Southern prison but must rely on each other to survive because of the shackles binding them together. The rub with these two is that Noah is black, while John is a racist white man, and the two were purposely shackled together by the warden for the lulz. Obviously this causes quite some contention between them at first but with each knowing that their survival and ability to remain undetected directly relies on the other man, they grudgingly agree to cooperate with each other. As you can imagine, they run into quite a few roadblocks in their escape, but I'll stop spoiling it there. 
I'm a little sad that Guess Who's Coming to Dinner isn't on today's lineup, but they air it fairly regularly on TCM now so I'm sure it'll be on again soon. If you haven't seen Edge of the City, its another film with racial undertones that is worth checking out. One thing I have to say I admire about Sidney Poitier was his fearlessness in the types of films he chose to do, the characters' stories he chose to tell. To take on these racially-charged films during an identically charged time must have either been incredibly easy because it reflected reality or incredibly difficult for the same reason. That was one of the reasons why I chose this film; not only was I surprised to see Tony Curtis playing this kind of role (my main exposure to him was in his comedic roles), but the plot seems pretty heavy and I want to see how it was executed.  If you're online today and want to join the conversation, use TCM's tag #summerunderthestars and if you watch today's Daily Cinema, use the tag #atvdailycinema so I can see it. See you tomorrow!