Random musings on all things cinematical, and otherwise, by Joe Leydon.
Friday, July 18, 2008
In the Heat of the Night
So I'm in my hotel room near LAX, waiting for a call from Viggo Mortensen to talk about Appaloosa, and I'm channel surfing. Guess what I found on Turner Classic Movies? Guess what I can't help watching for, like, the zillionth time?
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Funny, Joe -- but I did the same.
And what struck me weren't the BIG moments -- like the justly famous "I'm a POLICE OFFICER!" or the moment when Poitier slaps the old plantation racist across the face.
It was, mostly, the little ones.
Like the scene where Steiger, asking for help, blurts out "Cuz I'm not an EX-purt!" -- and then stops, tongue-tied, as he's realized he's just admitted his inferiority to a black man.
Or the scene where Poitier, about to examine the corpse, brusquely asks "Now, who's going to assist me" and holds out his coat for someone to collect -- and everyone stares at him, dumbfounded.
Not a great mystery, maybe, but a really good film.
And a very ballsy movie to be made in its time, something many people forget. I have an interview with Norman Jewison coming up in MovieMaker magazine in which we talk about this.
2 comments:
Funny, Joe -- but I did the same.
And what struck me weren't the BIG moments -- like the justly famous "I'm a POLICE OFFICER!" or the moment when Poitier slaps the old plantation racist across the face.
It was, mostly, the little ones.
Like the scene where Steiger, asking for help, blurts out "Cuz I'm not an EX-purt!" -- and then stops, tongue-tied, as he's realized he's just admitted his inferiority to a black man.
Or the scene where Poitier, about to examine the corpse, brusquely asks "Now, who's going to assist me" and holds out his coat for someone to collect -- and everyone stares at him, dumbfounded.
Not a great mystery, maybe, but a really good film.
And a very ballsy movie to be made in its time, something many people forget. I have an interview with Norman Jewison coming up in MovieMaker magazine in which we talk about this.
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