Customer Reviews

The Organization

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The movie begins slow and somewhat confusing. Several things are occurring for you to figure out as a viewer. Eventually things come together, Sidney Poitier enters the picture and all is forgiven.

Sidney Poitier - like Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Toshiro Mifune, and others of a bygone era - is an iconic movie star. Smart, talented, handsome, he's unique in this age of mostly interchangeable "actors" who star in the latest noisy but forgettable big-budget videogame or special effects extravaganza. His early films, such as the delightful "Lilies of the Field," showcased his obvious charisma, and by the time he graduated to light dramas like "To Sir, with Love," he was a bonafide leading man. But, oddly, his career seemed to zenith by the early 1970s, when "The Organization," one of two sequels to the Oscar-winning "In the Heat of the Night," continued the efforts of Virgil Tibbs, a clean cut police detective often fighting social injustice as much as outright crime, this time in San Francisco. He's pulled into a drug war, when a group of hardnosed idealists steal millions in heroin inadvertently from the mob and then try to use the theft to bring the leaders into the open. While "The Organization" lacks the ballast of the first film, it has enough twists and turns to merit as a thriller, with a look and feel inspired more by the superior Steve McQueen vehicle "Bullitt" than the 1967 film in which Poitier sparred with police chief Rod Steiger over racial politics while investigating a murder in a southern town. The acting is, of course, stagier than the "naturalistic" style of today, yet with few distractions from excessive violence or foul language, the film seems much more authentic. Look for familiar faces like Raul Julia and Daniel J. Travanti showing up in smaller roles - homelier in their youth than people might recall when they later became stars - but it's Poitier who makes it all work. Since so much of the 1970s has returned to fashion, viewers might also enjoy digesting what inspired today's "contemporary" look.

Sidney Poitier recreates Vigil Tibbs for the last time in this film. Thank Goodness. The twice prevous times (the classic In the Heat of the Night (40th Anniversary Collector's Edition) and its sequel They Call Me Mister Tibbs!) had plots and were better developed than this film. This, perhaps, is the Poitier film that has aged least gracefully.

This film seems standard TV cop fare of 1970's. It would be like a TV movie, if not for the star power of Poitier. However if you are a fan of old cop shows, this cast is filled with future TV cops..such as Gerald S. O'Loughlin (The Rookies and Automan), Max Gail (Barney Miller), Bernie Hamilton (Starkey and Hutch), Ron O.Neal (The Equalizer and Superfly), Garry Walberg (Quincy ME) and Daniel J. Travanti (Hill Street Blues)

The plot wears thin after a half hour. Gil Melle's jazz score overwhelms the watcher long before them. It seem to make a point, you need to have a louder jazz score..it dont work for me!

It is the acting talent of Poitier that makes this film more than something you throw in a trash heap. His cool demeaner makes his character and this film still stand up. This film was Tibbs's film swan song and it acts like it...and please dont bring up the 1990's TV version of "In the Heat of the Night", that charcter was so watered down for TV , it was BAD.

One would wish someone in Hollywood remake land would recreate Tibbs for the movies, I would enjoy Don Cheadle playing it...ah wishful thinking

R.I.P. Vigil Tibbs

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Beginning with "In the heat of the night", this is the third and last sequel. Poitier plays hard and faces a powerful organization which deals with drugs. In the line of "The French Connection", the picture will guarantee you a solid script plenty of emotion, impressive chases and a very realistic ending.

I am a Sidney Poitier fan anyway. Just about any movie he was in, in the 50s and part of the 60s, I loved. This one was no exception. Outside of Denzel, he rates top on my list.

Barbara was excellent as well. She should have been more of a star somehow but I guess, from what I hear, she had drinking or drug issues.

This is without doubt one of the worst movies ever made! Wooden acting,poor picture quality and a soundtrack that made my teeth grate. Being a Poitier fan and language student, I got it for the foreign language subtitles. A die hard movie buff might want to see it for the early wasted performances of some fine actors,including Raul Julia as a "Hippy". I often disagree with the critics for lacking a sense of fun, but this turkey deserves all their venom. If you decide to see it, I suggest you use earplugs and just read the subtitles.

I agree with the only other review. I watched an hour of this and just had to shut it off. I came to Amazon the next day to see if i was wrong but I wasn't. A lousy movie.