The best Sidney Poitier’s drama movies

Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier

20/02/1927- 07/01/2022
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Sidney Poitier’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Sidney Poitier.
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Sneakers

Sneakers
7.1/10
When shadowy U.S. intelligence agents blackmail a reformed computer hacker and his eccentric team of security experts into stealing a code-breaking 'black box' from a Soviet-funded genius, they uncover a bigger conspiracy. Now, he and his 'sneakers' must save themselves and the world economy by retrieving the box from their blackmailers.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told
6.5/10
  • Genre: DramaHistory
  • Release: 15/02/1965
  • Character: Simon of Cyrene
From his birth in Bethlehem to his death and eventual resurrection, the life of Jesus Christ is given the all-star treatment in this epic retelling. Major aspects of Christ's life are touched upon, including the execution of all the newborn males in Egypt by King Herod; Christ's baptism by John the Baptist; and the betrayal by Judas after the Last Supper that eventually leads to Christ's crucifixion and miraculous return.

In the Heat of the Night

In the Heat of the Night
7.9/10
An African American detective is asked to investigate a murder in a racist southern town.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
7.8/10
  • Genre: Drama
  • Release: 11/12/1967
  • Character: John Prentice
A couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter brings home a fiancé who is black.

The Defiant Ones

The Defiant Ones
7.6/10
  • Genre: CrimeDrama
  • Release: 14/08/1958
  • Character: Noah Cullen
Two convicts—a white racist and an angry black man—escape while chained to each other.

To Sir, with Love

To Sir, with Love
7.6/10
  • Genre: Drama
  • Release: 14/06/1967
  • Character: Mark Thackeray
Idealistic engineer-trainee and his experiences in teaching a group of rambunctious white high school students from the slums of London's East End.

The Organization

The Organization
6/10
After a group of young revolutionaries break into a company's corporate headquarters and steal $5,000,000 worth of heroin to keep it off the street, they call on San Francisco Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs for assistance.

Band of Angels

Band of Angels
6.5/10
Living in Kentucky prior to the Civil War, Amantha Starr is a privileged young woman. Her widower father, a wealthy plantation owner, dotes on her and he sends her to the best schools. When he dies suddenly however, Amantha's world is turned upside down. She learns that her father had been living on borrowed money and that her mother was actually a slave and her father's mistress. The plantation is to be sold to pay off her father's debts and as the daughter of slave, Amatha is also to be sold as property. She is bought by a Louisiana plantation owner, Hamish Bond and over time she grows to love him until she learns he was a slave-trader. She tries again to become part of white society but realizes that her future lies elsewhere.

Paris Blues

Paris Blues
6.7/10
Ram Bowen and Eddie Cook are two expatriate jazz musicians living in Paris where, unlike America at the time, Jazz musicians are celebrated and racism is a non-issue. When they meet and fall in love with two young American girls, Lillian and Connie, who are vacationing in France, Ram and Eddie must decide whether they should move back to America with them, or stay in Paris for the freedom it allows them. Ram, who wants to be a serious composer, finds Paris more exciting than America and is reluctant to give up his music for a relationship, and Eddie wants to stay for the city's more tolerant racial atmosphere.

Blackboard Jungle

Blackboard Jungle
7.4/10
  • Genre: CrimeDrama
  • Release: 25/03/1955
  • Character: Gregory W. Miller
Richard Dadier is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes.

They Call Me Mister Tibbs!

They Call Me Mister Tibbs!
6/10
A police detective's investigation of a prostitute's murder points to his best friend.

The Bedford Incident

The Bedford Incident
7.3/10
During a routine patrol, a reporter is given permission to interview a hardened cold-war warrior and captain of the American destroyer USS Bedford. The reporter gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his crew to breaking point.

The Slender Thread

The Slender Thread
7/10
  • Genre: Drama
  • Release: 15/12/1965
  • Character: Alan Newell
Alan is a Seattle college student volunteering at a crisis center. One night when at the clinic alone, a woman calls up the number and tells Alan that she needs to talk to someone. She informs Alan she took a load of pills, and he secretly tries to get help. During this time, he learns more about the woman, her family life, and why she wants to die. Can Alan get the cavalry to save her in time before it's too late?

A Patch of Blue

A Patch of Blue
8/10
  • Genre: DramaRomance
  • Release: 10/12/1965
  • Character: Gordon Ralfe
A blind, uneducated white girl is befriended by a black man, who becomes determined to help her escape her impoverished and abusive home life.

Edge of the City

Edge of the City
7.2/10
  • Genre: Drama
  • Release: 04/01/1957
  • Character: Tommy Tyler
An army deserter and a black dock worker join forces against a corrupt union official.

The Wilby Conspiracy

The Wilby Conspiracy
6.4/10
Having spent 10 years in prison for nationalist activities, Shack Twala is finally ordered released by the South African Supreme Court but he finds himself almost immediately on the run after a run-in with the police. Assisted by his lawyer Rina Van Niekirk and visiting British engineer Jim Keogh, he heads for Capetown where he hopes to recover a stash of diamonds, meant to finance revolutionary activities, that he had entrusted to a dentist before his incarceration. Along the way, they are followed by Major Horn of the South African State security bureau and it becomes apparent that he has no intention of arresting them until they reach their final destination

No Way Out

No Way Out
7.4/10
The Biddle brothers, shot while robbing a gas station, are taken to the prison ward of the County Hospital; Ray Biddle, a rabid racist, wants no treatment from black resident Dr. Luther Brooks. When brother John dies while Luther tries to save him, Ray is certain it's murder and becomes obsessed with vengeance. But there are black racists around too, and the situation slides rapidly toward violence.

To Sir, with Love II

To Sir, with Love II
6.3/10
  • Genre: DramaTV Movie
  • Release: 07/04/1996
  • Character: Mark Thackeray
Mark Thackeray (Poitier) is a West Indian, who in the 1967 film had taken teaching in a London East End school. He spent twenty years teaching and ten in administrative roles. He has taught the children of his former pupils, but is now retiring.

The Long Ships

The Long Ships
6/10
Rolfe—a Viking leader with the cunning and devious mind of a pirate—tells other sailors of the mythical 'The Mother of Voices', a mammoth bell made of gold and as tall as three men, but he adds enough incorrect details to throw them off the proper trail. However, the leader of a group of ambitious Moors sees through Rolfe's story, and soon the two are in a breakneck race to be the first to find the precious bell.

Lilies of the Field

Lilies of the Field
7.5/10
  • Genre: ComedyDrama
  • Release: 04/06/1963
  • Character: Homer Smith
An unemployed construction worker heading out west stops at a remote farm in the desert to get water when his car overheats. The farm is being worked by a group of East European Catholic nuns, headed by the strict mother superior, who believes the man has been sent by God to build a much needed church in the desert.

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