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1967 was a very good year for Sidney Poitier. In addition to appearing in that year's Oscar winning Best Picture, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, he created one of his most endearing characters, making To Sir, With Love, one of the best movies ever made about high school students changed by the dedication of one teacher.
Based on the book by ER Braithwaite, Poitier plays Mark Thackeray, a recent engineering school graduate unable to get a job in that field, who accepts a job teaching at a school in the slums of London's east end, teaching high school age students and the lengths to which he goes to reach these kids.
Not only does Thackeray have to deal with the kids' bigotry, but realizes that normal teaching methods are not going to work as most of the kids are barely literate and have no social skills whatsoever and it is when Thackeray decides to throw away the textbooks and decides to teach the kids the basics of being civilized human beings, he finally starts making a connection.
Poitier is magnificent here, creating a character of quiet dignity and unassuming intelligence with whom respect is immediately demanded, from the viewer as well as the rest of the characters in the movie. Poitier is one of those actors, like Meryl Streep, who never has to resort to scenery chewing in order to command the screen. If memory serves, there is only one scene where Thackeray actually raises his voice. This is a performance that, like a lot of Streep's work, should be studied by acting students...Poitier beautifully internalizes Thackeray's initial confusion on how to reach these students and the joy it brings him when it begins to happen.
Christian Roberts and Judy Geeson offer effective support as Thackeray's biggest problem student and another student who develops a crush on him, but this is Poitier's show all the way and his performance is the film's number one appeal. Mention should also be made of the smash hit single of the title tune the film produced, performed by Lulu, who also appears in the film as student Barbara Peg. 8/10
Based on the book by ER Braithwaite, Poitier plays Mark Thackeray, a recent engineering school graduate unable to get a job in that field, who accepts a job teaching at a school in the slums of London's east end, teaching high school age students and the lengths to which he goes to reach these kids.
Not only does Thackeray have to deal with the kids' bigotry, but realizes that normal teaching methods are not going to work as most of the kids are barely literate and have no social skills whatsoever and it is when Thackeray decides to throw away the textbooks and decides to teach the kids the basics of being civilized human beings, he finally starts making a connection.
Poitier is magnificent here, creating a character of quiet dignity and unassuming intelligence with whom respect is immediately demanded, from the viewer as well as the rest of the characters in the movie. Poitier is one of those actors, like Meryl Streep, who never has to resort to scenery chewing in order to command the screen. If memory serves, there is only one scene where Thackeray actually raises his voice. This is a performance that, like a lot of Streep's work, should be studied by acting students...Poitier beautifully internalizes Thackeray's initial confusion on how to reach these students and the joy it brings him when it begins to happen.
Christian Roberts and Judy Geeson offer effective support as Thackeray's biggest problem student and another student who develops a crush on him, but this is Poitier's show all the way and his performance is the film's number one appeal. Mention should also be made of the smash hit single of the title tune the film produced, performed by Lulu, who also appears in the film as student Barbara Peg. 8/10