Am I Missing Something?

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is a wonderful film, and I won't pretend to fully appreciate all its layers and depths. Mostly, I can tell you it's about real people facing real problems in an imperfect society and world. This is a truly adult film for viewers with mature sensibilities. After watching the film Amiri Baraka's DUTCHMAN for the first time, I thought of this film. This is not in any sense meant to cast Baraka's achievement in a pejorative light, it is simply to suggest an exercise in thinking using the principle of comparison and contrast.Baraka's Dutchman presented characters as concepts in order to explore sociological implications and further indict a racist and sexist culture which forces men and women to conform to roles that do not permit them to realize their full potential. It is thought provoking and causes one to meditate upon a whole range of possibilities and alternatives for the typed characters involved.A PATCH OF BLUE is of a different cast. The characters are three dimensional from the outset, and Sidney Poitier's Gordon Ralfe comes across as a compassionate human being making a fateful encounter with Elizabeth Hartman's blind Selina D'Arcy in order to be the midwife of her deliverance.This film causes you to have a strong moral reaction to the evolving relationship between the two characters and it comes as a revelation that in in its most intimate moments, Sidney Poitier's character does not succumb to the angst often associated with the African American male, but keeps his head and acts soberly and intelligently; doing the best thing for all concerned. Like the novel, NATIVE SON, certain encounters in the film force you to ask yourself what you would do in this or that situation.There is a natural chemistry between Hartman and Poitier. A sort of easygoing being together that so easily suggests they could be a romantic couple or even married. This particularly comes across in the supermarket scene. There is actually a slightly more real sense of bonding between this pair than even when Poitier is involved with Katherine Houghton's character Joanna in GUESS WHOSE COMING TO DINNER. The sympathy factor is certainly a lot stronger. Selina has none of the advantages of a Joanna and is soon about to graduate into a life of prostitution unbeknownst to her. This, after having to endure an abusive relationship with her mother which has blinded her not only physically, but made her unable to see or appreciate the greater benefits of human contact.Shelly Winters gives a performance to rival what she did in NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and possibly A PLACE IN THE SUN, but it is Elizabeth Hartman's performance that seems the most naturalistic and affecting. The scene where it rains in the park is beautifully photographed by Cinematographer Robert Burks and is one of the many emotionally disturbing scenes that wrenches your heart.There are many films for which I wish there were a sequel. I would have loved to see Ralph and Selina encounter each other one year later to see how the perspective of their relationship had changed, just as I would have loved to see John and Joanna in Africa helping the people there master simple medical procedures that proved to be life saving and perhaps revolutionary post GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER.One thing I can say about Sidney Poitier. He has always showed the courage to dare to hold African and African American men to a higher standard. I wonder how Al Freeman Jr.'s character Clay would have responded to Selina's advances, or how Poitier's Ralph would have handled Lula?Interesting questions for another time...

... I first saw this amazing B&W film, as a freshman at New Mexico Highlands Univ. in thee original Las Vegas! ('65-'66) Such great actors & that inspiring, sometimes haunting score by a young movie composer Jerry Goldsmith.Flash ahead to '79, when I was West Coast Editor of Radio & TV for "Billboard Magazine" in L.A. & interviewed Mr. Goldsmith at his Beverly Hills home. He was working on thee 1st. "Alien" film & starting the 1st. "Startrek!" Imagine what-a-THRILL it was for THIS fan to FINALLY-meet-HIM! ... We briefly spoke about "A Patch of Blue" & his process in creating the music. I told him how I'd always enjoyed film scores, starting with "The Wizard of Oz" (Harold Arlen was-a-Bflo., NY boy, where I-grew-up!) Working with Poitier was a thrill-for-him.If you've NEVER seen this classic, you owe it to yourself, friends-&-extended family to share! I thank God for thee arts, especially music. writing & the movies. It has enriched-my-life beyond measure!

This movie is a lifelong favorite.I recently bought the DVD and I was intrigued to learn from the director's commentary that the book, "Be Ready with Bells and Drums" by the Australian author Elizabeth Kata, on which "A Patch Of Blue" is based, is written in first person.The reader doesn't find out that Gordon is African American, until Salina does.That is fascinating!This review has to be ten lines long, but I really don't have much more to say, except everyone should watch this movie.

Watching this film I was struck at once with how daring it was and how daring it could have been. A Patch Of Blue is dated very much like that other Sidney Poitier movie, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, a milestone and daring for its time, but old fashioned today. But that was about as much as America could handle back then.Newcomer Elizabeth Hartman plays the blind and childlike Selena Darcy living with her white trash mother Shelley Winters and alcoholic grandfather Wallace Ford. She's got one miserable existence, living in an apartment she rarely goes out of and stringing beads for necklaces to contribute to the family income. When she decides one day to go to the park for a bit of fresh air, she meets up with Sidney Poitier, an office worker who also likes the park during the day as a change from his night job.Hartman's been blind since the age of five, the result of Winters throwing a caustic substance at her husband during a fight and hitting the child. That child services never took this kid away at some point is beyond me. Shelley makes an extra buck or two as a hooker besides and she brings her tricks up to the apartment. All in all one miserable excuse for a human being. She's abusive drunk or sober and Wallace Ford is usually drunk.The innocent relationship that Hartman has with Poitier and it's abundantly clear no sex is involved opens up a whole new world for Hartman. She's not been taught the most rudimentary skills for coping with the world that a blind person would normally get, such as reading Braille. If this were done today the setting might have been the urban south instead of Los Angeles, some place like Atlanta for instance. And Poitier's lack of sexual enthusiasm would simply be explained with the obvious answer, that his character is gay. But four years from Stonewall that wasn't in the cards.Still A Patch Of Blue is a fine film about a young woman's reach for freedom and responsibility with the help of a new found friend. Shelley Winters won her second Oscar for Best Supporting Actress to go well on her mantel with that one for The Diary Of Anne Frank. Newcomer Elizabeth Hartman was nominated for Best Actress, but lost ironically to a most amoral Julie Christie in Darling. A Patch Of Blue marked the farewell appearance of Wallace Ford, he died as I well remember while A Patch Of Blue was still playing in theaters.A daring film for its time with a timeless message, if a remake was done today a lot could and would be changed.