25 Best Sidney Poitier Movies Of All Time To Watch Right Now

Sidney Poitier, the Oscar-winning actor who became a Hollywood leading man before Black Americans were ever given full civil rights, knocked down barriers for people of color in the acting industry. Here contains the best list of Sidney Poitier movies to watch right now,

After being in front of the camera for nine films, he paved the way for Black directors.

Poitier, who was born in 1927, made his feature film debut in “No Way Out” (1950), playing a physician who is treating a bigoted white bigot (Richard Widmark).

Eight years later, he was up for Best Actor at the Oscars for the 1958 film “The Defiant Ones,” which follows two chained-up fugitives, one Black and the other White (Tony Curtis).

Thanks to his bid, he became the first Black male performer to compete in an Academy Award category for acting.

25. A Patch Of Blue

Director: Guy Green
Writer: Elizabeth Kata, Guy Green
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman
IMDb: 8
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Elizabeth Hartman was cast as a blind white girl who falls in Love with a black guy in the early interracial love story “A Patch of Blue” (Poitier).

It’s a fresh, precise interpretation of the proverb “Love is blind.”

However, as the movie was filmed at a period when depicting such things would have it banned in theatres throughout the South, there isn’t much physical affection in it, with Poitier remaining mostly celibate during most of it.

Nevertheless, it earns a B for effort.

The role of Hartman’s harsh, prostitution-involved mother earned Shelley Winters the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

While Poitier was passed over despite receiving nominations at the Golden Globes and BAFTA, Hartman competed in the Best Actress category.

24. Duel At Diablo

Director: Ralph Nelson
Writer: Marvin H. Albert, Michael M. Grilikhes
Cast: James Garner, Sidney Poitier, Bibi Andersson
IMDb: 6.5
Rotten Tomatoes: –60%

Following his historic Oscar triumph in “Lilies of the Field,” director Ralph Nelson cast Poitier in this horrifyingly bloody Western drama.

James Garner plays a frontier scout searching for the white person who killed his Comanche wife in “Duel at Diablo.”

Although her husband (Dennis Weaver) isn’t pleased to see her considering that she had previously returned and fled to be reunited with the tribe leader, he saves a woman (Bibi Andersson) who Apaches have kidnaped.

With the help of the couple and a horse wrangler, Garner volunteers to convey a calvary supply unit to the next fort after receiving information about the whereabouts of his wife’s murderer (Poitier).

The movie poses surprisingly powerful concerns concerning the prejudice frequently present in today’s society.

23. Sneakers

Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Writer: Phil Alden Robinson, Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes
Cast: Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier
IMDb: 7.1
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

In the 1980s and 1990s, Poitier didn’t appear in many movies, preferring to concentrate on his directorial career.

One of his final performances on the big screen was in this lighthearted farce that serves as a sort of “Oceans 11” for computer hackers.

Robert Redford plays the head of a team of espionage specialists in the movie “Sneakers,” which also stars Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, David Strathairn, River Phoenix, and Mary McDonnell. The team is engaged in a challenging software heist against one of Redford’s former friends, who has since become a rival (Ben Kingsley).

Even if it’s not excellent art, seeing this diverse group of actors having so much fun together is very entertaining.

22. Pressure Point

Director: Hubert Cornfield
Writer: Hubert Cornfield, S. Lee Pogostin, Robert M. Lindner
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Bobby Darin, Peter Falk
IMDb: 7.1
Rotten Tomatoes: -60 %

Pressure Point” stands up reasonably well among the many 1960s films that employed modern social themes as dramatic material, possibly because it is marketed as a psychological thriller.

The story begins when a young psychiatrist (Peter Falk) consults a senior physician (Sidney Poitier) for guidance regarding a problematic case.

The more experienced therapist remembers a case from his early career in which he dealt with a delusional, aggressive American Nazi (Golden Globe candidate Bobby Darin) who was accused of treason during World War II.

The government releases Darin despite Poitier’s perception that he poses a threat, which has tragic consequences.

21. The Slender Thread

Director: Sydney Pollack
Writer: Shana Alexander, Stirling Silliphant, David Rayfie
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Anne Bancroft, Telly Savalas
IMDb: 7
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

Anne Bancroft plays a lady who phones a crisis hotline before taking a fatal quantity of sleeping tablets in Sydney Pollack’s feature directorial debut.

She contacts a student volunteer (Poitier), who attempts to maintain her on the phone long enough to find her and plan a rescue.

With the help of competent performances from Bancroft and Poitier, Pollack manages to build as much suspense as possible, with only two individuals conversing on the phone.

Despite being a financial failure, the movie received nominated for best art direction and black-and-white clothing at the Oscars.

20. Shoot To Kill

Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Writer: Harv Zimmel, Michael Burton, Daniel Petrie Jr.
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Tom Berenger, Kirstie Alley
IMDb: 6.8
Rotten Tomatoes: 58%

Before making his acting comeback with this slickly produced thriller by Roger Spottiswoode, Poitier took a ten-year hiatus.

He performs the role of Warren Stanton, an FBI agent who works with Tom Berenger’s character as a wilderness tracker to track down a sadistic killer (Clancy Brown) who has vanished in the mountains.

The tracker’s girlfriend, played by Kirstie Allie, is in charge of a hiking party that the crazy man is holding captive.

“Shoot to Kill” isn’t particularly profound or essential, but Poitier and Berenger have a natural connection that helps this strange buddy movie work.

19. Buck And The Preacher

Director: Sidney Poitier, Joseph Sargent
Writer: Ernest Kinoy, Drake Walker
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee
IMDb: 6.5
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%

With this fun, socially concerned Western, Poitier launched his directing career after successfully establishing himself as a leading man.

Additionally, he performs the primary part of Buck, a former Civil War soldier who moves formerly enslaved people to the West.

To fight off a squad of aggressive white men hired by plantation owners who were hot on his tail, Buck links up with a con artist named the Preacher (Harry Belafonte).

As one of the first African Americans to direct a major motion picture, the actor demonstrates a calm hand behind the camera that would be helpful in his eight consecutive projects.

18. Porgy And Bess

Director: Otto Preminger
Writer: Dorothy Heyward, DuBose Heyward, N. Richard Nash
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr.
IMDb: 7
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%

You’ll have difficulty locating a copy of this one because “Porgy and Bess” were never released on the home video, and only a small number of completed prints are still around due to rights issues and disagreements with the Gershwin estate.

As a wounded wanderer and a gorgeous drug addict who fell in Love in the early 1900s in South Carolina’s Catfish Row neighborhood, Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge play the title roles.

However, they risk remaining apart due to her abusive ex (Brock Peters) and drug dealer (Sammy Davis Jr)

Both were nominated for Golden Globes for their contributions, and the film’s musical score won an Oscar.

17. Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?

Director: Stanley Kramer
Writer: William Rose
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn
IMDb: 7.8
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

At a time when interracial marriage was still prohibited in 17 states, Stanley Kramer meant “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” to be a daring criticism of prejudice and offer a pro-interracial marriage viewpoint.

Poitier is portrayed as a guy of such impeccable character that his fiancee’s (Katharine Hepburn) liberal parents could not object to him for any reason other than his race, which is where it misses its aim.

The tone for the remainder of this high gloss fluff is set by his character, who is so holy that he is nearly neutered.

Nevertheless, it has a profound message and a significant position in film history because it was Tracy and Hepburn’s final on-screen collaboration before Tracy passed away soon after the filming was finished.

The script by Hepburn and William Rose received Oscar nominations.

16. Uptown Saturday Night

Director: Sidney Poitier
Writer: Richard Wesley
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte
IMDb: 6.6
Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

The less said about their final cooperation, the supernatural comedy “Ghost Dad,” the better. Poitier costarred in three of the four films that Bill Cosby, a disgraced comedian, directed with Poitier.

In “Uptown Saturday Night,” the most successful of these partnerships, they are portrayed as two friends desperately trying to locate a stolen wallet containing a winning lottery ticket.

To defeat a rival, they enlist the aid of a formidable gangster (a hilarious Harry Belafonte) (Calvin Lockhart).

“Let’s Do It Again” and “A Piece of the Action” were the two sequels that came after.

15. Cry, The Beloved Country

Director: Zoltan Korda
Writer: Alan Paton, John Howard Lawson
Cast: Canada Lee, Sidney Poitier, Charles Carson
IMDb: 7
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Not to be confused with the 1995 James Earl Jones film, Poitier plays a priest in Johannesburg who aids a pastor in the wilderness (Canada Lee) in looking for his missing kid in this adaptation of Alan Paton’s book.

He soon learns that his child has turned into a murderer and thief and that his sister has turned into a prostitute.

The movie, which Zoltan Korda directed, exposes some unpleasant truths about how segregation affected black and white Africans.

However, since it was never made available on DVD in North America, finding a home movie is difficult.

14. Edge Of The City

Director: Martin Ritt
Writer: Robert Alan Arthur
Cast: John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, Jack Warden
IMDb: 7.2
Rotten Tomatoes: -%

Martin Ritt’s first film as a feature director, “Edge of the City,” stars John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier as dockworkers who develop a friendship that outlasts the prejudice of the day.

Jack Warden, the foreman hired by the mob, whose bigotry threatens their relationship.

This rugged, potent drama with a solid moral core was shot on a minimal budget on location in New York City. It never preaches or displays itself.

For his performance, Poitier received a BAFTA award for Best Foreign Actor. However, he was passed over by the Academy.

13. To Sir, With Love

Director: James Clavell
Writer: E.R. Braithwaite, James Clavell
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Christian Roberts
IMDb: 7.6
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%

The impact of each movie depends almost entirely on the star who plays the inspiring instructor, whether it be Robert Donat in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” Maggie Smith in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” Edward James Olmos in “Stand and Deliver,” or Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society.”

In “To Sir, with Love,” Sidney Poitier portrays an unemployed engineer who accepts a position instructing a class of disorganized white pupils in the East End of London. He is on an equal basis with them.

As you would have guessed, he eventually convinces them, but not before a bit of charm.

In 1996, Peter Bogdanovich directed a made-for-TV follow-up.

12. Lilies Of The Field

Director: Ralph Nelson
Writer: James Poe, William E. Barrett
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann
IMDb: 7.5
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%

With his Best Actor triumph for “Lilies of the Field,” Poitier created Oscar history by being the first black performer to get that honor when the Civil Rights Movement brought about significant changes across the nation.

By the time the envelope was opened, his triumph was inevitable considering the conditions, but it doesn’t make it any less deserving.

This small-scale play, which Ralph Nelson directed, depicts the straightforward but emotional story of a wandering handyman (Poitier) who assists a group of nuns in constructing a chapel in Lilies of the Night.

11. The Defiant Ones

Director: Stanley Kramer
Writer: Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith
Cast: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel
IMDb: 7.6
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Poitier became the first black male actor to compete in an acting category when “The Defiant Ones” garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

It is a well-intentioned play with a potent social message that is shockingly current today, typical of Stanley Kramer’s work.

Although most people would criticize his work as preachy and didactic, this one still has a strong emotional presence, mainly because of its charismatic cast.

Poitier and Tony Curtis play shackled fugitive criminals who must come to terms with one another to survive.

Both actors fought for the lead at the Academy Awards, but David Niven in “Separate Tables” won.

It doesn’t matter, though, for Poitier would make history with “Lilies of the Field” five years later.

10. Blackboard Jungle

Director: Richard Brooks
Writer: Richard Brooks, Evan Hunter
Cast: Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Sidney Poitier
IMDb: 7.3
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%

“Blackboard Jungle” by Richard Brooks, which today seems almost antiquated, made a splash when it was first released in 1955.

Glenn Ford plays a teacher who, against the protests of his students, enters a turbulent inner-city high school determined to perform his job in Blackboard Jungle.

Poitier and Vic Morrow, who stand out as the principal offenders in Blackboard Jungle, make Ford’s life a living hell with their risky antics.

Blackboard Jungle remains a sensationalist drama, despite not being nearly as inflammatory as it was at the time.

In particular, Blackboard Jungle raised some eyebrows by prominently presenting the rock and roll song “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comet, which the studio thought would spark rioting in the audience.

9. A Raisin In The Sun

Director: Daniel Petrie
Writer: Lorraine Hansberry
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee
IMDb: 8
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

The Broadway cast from Lorraine Hansberry’s seminal drama about a struggling black family made it to the big screen, immortalizing it for all time in A Raisin in the Sun.

Poitier played Walter Lee Younger once more in the Tony-nominated play. Walter Lee Younger has big plans for an insurance check that could completely alter the lives of his family.

Walter wants to put the money in a liquor store, as opposed to his mother (Claudia McNeil), who wants to spend it to buy a home in a predominantly white neighborhood in A Raisin in the Sun.

Instead of attempting to “open up” the action, director Daniel Petrie lets the strength of Hansberry’s writing and the actors shine.

Despite being overlooked at the Oscars, Poitier and McNeil received lead acting Golden Globe nods for A Raisin in the Sun.

8. Paris Blues

Director: Martin Ritt
Writer: Walter Bernstein; Irene Kamp; Jack Sher
Cast: Paul Newman, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Poitier
IMDb: 6.7
Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

It was challenging to decide between this and the psychedelic 1960s “What a Way to Go!” pandemonium regarding the Paris-based films on Newman’s portfolio.

There have been ten projects in which Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward have worked together, and there have been six with director Martin Ritt.

American jazz artists who have relationships with Woodward and Diahann Carroll are portrayed by Newman and Sidney Poitier in Paris, respectively.

However, because the company was concerned about how the movie would be received in the United States, she rejected him, and Woodward instead pursued him.

7. No Way Out

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writer: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Lesser Samuels, Philip Yordan
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally
IMDb: 7.4
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

With this once-powerful play on race relations, Poitier debuted on the big screen.

The central character of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s film “No Way Out” is a black doctor (Sidney Poitier) who is sent to cure a wounded white bigot (Richard Widmark).

When Widmark’s brother dies, he accuses Poitier and tells his crew to vent their resentment toward the neighborhood’s African American population.

Although the movie was shocking at the time, it has become a little old by today’s standards, yet its message is still relevant.

Additionally, it showed the way for its starring man’s successful career.

The script Mankiewicz and Lesser Samuels wrote received an Oscar nomination the same year; that year, Mankiewicz won writing and directing awards for “All About Eve,” the Best Picture winner.

6. Brother John

Director: James Goldstone
Writer: Ernest Kinoy
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Will Geer, Bradford Dillman
IMDb: 6.5
Rotten Tomatoes: -%

An intriguing black man named John Kane (Sidney Poitier) is horrified by the prejudice and hatred he encounters when returning to his birthplace of Alabama for his sister’s burial.

Some people in the neighborhood believe he is an outside agitator because a strike occurs at the same time as the burial.

In truth, Kane is a heavenly envoy sent to determine whether humanity deserves redemption.

Kane is appalled by the crimes he witnesses but hasn’t given up on people yet.

5. Good-bye, My Lady

Director: William A. Wellman
Writer: Albert Sidney Fleischman, James Street
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Walter Brennan, Phil Harris, Brandon De Wilde
IMDb: 7.2
Rotten Tomatoes: -%

Orphan Skeeter resides with his uncle Jesse. Skeeter perceives a mystery dog’s voice on a silent night that does not howl. Skeeter and the dog grow close.

4. For Love of Ivy

Director: Daniel Mann
Writer: Robert Alan Aurthur, Sidney Poitier
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Abbey Lincoln, Beau Bridges
IMDb: 6.2
Rotten Tomatoes: 43%

When Ivy Moore, the white family’s longtime black maid, informs the Austins how she will shortly be departing to attend school, Frank Austin blackmails Jack Parks to romance her to keep her from quitting her employment.

3. The Jackal

Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Writer: Kenneth Ross, Chuck Pfarrer
Cast: Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier
IMDb: 6.4
Rotten Tomatoes: 23%

A Russian mobster hires The Jackal, a mysterious highly-trained killer, to eliminate a top government official. However, Jackal is chased by FBI’s Carter Preston and the Russian officer Valentina.

The two also enlist the help of imprisoned Irish agent Mulqueen. However, Jackal is not only intelligent and intelligent but also a master of disguise and ruthless.

2. In The Heat of the Night

Director: Norman Jewison
Writer: Stirling Silliphant, John Ball
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
IMDb: 7.9
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

The slap shook the globe. When Virgil Tibbs (Poitier), a black detective from Philadelphia looking into a death in the Deep South, confronted a racist enslaver (Larry Gates) in full view of the white police chief (Rod Steiger), it shocked viewers because, up until that point, African Americans had been mainly portrayed in more subservient roles in In the Heat of the Night.

Additionally, for an actor who had previously established himself by portraying dignified, non-violent characters, it was a startling change of pace.

This suspense drama is given dynamic energy by director Norman Jewison which is equal to the vitality of its two lead performances in n the Heat of the Night.

This one had a lot of academy award nominations. Five Oscars, including the Best Picture award, went to “In the Heat of the Night.”

1. All the Young Men

Director: Hall Bartlett
Writer: Hall Bartlett
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Alan Ladd, James Darren
IMDb: 6.2
Rotten Tomatoes: -%

The Korean War is the setting of the action political thriller All the Young Men. A black soldier is forced to take over his unit when a lieutenant is slain. Due to the pervasive bigotry among the men in the squad, this proves to be complicated.