Sidney Poitier

As one of the few heavyweight comedians of Vegas's "Golden Age" to topline standup routines in 21st century Glitter Gulch - a time and place that saw him still reeling in massive audiences well into his 70s and 80s - Don Rickles qualifies as a show business legend. Rickles, of course, pioneered the use of insult comedy to mercilessly rib, skewer, and cut down to size anyone who happened to fall into his line of fire, earning him the sobriquets "Mr. Warmth" and "The Merchant of Venom" and lending a whole new meaning to the term "hockey puck." This approach, which seemed unprecedented and even outrageously uncouth in the late 1950s and early 1960s, eventually won Rickles legions of fans and innumerable protégés within show business - everyone from Richard Pryor to Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman. Director John Landis (National Lampoon's Animal House, Trading Places) stands at the forefront of Rickles's fan club and created the documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project as an homage to the comic's life and career. Landis intercuts footage from the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts and Rickles's appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, with extended clips from the shtickmeister's comedy routines and on-camera interviews in which the comedian reflects at length on his approach to comedy and journey through showbusiness. Admirers, colleagues and followers of Rickles also turn up to offer their views on the comedian - including Martin Scorsese, Christopher Guest, Robin Williams, Sarah Silverman, Sidney Poitier, Clint Eastwood and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Ralph Bunche was arguably the most distinguished and honored African-American of his generation. Born in 1904, Bunche refused to accept the limitations American society presented to people of color, and at an early age he became an advocate for new possibilities for blacks. He graduated with honors from U.C.L.A. in 1927, and soon after was hired as a professor of political science at Howard University. In the early 1930s, Bunche published an acclaimed and prescient article on the possible impact of fascism in Europe, "A World View of Race," that led to his being hired by Frankin D. Roosevelt to join the U.S. State Department. In 1945, Bunche was named head of the Division of Dependent Area Affairs, making him the first African-American to lead a departmental division of the federal government. In 1946, Bunche was called upon to help write the charter that formed the United Nations, and he negotiated a peace treaty ending the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli War, which earned Bunche the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize. Bunche was also an avid supporter of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, but his quiet, dignified manner and belief that blacks should attempt to work within the system to gain social and political equality was seen by many as support of a system that held down minority group members, and his impact as a leader shrank with time. Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey is a documentary that examines Bunche's public and private lives, featuring archival photos and newsreel footage of Bunche, excerpts from his writings and speeches, and interviews with his friends, family members, and colleagues. Sidney Poitier narrates. Produced for public television, Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey was also shown at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Directed by Gregg Champion, The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn follows the story of small town carpenter and farmer Noah Dearborn (Sidney Poitier), whose family land comes under the scrutiny of greedy land developer (George Newbern. Though his humble character holds the respect of the tiny community in which he resides, the unscrupulous developer does his best to have Noah declared mentally incompetent, going as far as to hire a psychiatrist (Diane Weist) for the specific purpose of deeming Noah insane. However, he didn't figure that Noah and the psychiatrist would formulate a strong, unique friendship. The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn also features actress Mary-Louise Parker. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Made especially for the Showtime cable network, this touching drama stars Sidney Poitier and his daughter Sydney Poitier, respectively, as a prominent New York businessman and the feisty, troubled teen he mentors. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In an historical docudrama that was made for television, Sidney Poitier performs the role of Nelson Mandela, while Michael Caine plays the South African president Frederick Willem De Klerk, the man who instituted the reforms that would abolish apartheid, who released Nelson Mandela from nearly 30 years in prison, and who jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 with Mandela for creating the transition to a nonracial democracy in South Africa. The negotiations between Mandela and De Klerk for an ordered, legal, and peaceful transition to a full democracy are the bulk of this film's content. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In Moscow, after FBI deputy director Carter Preston (Sidney Poitier) and scarred Russian intelligence officer Valentina Koslova (Diane Venora) bring down a key figure in the Russian Mafia, they are threatened by the criminal's powerful brother who swears vengeance on the FBI and immediately hires a professional assassin, the Jackal (Bruce Willis) to kill a leading American political figure. A master of disguises, the Jackal believes in total perfectionism and demands $70 million for the job. The FBI suspects the Jackal is aiming for the FBI director, so they consult with former Basque terrorist Isabella (Mathilda May), in Virginia, and Isabella's former lover, IRA operative Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere), serving a prison sentence. Promised leniency, Mulqueen agrees to help. Meanwhile, the Jackal prepares false passports, secures a customized computer system to run his Gatling gun, and heads toward his target in Washington, D.C. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Friendship and racism in 1880s America is explored in this made-for-television drama. Sidney Poitier stars as Gypsy Smith, a bounty hunter who, much to the chagrin of the local white population, leads a group of black settlers to Oklahoma to form their own free community. The film shows how racial tensions erupt between the black and white homesteaders. The Native American experience of racism is intertwined into the plot as well, with the story of a young Cheyenne boy who has lost his roots. Sidney Poitier and Regina Taylor were nominated for Image awards for their performances. Based on the novel by Clancy Carlile, the film originally aired in two parts. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

A Native American struggles to find himself and maintain his cultural identity growing up with a White family in the Old West in this drama, originally produced as a TV miniseries. Gypsy Smith (Sidney Poitier), an African-American bounty hunter, helps lead a platoon of U.S. Cavalry soldiers on a raid of a Cheyenne Indian camp. Among the Cheyenne, one of the few survivors is a boy named White Wolf. Smith takes pity on the child and takes him home to live with a family of white settlers he works with, John and Nora Maxwell (Michael Moriarty and Farrah Fawcett). As he grows to adulthood, White Wolf is renamed Corby (Billy Wirth), and he falls in love with John and Nora's daughter, Rachel (Joanna Going). However, the Maxwells object to Rachel and Corby's romance, and they send her away to study in St. Louis. Corby feels that he doesn't belong in the White man's world and returns to live with the Cheyanne; meanwhile, Smith has become the Marshall of Freedom, a Black settlement in the Oklahoma territory. Shelby Hornbeck (Hart Bochner), a wealthy Oklahoma landowner, has married Rachel -- and is the leader of the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan. When Hornbeck and his thugs decide to level Freedom, Gypsy Smith and Corby reunite to lead the charge to stop them. A Good Day to Die originally aired under the title Children of the Dust. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based on the ground-breaking Brown vs. the Board of Education case, the made-for-television Separate But Equal follows a young Thurgood Marshall (Sidney Poitier) as a lawyer who argues the racially-charged lawsuit before the Supreme Court. When the black students of Clarendon County, South Carolina are denied their request for a single schoolbus, a bitter and courages battle for justice and equality begins. The NAACP lawyer's desparate fight for the civil rights that didn't come with the outlaw of slavery nearly a century ago becomes an all-encompassing struggle both in his personal life as well as the courtroom. Marshall's opponent is John W. Davis (Burt Lancaster) and the two argue passionately and eloquently before a Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren $Richard Kiley). Separate But Equal is a moving and human dramatization of one of the most pivotal court cases in American history. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Jeff Grant (River Phoenix) is a San Diego teen who discovers his father Richard (Richard Jenkins) and mother Elizabeth Grant) are KGB agents. When he applies to the Air Force Academy, a routine FBI check leads to the shocking news. Soon the suburb of Fountain Grove becomes the focus of international agents and espionage. FBI agent Roy Parmenter (Sidney Poitier) helps Jeff absorb the shock and he battles KGB agent Konstantin Karpov (Richard Bradford) in a race to capture the Soviet agents. The excellent performances from Poitier and Phoenix are the highlight of this feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In yet another rubber-stamped, mid-'80s teen dancing film, hot on the success of Flashdance, a group of high schoolers called the "Adventurers Eight" from Sandusky, Ohio (known by Midwest teens for its large amusement park), decide to undertake a journey to New York City to enter the Big Showdown, a dance competition with corporate sponsors. As though Sandusky were somehow insulated from the teen culture that otherwise spreads new trends like wildfire, these teens are not aware of the latest dance crazes on the streets of New York, something they pick up while in the city. But misfortune strikes, and they lose their one connection to entering the big contest. They then have to survive the usual con artists or worse -- look for another way to get into the competition. If this script had been rehauled by teens familiar with their real language and attitudes, then the title Fast Forward would apply more to the action in the movie than the remote control. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

After the excellent audience response to their teaming in Silver Streak, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor reunited for this zany comedy. Wilder and Pryor play a couple of out-of-work numbskulls who take a promotional job that requires them to dress up like gigantic woodpeckers. Unfortunately, a pair of thieves, likewise decked out in woodpecker suits, pull off a bank job not long after Wilder and Pryor make their first public appearance. The boys are arrested and sentenced to 120 years each (at this point, we know we're not dealing with real life). After a concerted (and hilarious) effort to make the best of things "in stir," Wilder and Pryor break out of jail, hoping to track down the genuine thieves. The mess never really works itself out, suggesting that perhaps the stars had a Stir Crazy II lurking in the recesses of their minds. Written by Bruce Jay Friedman and directed by Sidney Poitier, it never did spawn a sequel, though a TV series spin-off, starring Larry Riley and Joseph Guzaldo, briefly surfaced in 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Wilby Conspiracy is set in South Africa, at a time when Apartheid was the order of the day. Political activist Shack Twala (Sidney Poitier) finds an unlikely -- and reluctant -- ally in the form of the British Keogh (Michael Caine). Both Twala and Keogh are scrutinized by racist police official Horn (Nicol Williamson), who hopes that they'll lead him to the hideout of chief activist Wilby (Joe De Graft). Based on the novel by Peter Driscoll, The Wilby Conspiracy abandons its sociological overtones early on in favor of an extended chase. The film reteams Poitier and director Ralph Nelson, who, 12 years earlier, had collaborated on Lilies of the Field. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide