The Organization
by Don Medford
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Barbara McNair, Fred Beir, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Sheree North, Sidney PoitierDirector: Don Medford
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.85:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-09
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of The Organization
Movie Review: Imperfect but Perfectly Watchable Thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
Sidney Poitier - like Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Toshiro Mifune, and others of a bygone era - is an iconic movie star. Smart, talented, handsome, he's unique in this age of mostly interchangeable "actors" who star in the latest noisy but forgettable big-budget videogame or special effects extravaganza. His early films, such as the delightful "Lilies of the Field," showcased his obvious charisma, and by the time he graduated to light dramas like "To Sir, with Love," he was a bonafide leading man. But, oddly, his career seemed to zenith by the early 1970s, when "The Organization," one of two sequels to the Oscar-winning "In the Heat of the Night," continued the efforts of Virgil Tibbs, a clean cut police detective often fighting social injustice as much as outright crime, this time in San Francisco. He's pulled into a drug war, when a group of hardnosed idealists steal millions in heroin inadvertently from the mob and then try to use the theft to bring the leaders into the open. While "The Organization" lacks the ballast of the first film, it has enough twists and turns to merit as a thriller, with a look and feel inspired more by the superior Steve McQueen vehicle "Bullitt" than the 1967 film in which Poitier sparred with police chief Rod Steiger over racial politics while investigating a murder in a southern town. The acting is, of course, stagier than the "naturalistic" style of today, yet with few distractions from excessive violence or foul language, the film seems much more authentic. Look for familiar faces like Raul Julia and Daniel J. Travanti showing up in smaller roles - homelier in their youth than people might recall when they later became stars - but it's Poitier who makes it all work. Since so much of the 1970s has returned to fashion, viewers might also enjoy digesting what inspired today's "contemporary" look.
Summary of The Organization
Academy Award?(r) winner* Sidney Poitier (In the Heat of the Night) reprises his role as Lt. Virgil Tibbs in this taut drama that exposes the ruthless, high-stakes world of international drug trafficking. Co-starring Raul Julia (Presumed Innocent), this action-packed (Variety) crime thriller is edge-of-the-seat entertainment (Los Angeles Times). Under the cover of darkness, six masked figures raid a seemingly respectable furniture factoryand steal a multimillion-dollar cache of heroin! But these are no ordinary crooks. They're a passionate band of former users-turned-vigilantes whose frustration with the law's inability to combat the city's drug problem spurs them to take on a powerful narcotics ring. After contacting Tibbs, they confess to the break-in, beg him to keep silent and ask for his help. But once he reluctantly agrees to operate outside the law, Tibbs soon finds himself at odds with the police and a ruthless drug syndicate that will stop at nothing to silence him! *1963: Actor, Lilies of the Field; 2001: Honorary AwardThe Organization was the second and final sequel to 1967's In the Heat of the Night and sees Sidney Poitier's homicide detective Virgil Tibbs called in to investigate the murder of a factory manager. In a lengthy, dialogue-free opening (the film's best sequence), it appears that we are witnessing the culprits in action. However, this group turns out to be a gang of idealistic young vigilantes who knew that the factory was a front for an international drugs cartel--the Organization of the title--and have made off with a haul of $5 million worth of heroin secreted there. Suspected of the manager's murder, they meet Tibbs and seek his cooperation. He agrees to help them, pitting himself not only against the Organization but his own police department.
Set in San Francisco, The Organization invites invidious comparisons with Bullitt: its somewhat cheesy contemporary soundtrack, derived from Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, certainly marks it as a piece of its period, as do the occasionally less-than-convincing action sequences, risible acting, and far-fetched plot. Poitier, as ever, lends the film a certain dignity and poise, worthy of better material to work with than this. The film is also notable for providing early showcases for two of Cop TV's most famous captains: Daniel J. Travanti (Hill Street Blues) and Bernie Hamilton (later Captain Dobey in Starsky & Hutch) are both assigned minor roles here. --David Stubbs
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