Watch A Patch of Blue For Free

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Selina (Elizabeth Hartman) is a blind girl from a very trashy family. Her mother (Shelly Winters) turns tricks and her father (Wallace Ford) is a drunk. As a result of this impoverished environment, Selina hasn't seen much of the outside world and has no idea how to cope with the basics of everyday life. Her parents also didn't bother to give her any education! Not surprisingly, she's starved to experience the outside world and is a very sad young lady. Eventually, she gets a neighbor to take her to a nearby park and leave her there for the day. She loves her new experiences and soon meets a very nice and understanding man, Gordon (Sidney Poitier). They soon become friends and eventually fall in love...which is a serious problem because her trashy family are, among other things, total bigots. Another problem is Gordon's roommate (Ivan Dixon) as he, too, is a bigot. And, finally, she has no idea he's black...nor does she really care.This is a terrific film but I have one bit of warning....it's very tough watching some of the scenes between Selina and her evil mother. I can see why Winters received an Oscar for her supporting role...she was vile and vicious. Seeing her slapping the blind girl about and screaming at her is tough to watch and you might want to keep some Kleenex handy. The acting, in addition to Winters, is also terrific--and it's a truly amazing film to watch with a lot to say. Well worth seeing and it's nice to see the ugliness of prejudice is in no way mitigated or softened. As a result, it hits you like a ton of bricks and is a great counter-point to the love between the two leads.

Along with the rest of the cast. All giving Career performances.And a huge surprise for me.Saw it first shortly after it came out and was, frankly, unimpressed. This was the sixties and I was a teen radical and the whole movie just seemed pasty and whiny and slow and superficial and made no sense. A Fifties-ish mentality clashing wildly with our anti-racism militancy.Well OPPS and take my own advice - see the movie on the screen, not the one colored by your expectations.I'm delighted that, when recently broadcast on TCM, I decided to record and archive it as An Important Movie.Turns out this time I saw a movie that is infinitely more complex than the simple story I remembered and, rather than being dated, treats its theme of racism in a style that is as fresh and intimate today as it may have been in 1965.The key is the subtlety of of the movie's cinematography, its use of light and dark to evoke layers of the Light and Darkness of the human soul, telling a parallel, broader story in counterpoint to the simple love story portrayed by Poitier and Hartman, both stories twined as a totally engaging dance.There are other, symbolic devices in addition to light and dark; small things that, like plays on expectations, reinforce that dance. Part of the fun is watching them play out.And, though I remembered a negative ending, based on race, this time I recognized its much more positive ending based on a lightly expressed 'Possibility': the last step of the dance leaving room for a future.1965 was a year of strong contenders so I was delighted that Shelly Winters received an Oscar for her performance but, based on my updated perception, wish that the Academy had granted A Patch of Blue a nomination for Best Picture and Poitier Best Actor.A World Class Movie.P.S. OK, one example device: the Mustang parked on the street as Poitier rushes out of his apartment house at the end. Just a dim, shadowy rear-end glimpse but still an evocation of individualism, freedom and joy that that car, specifically that car, still represents - even to those who weren't teenagers in the '60s.

A young blind girl (Elizabeth Hartman) finds out the truth about who is really blind in this social drama where color schemes mean nothing to her, even though she was raised by an extremely racist mother. She doesn't know green, only blue as the color of the sky, one of her few memories of when she had vision. Her world with hateful mama Shelley Winters is made a little nicer when a kind black man (Sidney Poitier) befriends her in the park. Portier's worldly young man is the perfect example of a heart as big as all outdoors.Sometimes certain movies touch you so deeply that memories of them resonate as a childhood into adulthood. This is one of them for me, one of the few adult movies my parents had me watch as a child to teach me the absurdities of racism and what it was really all about. I also remembered, more sweetly, the oddly shaped cannister of pineapple juice Poitier gave to Hartman, as well as the beads she strung together to make a living, and the joy he brought to her by just spending most of his free time with her. I also distinctly remembered the evil character Winters portrayed, a far cry from some of the obnoxious but basically decent characters she had already created. One of the best actresses of the 50's and 60's who bravely unleashed the soul of a woman who should never have been a mother, Winters would remain the epitome of the mother from hell, only equaled recently by Monique in "Precious". She is basically "Mommie Dearest" on acid.Veteran actor Wallace Ford is excellent in the pathetic role of Winters' drunken father, a man who obviously hates his daughter so much yet has little compassion for the granddaughter who adores him. If Winters wasn't blowzy enough, there's Elisabeth Fraser as her equally nasty friend. Those two women together are a double dose of hatred, a 60's version of Hitler and Mussolini. With 30's veteran stars Ann Sothern and Joan Blondell playing nicer versions of these types of characters, it is very interesting to see the antithesis of them here.Hartman's explosion out of frustration is a chilling scene, as is the fight scene when Winters sees Poitier and Hartman together. She gets into a fight with Hartman that leads into a throwing match with Ford that has a humorous and ironic conclusion. The public reaction to Winters' confrontation with Poitier in the park is priceless. While I would have preferred that the relationship between Poitier and Hartman be one of understanding devoted friends, I came to accept Hartman's growing love for Poitier (and vice versa) as one they couldn't control.

This movie is one of my all-time favorites. I first saw it back in the 1960s and have been haunted by it ever since. Just amazingly beautiful story, well acted and directed. Sidney Portier is such an amazing man and actor and this is his best film in my opinion, followed closely by To Sir With Love and Lillies of the Field.Shelley Winters portrayal of the hussy mother deserved an Oscar. She was really mean in this movie. Old Pa was perfectly cast. Elizabeth Hartman simply gave the performance of a lifetime in her role as Selina.The bittersweet story will grip you from beginning to end. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.