Sidney Poitier grew up the son of a dirt farmer in the Bahamas and lived a life of poverty until he moved to the United States where he worked some very blue-collar jobs in Miami and New York City in his youth. He eventually joined the army and worked in a hospital but this didn't last long and soon he was back out working dead end jobs and living in Harlem until he decided on a whim to audition for The American Negro Theater. Rejected because of his accent, Poitier trained himself to speak with a more American style and auditioned again – this time he was accepted.

From here he eventually made a career on stage starting at first in bit parts but eventually getting bigger and better parts and winning some critical acclaim for his efforts. His stage performances lead to some film work, and the rest, as they say, is history as he finally landed the role of a leading man (an extreme rarity for a black man at that time in Hollywood) in Stanley Kramer's The Defiant Ones (1958), for which he received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Actor In A Leading Role category. He didn't win this time but in 1963 he became the first black actor to win an Academy Award for his leading role in Lilies Of The Field.

Poitier worked consistently throughout the sixties and seventies as both an actor and director and did reasonably well at both and remains today one of America's foremost beloved leading men. MGM pays tribute to the man with this box set release of five of his best known and beloved films in their aptly titled release, The Sidney Poitier DVD Collection.

In The Heat Of The Night (1967)

Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) is a detective working the homicide beat in Philadelphia who goes back home to the Southern United States to visit his aging mother. When he shows a white man of high social stature is found murdered, and Tibbs is arrested simply because the color of his skin makes the local authorities suspicious that he may have had something to do with the killing.

Eventually the police realize who he is and he's released, but not before Tibbs' superior officer offers his skills as a detective to the southern police who are in dire need of help, not having much experience with these types of cases at all.

Tibbs begrudgingly works together with the local police chief, Bill Gillespie (played brilliantly by Rod Steiger) who eventually comes to respect him even if he has trouble admitting it. Together they set out to find who killed the man and as they do so, they're both able to change each other for the better.

The film was nominated for seven Oscars and walked away from the Academy Awards winning five of them, and honestly, it deserved every single one of them. Poitier is excellent in the lead and shows great range in his portrayal running gamut from angry to concerned and back again with ease. Steiger is just as good, if not better, in his portrayal of an ignorant small town cop and is totally believable in this film. A great supporting cast (including a brief role from cult favorite Warren Oates as Officer Wood) and very strong and controlled direction from acclaimed director Norman Jewison make this film a true pleasure to watch..

For The Love Of Ivy (1968)

Directed by Daniel Mann (who helmed the original Willard, recently remade with Crispin Glover in the lead) and written by Poitier himself, For The Love Of Ivy is a romantic comedy (a cringe word for some of us, I know – but this one works) about a wealthy white family named the Austins that have employed Ivy (Abbey Lincoln) as their maid for a long, long time.

Eventually Ivy tires of her job and tells the family that she would like to go back to school and further her education. This decision will be causing her to leave soon, much to the family's dismay. In order to keep Ivy around, the older son decides that he's going to find an eligible bachelor for her to hook up with, and sets about town looking for the right man to sweep her off of her feet, but who won't ever really marry her.

Eventually he finds a gentleman named Jack Parks who he figures would be the ideal choice but things of course don't go as planned and Parks proves to be a rather uncooperative sort, though one with a big heart.

Nowhere near as intense or riveting as the first film in the set, this is still an above average romantic comedy thanks in no small part to the on screen chemistry between Poitier and Lincoln, who seem to really enjoy working together and have nice, jovial relationship in the film. The rest of the case are more or less interchangeable though seeing Beau Bridges and Carroll O'Connor turn up in some supporting roles was a nice touch.

Lilies Of The Field (1963)

Poitier took home the gold in his turn as a down on his luck construction worker named Homer Smith, who, when finds himself out of work, decides to take his car and head out to the west coast. Not too soon after he heads out of town, his car runs into a problem in the desert and it overheats, leaving him in a bit of a bind.

Luckily for him (or maybe not so luckily) there is a farm not too far away where he figures he can get some water for his radiator and get back on the road without too much of a hassle. But it turns out that this farm in particular may have been a bad choice for Homer, as it's run by an eclectic group of European nuns. The Mother Superior, Mother Maria (Lilia Skala, also nominated for an Academy Award for this film), believes that Homer has arrived not out of circumstance but out of divine intervention and that he has in fact been sent by God himself to help the nuns build a much in the middle of the desert.

Director Ralph Nelson put his house up to get this movie mad but the gamble paid off and the movie was quite a success. Nelson's direction is assured and confident but the real star of the show is the interplay between Poitier and Skala, who go back and forth throughout the film in a believable and entertaining manner.

They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)

Poitier resumes his role of Virgil Tibbs, and finds himself in San Francisco in this semi-sequel to In The Heat Of The Night. When a hooker who goes by the name of Miss Joy, is found dead, Tibbs is called in on the case.

He gives the crime scene a thorough look over, searching for clues and evidence of any kind that he can use to piece together the crime in hopes of finding the murderer. Unfortunately for Tibbs, the Reverend Sharpe (Martin Landau) is a prime suspect, and also an old friend of his, which makes the case all the more important for him. Sharpe is not only a religious leader but also a somewhat political figurehead in the community as well. The other suspect is a real estate agent named Woody Garfield (Ed Asner). Garfield has a skeleton or two in his closet though, as he has a history of affiliating with some of the local pimps.

As the investigation, and the movie, proceeds Tibbs finds himself tangled up with some sinister drug dealers and also trying to balance some domestic issues of his own involving his wife and his son on top of his police duties.

Poitier once again turns in a powerhouse performance. This second of the Virgil Tibbs films is a bit heavier on the action than the first one, but it only works in the films favor as Poitier proves he not only has the chops for drama but for gritty crime action as well.

Directorial duties this time around are handled by Gordon Douglas (who directed a personal favorite of mine - Viva Kneivel!), and while it's not as visually rock solid as Jewison's turn on in the heat of the night, Douglas proves he has a knack for urban crime films with this film as it will keep you interested from start to finish.

The Organization (1971)

Famed television director Don Medford helms the third Virgil Tibbs film that places the Lieutenant in the world of international drug smuggling. The story begins when a gang of young political activists burglarizes the corporate headquarters of a large company that builds furniture and make off with $5,000,000 worth of heroin. Their idea is that if they steal it, they'll be able to keep it off of the streets in San Francisco and they obviously feel quite passionate about this as they were all once junkies themselves and are well aware of the dangers that the drug place on society.

Once they get away with the theft, they call Lt. Tibbs for help. Tibbs isn't particularly impressed with this idea and sees the well intentioned thieves as just that – thieves - regardless of whether or not their hearts where in the right place.

Soon though the gang is falsely accused of a murder that they did not commit and Tibbs puts his hesitations behind him and agrees to, without the knowledge of or approval from the police department he works for, help clear them of the charges.

While not as strong as the first two films in the Mr. Tibbs series, it's still a suspenseful and well paced crime story with another strong turn by Poitier. Medford keeps the movie running at a brisk pace and his experience with television crime classics such as The Streets Of San Francisco and Baretta are evident in the way the movie is structured, giving it a grittier and more tense feeling than the earlier entries.

All five films are 1.85.1 except for Lilies Of The Field which is 1.66.1. Sadly, the only two films that are 16 x 9 enhanced are In The Heat Of The Night and They Call Me Mister Tibbs!. Overall, the movies all look pretty good. Sure, there are scenes where the colors are a bit washed out and there is grain present throughout but none of it is really bothersome and none of it really takes away from the presentation. Blacks are, with a few exceptions, handled well and are fairly deep save for a few scenes that are a bit faded looking. As is to be expected, the older films in the set are a little more worn looking than the more recent ones, with The Organization looking the best of the bunch. It is a shame though that MGM didn't make all five discs anamorphic releases.

Each and every disc in the set is presented with an English Dolby Digital Mono mix and has removable subtitles available in English, French, and Spanish. The mix on each release is clean and clear with only a few instances of any audible defects present. As far as mono tracks go, these sound quite nice. Dialogue is mixed nicely with the background music creating a realistic soundscape for each movie. It's never hard to comprehend what's being said and the sound effects and the scores for each film come through quite clearly.

They Call Me Mister Tibbs!, The Organization, and Lilies Of The Field are all barebones save for the original theatrical trailer for each film lurking off the main menu. For The Love Of Ivy is completely barebones and doesn't even contain a trailer.

The only real extras in the entire set can be found on the In The Heat Of The Night disc where you'll find a trailer, a brief little booklet insert that gives a quick history of the film, and a commentary track from director Norman Jewison, cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and cast members Lee Grant and Rod Steiger. It's quite an interesting track though it's a shame that Poitier doesn't have a commentary or two on any of these films, and in fact, it doesn't appear that he was involved in these releases at all. Regardless, the commentary that is available in the set is worth your time to listen to as it's quite interesting on both a technical and a historical level.

While this set isn't without it's minor flaws, it's still quite a nice representation of Poitier's work as it gives us a chance to see both his serious and his comedic side. All five films are quite good and MGM has done a decent job bringing these films to disc, even if they did leave some room for improvement.

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.