Sidney Poitier Ranked
by rmailander | created - 17 Nov 2019 | updated - 17 Nov 2019 | PublicA ranking of Sidney Poitier's film performances
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant
Votes: 83,591 | Gross: $24.38M
2. A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Approved | 128 min | Drama
A substantial insurance payment could mean either financial salvation or personal ruin for a poor black family.
Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands
Votes: 9,573
3. The Defiant Ones (1958)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama
Two chained-together escaped convicts, White and Black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Cara Williams, Theodore Bikel
Votes: 17,853
4. Lilies of the Field (1963)
Unrated | 94 min | Drama
A travelling handyman becomes the answer to the prayers of nuns who wish to build a chapel in the desert.
Director: Ralph Nelson | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann, Isa Crino
Votes: 13,586
5. To Sir, with Love (1967)
Approved | 105 min | Drama
Idealistic engineer-trainee and his experiences in teaching a group of rambunctious white high school students from the slums of London's East End.
Director: James Clavell | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Christian Roberts, Suzy Kendall
Votes: 20,432 | Gross: $42.43M
6. Porgy and Bess (1959)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A woman whose past is scorned by nearly everyone around her meets a man who'd love her regardlessly- if only everyone else would allow them to.
Directors: Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey
Votes: 1,915
7. A Patch of Blue (1965)
Unrated | 105 min | Drama, Romance
A blind, uneducated white girl is befriended by a black man who becomes determined to help her escape her impoverished and abusive home life by introducing her to the outside world.
Director: Guy Green | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman, Wallace Ford
Votes: 9,538
8. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Approved | 108 min | Comedy, Drama
A couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter introduces them to her African-American fiancé.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton
Votes: 48,943 | Gross: $56.70M
9. Edge of the City (1957)
Approved | 85 min | Drama
The growing friendship of two NYC longshoremen is threatened by a notably repellent punk.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, Jack Warden, Kathleen Maguire
Votes: 3,588
10. Blackboard Jungle (1955)
Approved | 101 min | Crime, Drama
A new English teacher at a violent, unruly inner-city school is determined to do his job, despite resistance from both students and faculty.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Margaret Hayes
Votes: 9,885
11. The Slender Thread (1965)
Passed | 98 min | Drama
College volunteer Alan is working alone at the crisis center one evening when he receives a telephone call from suicidal caller Inga Dyson.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Anne Bancroft, Telly Savalas, Steven Hill
Votes: 2,480
12. Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
PG | 104 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
At Madame Zenobia's illegal nightclub, when Steve Jackson and Wardell Franklin get robbed of their wallets containing a winning lottery ticket, they set out to recover it.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, Flip Wilson
Votes: 2,816 | Gross: $4.57M
13. No Way Out (1950)
Passed | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, Sidney Poitier
Votes: 6,283
14. Buck and the Preacher (1972)
GP | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.
Directors: Sidney Poitier, Joseph Sargent | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Cameron Mitchell
Votes: 2,689 | Gross: $3.03M
15. Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
103 min | Drama
In the back country of South Africa, black minister Stephen Kumalo (Canada Lee) journeys to the city to search for his missing son, only to find his people living in squalor and his son a ... See full summary »
Director: Zoltan Korda | Stars: Canada Lee, Sidney Poitier, Charles Carson, Joyce Carey
Votes: 994
16. For Love of Ivy (1968)
G | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Upon learning their maid will be leaving to earn an education, the son of the family decides to set her up with a man.
Director: Daniel Mann | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Abbey Lincoln, Beau Bridges, Nan Martin
Votes: 898
17. Pressure Point (1962)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama
A black prison psychiatrist is assigned the distasteful task of helping a paranoid American Nazi charged with sedition.
Director: Hubert Cornfield | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Bobby Darin, Peter Falk, Carl Benton Reid
Votes: 2,026
18. Paris Blues (1961)
Approved | 98 min | Drama, Music, Romance
During the 1960s, two American expatriate jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier, Louis Armstrong
Votes: 3,961 | Gross: $1.30M
19. Sneakers (1992)
PG-13 | 126 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A security pro finds his past returning to haunt him when he and his unique team are tasked with retrieving a particularly important item.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, Jo Marr
Votes: 62,556 | Gross: $51.43M
20. Brother John (1971)
PG-13 | 95 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
A man who returns to his hometown for a funeral may have a much larger purpose in life than those around him can see.
Director: James Goldstone | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Will Geer, Bradford Dillman, Beverly Todd
Votes: 839
21. Duel at Diablo (1966)
Approved | 103 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the killer of his Indian wife, and a housewife abandons her husband in order to rejoin her Apache lover's tribe.
Director: Ralph Nelson | Stars: James Garner, Sidney Poitier, Bibi Andersson, Dennis Weaver
Votes: 4,263
22. The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)
PG | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A black anti-Apartheid activist and a British engineer are forced to run from South African Secret Police.
Director: Ralph Nelson | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine, Nicol Williamson, Prunella Gee
Votes: 2,280
23. A Warm December (1973)
PG | 99 min | Drama, Romance
An African-American doctor falls in love with the niece of an African ambassador during his vacation in London, but it turns out that she is suffering from a rare terminal illness.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Ester Anderson, Yvette Curtis, George Baker
Votes: 808 | Gross: $0.37M
24. The Organization (1971)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In San Francisco, Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs helps a group of idealistic vigilantes expose a drug ring controlled by powerful businessmen.
Director: Don Medford | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Barbara McNair, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Sheree North
Votes: 2,162 | Gross: $1.50M
25. Band of Angels (1957)
Passed | 125 min | Drama
Amantha Starr grows up as a privileged Southern belle in the ante-bellum South, but after her father dies broke, her world is destroyed when she discovers that her mother was Black.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo, Sidney Poitier, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Votes: 2,628
26. The Bedford Incident (1965)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Thriller
An American destroyer Captain is determined to confront a Soviet submarine caught violating territorial waters. Perhaps too determined.
Director: James B. Harris | Stars: Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, James MacArthur, Martin Balsam
Votes: 5,979
27. Our Virgin Island (1958)
84 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Two newlyweds buy a small private island in the British Virgin Islands and live a happy life without the comforts of modern society.
Director: Pat Jackson | Stars: John Cassavetes, Virginia Maskell, Sidney Poitier, Isabel Dean
Votes: 166
28. They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
GP | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In San Francisco, a high-priced call girl is murdered and the case is assigned to Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Martin Landau, Barbara McNair, Anthony Zerbe
Votes: 4,372 | Gross: $5.12M
29. All the Young Men (1960)
Approved | 87 min | Action, Drama, War
During the Korean War, a platoon leader dies, leaving his inexperienced black Sergeant in charge of his squad of belligerent and racist white men.
Director: Hall Bartlett | Stars: Alan Ladd, Sidney Poitier, James Darren, Glenn Corbett
Votes: 653
30. Something of Value (1957)
Approved | 113 min | Drama, War
In British Colonial Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising, Peter and Kimani, who grew up together, find themselves on the opposite sides.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Rock Hudson, Dana Wynter, Wendy Hiller, Juano Hernandez
Votes: 1,307
31. The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
G | 260 min | Biography, Drama, History
An all-star, large scale epic movie that chronicles the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
Directors: George Stevens, Jean Negulesco | Stars: Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, Charlton Heston, Michael Anderson Jr.
Votes: 11,940 | Gross: $15.47M
32. Shoot to Kill (1988)
R | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
An F.B.I. Agent teams up with a tracker to pursue a murderer after he vanishes into the mountains and infiltrates a hiking group.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Tom Berenger, Kirstie Alley, Clancy Brown
Votes: 14,951 | Gross: $29.30M
33. Little Nikita (1988)
PG | 98 min | Drama, Thriller
An F.B.I. Agent works to uncover an All-American family as Soviet sleeper Agents, and gets caught up in friendship with their unaware son.
Director: Richard Benjamin | Stars: Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, Richard Jenkins, Caroline Kava
Votes: 6,022 | Gross: $1.73M
34. The Lost Man (1969)
M | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A gang of black militants plots to rob a factory to finance their "revolutionary struggle".
Director: Robert Alan Aurthur | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Joanna Shimkus, Al Freeman Jr., Michael Tolan
Votes: 221
35. Go Man Go (1954)
82 min | Drama, Sport
The story of Abe Saperstein and the creation of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Director: James Wong Howe | Stars: Dane Clark, Patricia Breslin, Sidney Poitier, Anatol Winogradoff
Votes: 181
36. A Piece of the Action (1977)
PG | 135 min | Crime, Comedy
A retired Chicago cop blackmails two rich thieves into "volunteering" to help juvenile delinquents change paths.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, James Earl Jones, Denise Nicholas
Votes: 1,460
37. Good-bye, My Lady (1956)
G | 94 min | Drama
An old man and a young boy who live in the southeastern Mississippi swamps are brought together by the love of a dog.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Walter Brennan, Phil Harris, Brandon De Wilde, Sidney Poitier
Votes: 1,066
38. The Mark of the Hawk (1957)
Approved | 83 min | Drama
Obam finds himself caught in the middle of hostility between British colonists and African villagers who want to reclaim their land. He sets out to save his country before tensions get out of control.
Director: Michael Audley | Stars: Eartha Kitt, Sidney Poitier, Juano Hernandez, John McIntire
Votes: 303
39. Red Ball Express (1952)
Approved | 83 min | Action, Drama, War
Story of the military truck drivers who kept the Allied armies supplied in Europe during World War II.
Director: Budd Boetticher | Stars: Jeff Chandler, Alex Nicol, Charles Drake, Judith Braun
Votes: 811
40. The Long Ships (1964)
Not Rated | 126 min | Adventure, Drama
A vagabond Viking adventurer and a Moor both compete to find "The Mother of All Voices", a legendary golden bell near the Pillars of Hercules.
Director: Jack Cardiff | Stars: Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, Russ Tamblyn, Rosanna Schiaffino
Votes: 3,122
41. Let's Do It Again (1975)
PG | 110 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two Atlanta men raise funds for their charity by rigging boxing matches in New Orleans, but their tricks attract the mob's attention.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Calvin Lockhart, John Amos
Votes: 3,301
42. The Jackal (1997)
R | 124 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An imprisoned I.R.A. fighter is freed to help stop a brutal, seemingly "faceless" assassin from completing his next job.
Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier, Diane Venora
Votes: 124,199 | Gross: $54.93M
Tell Your Friends