Two fugitives, one white (Tony Curtis) and one black (Poitier) are handcuffed together after escaping. The police patrol that transports them collides in the southern United States, where racial segregation is still the rule.
The two men hate each other but quickly understand that they have more options to get out of this together. Forced cooperation turns into friendship by getting to know each other better and finding common ground, such as having been workers before going to jail, and having suffered humiliation at the hands of their employers.
The performance earned Poitier his first Oscar nomination.
– “The lilies of the valley” (1963) –
Poitier plays an adventurer who meets a group of German Catholic Church nuns who are in the Arizona desert trying to build a church for the Hispanic community. Inspired by their dedication, he works hard and teaches them English.
This Ralph Nelson comedy drama, with its values of solidarity between different communities, contrasted with the xenophobia present in the predominantly white America of the time.
“I prefer to shoot movies where people come out of the theater and feel: ‘It’s good to be alive,'” said Poitier, who won an Oscar for best actor for this role.
