A Patch of Blue (1965)

“It’s wonderful to have a friend. ” – Selina

Number of Times Seen – 1 (5 Mar 2017)

Brief Synopsis – A young blind woman abused by her family meets a black man and a friendship blossoms between them.

My Take on it – While trying to expand my film knowledge of movies from the 60’s, I came across this film and was quite intrigued by the premise.

This is a very bold movie for it’s time because based on the racial equality turmoil of the 1960’s, this film caused a lot of controversy.

DEspite the trends at the time, the message of the film is great because it tries to show that there are things more important than perceived physical weaknesses that both characters endure.

Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Hartman are both great together and their characters have amazing chemistry in all of their scenes.

Shelley Winters tho, steals every scene she is in as the abusive mother of Hartman’s character.   She deservingly won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (her second) for this role which seems so different from what she usually plays because here her character doesn’t have any restraint in everything that she says or does.

There are parts of this film that move a bit too slowly, but it’s nice to watch the development of the characters especially knowing how groundbreaking it was at the time that this film came out.

Bottom Line – Very bold film for its time. Love the message that some things are more important that physical appearance.  Poitier and Hartman have very nice chemistry together. Winters (who won a Best Supporting Actress for this role) obviously steals every scene she is in because of her character’s ability to say what she thinks without any kind of restraint holding her back.  Parts move along a bit slowly, but overall, the end result is nice to watch because it was so groundbreaking at the time. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Shelley Winters hated her role as “Rose-Ann,” primarily because, as a supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, she was very uncomfortable playing a racist. Winters was actually overwhelmed and speechless the night she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy

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