
To Sir With Love
Sidney Poitier is indelible in one of his signature roles. A very popular model of the selfless-teacher-inspires-disaffected-high schoolers genre that has flourished ever since. Writer-director James Clavell avoids sentimentality to a surprising (but not entirely absent) degree and the film remains an audience favorite 40 years later.
About Mark Pellington
Mark Pellington directs feature films, television, commercials and music videos. His film credits include Going All the Way (with Ben Affleck and Jeremy Davies), Arlington Road (with Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins), The Mothman Prophecies (with Richard Gere and Laura Linney), Henry Poole is Here (with Luke Wilson) and I Melt with You (starring Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe and Christian McKay. He also co-directed the fabulous 3-D concert film U-2 3-D.
Sidney Poitier starred in that one, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner all in the same year. To be certain, the latter two both won Oscars, considered especially significant since the ceremony got held right after the Martin Luther King assassination.