L'organisation

Part three of the Mister Tibbs detective chapters. Sidney Poitier in another who-dunnit, this time in san francisco. which was also the setting for his "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" ! After a huge heroin robbery, Tibbs is brought in to figure out what's going on. Graham Jarvis is the employee "Martin". he was awesome in New Leaf and What's Up Doc ? Max Gail (Barney Miller) is in here as Rudy. keep an eye out for Daniel Travanti from "Hill Street Blues." and from The Rookies, Gerald O'Loughlin. those actors will be in all kinds of cop shows. Tibbs isn't sure who to trust, so he starts keeping secrets from his own boss, and from Narcotics, when they get involved. of course, that makes it look like HE was the guilty party. it's all pretty well done. quite rare, that a third chapter could be so good. Directed by Don Medford. he did mostly television after this one. Not bad.

Sydney Poitier is marvelous in any movie he has been in, so far as I have noticed. When he first showed up as MISTER Tibbs in Heat of the Night, I knew it would be a great watch. Unfortunately, by the third run, The Organization, even his usual and expected dazzlement could not save the faulty plot and slow pacing. The premise of a group of amateurs trying to bring down "the organization" and then trying to drag in a good cop like Tibbs (who doesn't let the force know what he is doing) is, well, thin and silly. There were great slices of Tibbs' home life with his son and daughter, which goes to show that Poitier brings life into even a tedious period cop piece like this one. Overall, it's still watchable, but only if you are a dedicated Poitier fan.

Sydney reprises his Mr. Tibbs moniker in a nicely paced crime drama that has some well orchestrated action sequences, especially the one at the onset of the film. Those first 10 minutes or so reminded me of the heist scene in "Rififi" (1955), in that this scene too was captured with no dialog, letting the viewer see for himself how the action plan was set into motion.

Some reviewers "dissed" the 70's sound track and street jargon, but what do you expect? It's a period piece, a 70's action film and by definition will employ those contemporary motifs. To me, it's both refreshing and amusing to be thrust back into the cultural modes of yesteryear.

The plot line may have had some small weaknesses to it and some of the actors were no Academy Award nominee hopefuls, but the thrust of the film keeps you attentive and anticipatory. Also, it was nice to see Raul Julia, Demond Wilson and Ron O'Neal in one of their earlier films. Sydney, as usual, shines in his rendition of the Tibbs detective. But the plot twists toward the end where Mr. Tibbs puts the pieces together and gets ready to see justice served... Well, see for yourself in this brutally realistic conclusion.

Perhaps the least-known Poitier work, certainly of the period; at date of writing only nine IMDb members had voted on this film. This is just over 1% of the votes attained by it's initial prequel, the superb "In The Heat of the Night". Between the two is the awful-yet-lovable "They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!" which took the Virgil Tibbs franchise on a downward slope.

Those that do get to see this movie on it's rare t.v. rescreenings and decide to give it a go after the disappointing "Tibbs" will be justly rewarded. Essentially, the production team is the same as the previous film, though Gil Melle provides a jazz-orientated score instead of Quincy Jone's adequate but inappropriate themes. The domesticity is also played down, with Alan R.Trustman absent as co-writer and James R. Webb taking full control of the screenplay. Most importantly, though, is Don Medford as the well above average director. Apart from a rather crude edit where a car accident occurs in the second half of the picture, the scenes are melded together seamlessly and flow together exceptionally well.

Poitier reprises the role of Tibbs, an arrogant, aloof, bad-tempered, authoritarian, bigoted Lieutenant. As a result, this is probably the most appealing of all Sidney's characters, and he slips back into the role effortlessly. With no star names to support him, such as Rod Steiger or Martin Landau (though Raul Julia did become a star later in life), Sidney stands way above his peers. His ability to project a bad atmosphere every time he walks into a room is flawless. This time he is not let down by the plot, either, which sees Tibbs caught between the Police Department and a vigilante gang that seeks to expose a wide net of heroin dealers. The plot takes on many shifts in loyalty and focus, keeping the attention, while a chase through underground tunnels lends the requisite chase an extra air of tension. The racial motif is again absent, though a rival black cop played by Bernie Hamilton gives off a frisson of resentment.

While predictably not of the calibre of "In Heat of the Night", The Organization stands as the greatest of Sidney's seventies vehicles.

Post-Script, March 2016: Over 16 years since I wrote this review (where does the time go?) I realise that I was too soft on what is quite a shaky film. Continuity and editing are not great, and the tone is frequently dirge-like. It's OKAY, but the concluding line that it's the best of Sidney's 70s movies was clearly written by a man who hadn't then seen The Wilby Conspiracy or Brother John. It's what's known as a "take a chance" point of view, and in this case it was wide of the mark.

Virgil Tibbs apparently left his detective post in Philadelphia for one in San Francisco, where he shows up investigating a robbery of furniture company that's actually a front for The Organization, a group of businessmen dedicated to the sale of heroin. A Mod Squad of locals orchestrates the robbery as the film opens, stealing four million dollars worth of smack, not to sell it, but to keep it off the streets. Since they're not hardened drug dealers, they're not much of a match for the well-portrayed hit men of the Organization, leaving it up to Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) to try to protect them while working to break the heroin ring. The outdoor locations are great, with one car chase that succeeds quite well, but overall it mostly resembles one of those made-for-TV movies of that era.