Mon homme

Apparently based on an original idea by Poitier himself, you have to wonder if he couldn't have come up with something a bit more challenging and true-to-life, especially in this of all years. Instead, we get this strangely balanced and oddly bland romantic comedy. Maybe I'm being harsh on him, but coming off three hit films in a row, this seems like a somewhat safe and almost cosy regression in a film which you could almost imagine condensed into a Dick Van Dyke TV show episode of the time.

Poitier, plus an entourage of drivers, croupiers and skimpily-clad cocktail waitresses, runs a permanently floating crap game for predominantly white high-rollers, wives included, from the back of a huge haulage truck, which acts as cover from the law. I'm guessing high-stakes gambling venues were thin on the ground in upstate New York at the time. One of his clients is wealthy businessman Carroll O'Connor and his nuclear family of ditzy wife, flighty daughter and stoner son, who it seems can't do anything at home for themselves, relying on their black maid Ivy to basically organise their lives for them. When Ivy unexpectedly hands in her notice, declaring her intention to leave the household, get an education and no doubt find her true self in the process, the family cracks up and cook up a hair-brained plan to marry her off to some rich, handsome black dude who no doubt will allow her to continue her life of servitude to them within an otherwise blissful married life.

It's all very slight and undemanding, requiring little effort from Poitier who basically just continues to portray the urbane educated persona he'd adopted in "To Sir With Love" and "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner". Abbey Lincoln makes a good impression as the wilful title character, but like everyone else in the film, her character is very thinly sketched.

The humour, mildly taking in tropes like the generation gap and interracial relations, manages to be both forced and lacklustre and the ending is exactly what you could have guessed from ninety minutes out. There's a bizarre scene near the end when Beau Bridges, as the hippie son, puts in his tuppenceworth to resolve the situation which only serves to further demean Ivy's already lowly status even as you appreciate that this time Carroll O'Connor isn't going to pull off a Spencer Tracy and rescue the film at the finish.

On the plus side, there's a pleasing, sultry jazz soundtrack by Quincy Jones, Poitier and Lincoln make for a handsome couple and the look of the film is polished and slick for sure, but really this is one Ivy pretty much out of its league in a film which hasn't aged well and which I know won't stay long in my memory,

For film history buffs,this is the film that followed,"Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" in Sid's career. What a great choice it was too! I can't believe I'm only the third person to review this film. I bought a marked down copy of this on DVD and I'm glad I did.

Sidney plays Jack Parks,owner of a trucking company who is a client for Mr. Austin (Carroll O'Conner). This is not the somewhat "good guy" we're used to seeing Sidney play. He's got a secret,his company is a front for an illeagal "traveling casino",in the back of the semi.

The Austin family have a maid named Ivy whose worked for them since she was 18. ...but now she's 27 and wants to leave her job to become a secretary in the city and go to school too. The Austin family react like their whole world is falling apart! Especially Mrs. Austin,who hasn't kept house herself in those 9 years with Ivy. Mr. Austin seems to be the only voice of reason,as far as Ivy leaving is concerned.

Mr. Austin's spoiled hippie son concocts a plan to keep Ivy working for them. If she marries Jack,she'll "have" to stay! Even his usually level-headed sister goes along with it,making it clear that they have only their own selfish interests in mind and not what it is Ivy wants.

I wont spoil the movie for you by saying how it all plays out but it's well worth the watching. It's not strictly a question of race in this film but more about what anyone as a human being wants and needs in their life.

1960's or now,that message is still universal to all. The dialouge,acting and direction are smartly done,so without a doubt,10 stars. Buy it or rent it...but you have to see it. (END)

Just watched this on Netflix disc with Mom. She thought it was weird and I found myself half-agreeing with all the dated '60s clothes abounding in many scenes. While both Mom and me laughed at some scenes, I don't think either of us realized this was a comedy since there wasn't much in the lines we thought was funny. Still, I myself liked the dialogue between Sidney Poitier and Abbey Lincoln that permeated throughout and was glad with the way it ended for them. Interesting seeing Carroll O'Connor as someone other than Archie Bunker and a young Beau Bridges early in his film career. In summary, For Love of Ivy is worth a look. Oh, and unlike many of his characters during this period, Mr. Poitier doesn't seem so noble here...

I caught this last night on Turner and while this is a slight little movie, I found it quite charming, mainly in the developing relationship between the smooth, elegant, slightly dangerous Poitier and the sweet and yet sassy Ms. Lincoln. They're a good match together, and I love the very romantic seduction scene with that great Quincy Jones music playing in the background. From what I've seen of Sidney Poitier he usually plays a somewhat angry young man who's fighting the system in some way. Well, here he just gets to play a smooth hustler, and man is he sexy!!! Wish he'd made more light romantic films like this.

As for the rest of the cast - well, the plot serves them poorly. The white family come across as well meaning stooges, and the hippie look is really dated on Beau Bridges. But it's kind of the equivalent of one of those Rock Hudson/Doris Day movies with a bit more of an edge and a little bit of a conscience. Well worth watching when it comes around again.

Sidney Poitier's trio of movies in 1967 was going to be a hard act to follow. But he starred in an impressive movie in 1968 (if not a masterpiece). What "For Love of Ivy" lacks in the forcefulness of "In the Heat of the Night", it makes up for in elements of the '60s. Sidney Poitier and Abbey Lincoln make the perfect couple, and the movie's Academy Award-nominated song only adds to the joy. I get the feeling that Lincoln's character's desire to stop being a maid reflected the desire of the era's African-American actresses to get roles that didn't exist only in relation to white people.

Among the other cast members, we have Beau Bridges in an early role, and also Carroll O'Connor in a role mildly reminiscent of a certain bigot railing against anyone different from him.

Anyway, I recommend it.