Sidney Poitier
Firstly … Thanks Sid.
For a lot of great entertainment over many years.
And for being a great person that added something to us all.
“I think about death, but I’m not fearful of it,” the star said on Master Class. “I’ve reduced the concept of my existence by saying, ‘I truly, truly try to be better tomorrow than I was today.’ And I mean ‘better’ as simply a better human being, not a better actor, not a better anything, but just a better human being. That will please me well. And when I die, I will not be afraid of having lived.”
– Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
“I think luck is akin to serendipity. It implies that out of nowhere, serendipity dips down and kisses us on the cheek,” he said. “These forces are influential in our lives. They help to mold us and to shape us. I believe that we have free will. I believe, too, that free will operates within this frame of nature and God,
if you will.” – Sidney Poitier
Sid acted in four Westerns.
And Directed one: Buck and the Preacher.
It’s fair to say he liked Westerns.
Duel at Diablo
His first Western was Duel at Diablo in 1966.
Headlined with James Garner.
(Garner was fresh out of iconic Maverick TV Western (’57 – ’62)
and went on to become of the greatest Western Film Actors of all time.)
Pretty good company for Sid.
“We need to keep an eye on the other human experiences to give ourselves the fullness and the breadth of our own humanity.” Our humanity is served back to us through the eyes of those who have diminished us. And they serve back to us a view of ourselves that is incomplete. If we don’t look to the bigger picture,
our view will narrow to that which is constantly fed to us.”
It’s always a question of how to portray a Blackman in a Western?
A dudeish gunslinger?
Some credulity may be required.
But it’s Sid, so he’s good.
“I’ve learned that I must find positive outlets for anger or it will destroy me …
I have to try to find a way to channel that anger to the positive,
and the highest positive is forgiveness.”
Children of the Dust
1995
Wikipedia says:
Children of the Dust (also billed as A Good Day to Die) is an American Western television miniseries, based on Clancy Carlile’s 1995 novel of the same name. Featuring an ensemble cast led by Sidney Poitier.
Filmed in Calgary, Alberta.
Frontiersman.
“You don’t have to become something you’re not to be better than you were. A person doesn’t have to change who he is to become better.”
Favorable reviews …
Yet now almost forgotten.
“Though history will accurately acknowledge my presence in those proceedings, my contribution was no more important than being at the right place at the right time, one in that series of perfect accidents from which fate fashions her grand designs. History will pinpoint me as merely a minor element in an ongoing major event, a small if necessary energy.”
Fully watchable on Youtube.
“Then there’s the core self … That’s where all our goodness and capacity for kindness lives. … Our best comes from there, and we know how courageous and honorable we are. The core self is who we are.”
Buck and the Preacher
1972
My Review:
Directed by Sidney.
I found this to be an entertaining and enjoyable Western.
Watchable on YouTube.
“Forgiveness works two ways, in most instances. People have to forgive themselves too. The powerful have to forgive themselves for their behavior. That should be a sacred process.”
Quotes and Images borrowed from
Oprah Daily:
https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/g38696433/sidney-poitier-quotes/
“I was born with an urge to understand the mysteries of life.”
So long Sid.
