University of Virginia Library

'Organization' Almost Cleans Up

By STEVE GRIMWOOD

"Mr." Virgil Tibbs is back in
style, this time trying to beat
down "The Organization." As
an obvious sequel to "They
Call Me 'Mr.' Tibbs," which
was a not-so-obvious sequel to
"In The Heat of The Night,"
"The Organization" stands on
its own fairly well.

Whatever, director Don
Medford wisely passed over
this quickly and jumped into
the action, which is
considerable. "The
Organization" can definitely be
classified as a thriller, meaning
little or no emotional interplay
and a great deal of action and
suspense.

Poitier does his usual
adequate job as Mr. Tibbs, even
loosening up a little and

The scene is once again San
Francisco, and Sidney Poitier
as the tough cop this time
jeopardizes his career by
joining up with a group of
vigilantes sworn to break the
back of the international
heroin racket. Though they put
a good sized dent in it,
naturally they can't break it
completely.

One of the basic faults of
the film is when they attempt
to establish the premise,
namely the vigilante group.
They are an eastern white
liberal's dream. Two blacks, a
Puerto Rican, a Mexican American,
an Oriental, and last but
not least, a white Catholic
priest with a beard. All of them
have a sob story about the evils
of smack, re: their little
brother or sister, their father,
ad nauseum.
actually smiling once or twice.
Overall, the film does a very
good job, as far as slick thrillers
go, and you definitely won't
get bored. You may experience
some slight moral outrage.

(Now at the Barracks Road)