evanston_dad Ralph Nelson's inspirational do-gooder film from 1963 can be forgiven some maudlin tendencies because of the era in which it was released, but it's a bit hard to take now. Sidney Poitier made history by becoming the first black man to win an Academy Award and the first black person period to win in a lead category. But his performance is hammy and exaggerated, another in the long line of examples of the Academy giving actors Oscars for the wrong performances. He plays a handy man who stops off at a convent in the middle of nowhere to service his car and then ends up staying to help the dear little nuns build a chapel. It's a movie about cultural understanding, which is a topic that never goes out of style, but it hasn't aged particularly well, and it feels too safe for the incendiary times in which it was released, as if Ralph Nelson and his screenwriter, James Poe, were too eager to be liked to risk offending their audience with tough subject matter. Topics like racism and World War II are briefly mentioned in passing, but the film quickly skirts away from them in order to give us another cute scene of Poitier teaching the nuns how to speak English."Lilies of the Field" is a pleasant movie, and let that description be either thumbs up or thumbs down depending on your personal preferences.Nominated for five Oscars total, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Lilia Skala, as the head nun), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Black and White Cinematography (Ernest Haller).Grade: B

gavin6942 A traveling handyman (Sidney Poitier) becomes the answer to the prayers of nuns who wish to build a chapel in the desert.The general idea of this film, a traveling handyman who helps nuns build a church despite not being Catholic, is alright. Not great, but alright. What really elevates it is the casting of Sidney Poitier. He could read a phone book and it would be an amazing performance. So although this is not his best-known film, it is still remembered today because of his presence.A sequel, "Christmas Lilies of the Field", was made in 1979 for television in which Homer Smith (now played by Billy Dee Williams), returns and is "convinced" to build a kindergarten for a group of orphans and runaways whom the sisters have taken in. Now, I don't know anything about this and suspect it is terrible. But Williams has been an under-appreciated actor, so maybe I should seek it out.

jimel98 If you're feeling down, here's a movie to boost your spirits. If you're a Christian of any kind, that's good too as it affirms your faith. If you're NOT a Christian, it can reaffirm your faith in humanity in general.Simplistic, yup, sure is but it's got some very serious messages not the least of which is, Do unto others as you would have done unto you.You can even be an atheist and get that message. Helping others not only makes you feel good, it HELPS OTHERS. That's I believe the basic message of this movie. I don't believe for a second there are any hidden agendas or overblown stereotypes and I feel anyone looking that deeply into the movie has some deeply buried issues to deal with.It's about faith, hope, love and helping, that's it. Anyone who walks away from this movie with a gripe or some overblown analysis should get some analysis him/herself. It's not a big movie, it's a NICE movie and Sydney Poitier, one of the finest actors ever to grace film, does a superb low key job playing Homer Smith. He doesn't WANT to help, he's compelled to help by forces he doesn't seem to want to give into, yet, he does and feels so much reward for it.Do you want to see a movie with a positive message in which no one gets blown up and no one chases anyone in a car? Do you want to see a movie that makes you feel good, makes you think, "Gee, I wonder who I can help"? See this movie. It's dated, but who gives a damn? It's a great, little movie with a great BIG message.

classicsoncall For anyone born in the last twenty years or so, it's probably hard to imagine how groundbreaking this film was in the turbulent early Sixties. A lot of things were getting under way, Viet Nam, the British Invasion and of course the Civil Rights movement. What's remarkable to me in this picture is that Sidney Poitier's color never seems to become an issue with the people that matter in the story. Granted, the supply store owner Ashton (Ralph Nelson) called Homer Smith (Poitier) 'boy' at one point, but Homer gave it right back to him and they were both on equal terms again. I thought that was handled quite professionally.Overall however, I wasn't really grabbed by the picture the way other reviewers were from reading their comments here. It's not a bad picture mind you, but it's not particularly memorable either. While competent in his portrayal, Poitier didn't seem to be offering an Oscar caliber performance by demonstrating the the type of range Paul Newman displayed as Hud Bannon, another Best Actor contender the same year. I liked Poitier a whole lot better in "In the Heat of the Night"; I liked that movie a lot better too. Interestingly, 'Heat' also tackled the racial angle quite strongly as well and by virtue of his performance there, Poitier helped the cause of black actors in film quite admirably.There was one scene I got a kick out of though. Comparing Bible passages, Mother Maria (Lilia Skala) had that tremendous volume that almost swamped the table, and Poitier's character matched her verse for verse with his little pocket edition. That was really quite comical.Probably the best takeaway one gets from the story is how folks of diverse backgrounds and personalities can put their differences aside to come together in a spirit of harmony and community to pursue a goal. In this case, the mission was the mission, and Homer Smith was a pretty good man with a bulldozer.