Main Cast: Sidney Poitier, Abbey Lincoln, Beau Bridges, Nan Martin, Lauri Peters
Release Year: 1968
Country: US
Run Time: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Plot
When it was released in 1968, For Love of Ivy was the first mainstream Hollywood film to depict a mature romantic relationship between a black man and woman. Sidney Poitier stars as Jack Parks, a trucking executive who runs an illegal travelling casino out of one of his vehicles. Abbey Lincoln co-stars as Ivy Moore, the much-valued maid of the white Austin household. To make sure that Ivy won't quit her job, Frank Austin (Carroll O'Connor) blackmails Poitier into romancing her. He eventually falls in love with Ivy for real, but not before she's discovered that he's little more than a "hired hand" in affairs of the heart. Beau Bridges costars as amiable hippie Tim Austin, the only truly likeable member of his snooty, upper-crust clan. Robert Alan Aurthur based his screenplay on an original story by star Sidney Poiter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Carroll O'Connor - Frank Austin; Leon Bibb - Billy Talbot; Hugh Hurd - Jerry; Lon Satton - Harry; Stanley Greene - Eddie; Cordy Clark; Marlene Clark; Anita Dangler; Peter Dohanos; Josip Elic; Laura Greene; Gloria Hendry; Sharon Henesy; Maeve McGuire; Robert Miller; Lisa Moore; Clark Morgan; Jennifer O'Neill; Hope Stansbury; Bob Carey; Christopher St. John; Jerome Collamore; Paul Harris; Madge West; Joseph Attles; Tony Major
Credit
Steve Barnett - First Assistant Director, Daniel Mann - Director, Patricia Jaffe - Editor, Quincy Jones - Composer (Music Score), Bob Russell - Songwriter, Maya Angelou - Songwriter, Cashmen - Songwriter, Peter Dohanos - Production Designer, Joseph Coffey - Cinematographer, Edgar J. Scherick - Producer, Jay Weston - Producer, Leif Pedersen - Set Designer, Sidney Poitier - Screen Story, Jay Weston - Screenwriter, Robert Alan Aurthur - Screenwriter
Seeking to improve herself, Ivy Moore, an African-American maid, announces her decision to leave her job working for the Austin family and go to secretarial school. The Austins are desperate to keep her and the teenagers, Gena and Tim, hatch a scheme to do so. Tim Austin sets up Ivy with Jack Parks, a trucking company executive, to wine and dine Ivy Moore. He hopes that the introduction of excitement in her life will dissuade her from leaving the family. Tim Austin persuades a reluctant Jack Parks to date her by threatening to reveal his illegal gambling casino. Their initial meetings are awkward for the cosmopolitan Parks and the less sophisticated Moore. Eventually, however, romance blossoms, but when Moore learns that Parks was coerced into initially dating her, she breaks up with him. Parks overcomes his attachment to bachelorhood and asks Moore to marry him. She accepts.
Themes
While it isn't a race movie, or primarily about race, Jack Parks (Sidney Poitier) enjoys playing on the Austin children's racial stereotypes.
