Movie Type: Action Thriller, Police Detective Film
Themes: Rogue Cops, Drug Trade
Main Cast: Lani Miyazaki, Sidney Poitier, Barbara McNair, Gerald O'Loughlin, Sheree North, Fred Beir
Release Year: 1971
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Police detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) returns to finds himself in hot water with the police over his acceptance of help from a neighborhood anti-drug group. The group has done some things which are far from textbook legal, such as stealing and destroying a large shipment of drugs. Though they pulled off their robbery without loss of life, a corpse is found at the scene of the heist. Tibbs, now suspended from the force, uses their help to string together clues which enable him to break up a large drug ring. This is the third movie made starring Poitier and based on John Bail's novels In The Heat of the Night and They Call Me Mister Tibbs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Review
Don Medford's hard-boiled police thriller may not belong in the annals of great films of the '70s, but it effectively bridges the gap between the high-minded, race-conscious crime dramas of the late '60s and the wave of cheekier, more visceral blaxploitation flicks that were just gaining prominence around the time of The Organization's release. What's surprising about the film is its businesslike manner: No longer content to sit around pondering the vicissitudes of justice, star Sidney Poitier is out pounding the pavement from the beginning of the film, doing whatever it takes -- however questionably ethical -- to clean up the streets of San Francisco. Though there's still plenty of room in The Organization for ham-fisted speechifying from the venerable Virgil Tibbs character (making his third screen appearance here), the action set pieces thankfully take center stage. For the most part, they're effectively pulse-pounding and atmospheric, thanks in large part to Joseph Biroc's clever camerawork and Gil Melle's funky, off-kilter score. Erstwhile TV director Medford allows the pace to go slack at times -- some shots linger on interminably, as if signaling a commercial break that never arrives -- but for mostly mindless, completely functional crime thrills, The Organization succeeds. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
George B. Chan - Art Director, Lynn Stalmaster - Casting, Angela Alexander - Costume Designer, Wes Jeffries - Costume Designer, John K. Lemons - Costume Designer, Jack N. Reddish - First Assistant Director, Don Medford - Director, Ferris Webster - Editor, Gil Melle - Composer (Music Score), Del Armstrong - Makeup, James F. McGuire - Production Designer, Joseph Biroc - Cinematographer, Clark Paylow - Production Manager, Walter Mirisch - Producer, Marvin March - Set Designer, Sass Bedig - Special Effects, Norman O. Skeete - Special Effects, Gil Melle - Sound/Sound Designer, Robert Martin - Sound/Sound Designer, James R. Webb - Screenwriter, John Bail - Book Author
The Organization is a 1971 film starring Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs. It was the last of the trilogy featuring the police detective Tibbs that had begun with In the Heat of the Night (1967). In it Tibbs is called in to hunt down a gang of urban revolutionaries, suspected of a series of crimes.[1] The title might refer to the drug-trafficking organization or to the urban revolutionary organization set on bringing them down.
After a break-in at the headquarters of a company, the police are called in. One of the executives has been murdered, and the watchmen has been coshed - and yet nothing appears to have been stolen. Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) suspects that the dead man had been kidnapped previously and brought to the place where he was then killed.
Tibbs is then contacted by the organization which committed the break-in. They are urban revolutionaries who explain that the company is a front for drug-dealing; they have stolen $4 million dollars worth of heroin from the safe. They also hoped the break-in would lead the police to investigate the company itself. The mystery is intensified by the shooting of the security guard, who might have been about to reveal what had really gone on that night.
Tibbs agrees to help the group, if they co-operate with him. One member of the group is subsequently hunted down and beaten by the drug-pushers, and another is murdered. Tibbs himself comes under suspicion from his superiors after the narcotics division tie him to the stolen drugs. When his involvement with the urban revolutionaries becomes known he is removed from the case, and suspended.
He persuades one of his colleagues to keep following the same line of enquiry that he had been into the bogus company behind the drug traffic. One of the revolutionaries Juan loses his nerve and contacts the company and offers them the drugs back for $5,000,000. They agree, fully intending to break the deal as soon as he produces the dope.
In an open-air meeting, the drug dealers ambush Juan and take the case, shooting a policemen who tries to intervene. Trying to escape through an under-construction subway system they are pursued by the rest of the revolutionaries, and by Tibbs who has been keeping tabs on the goings-on. After chasing them down an empty tunnel, Tibbs kills the two drug-pushing heavies in a gun-battle.
He returns to the house of Gloria Morgan, wife of the security guard. When Tibbs' colleague arrives, Tibbs confronts her, finds heroin in a package she has just brought home and accuses her of orchestrating the murders. She confesses to being a carrier for the drug gang, and under duress from Tibbs, identifies the two chiefs of the organization in exchange for a lighter sentence.
The chiefs are then arrested by the police, including Tibbs, at their downtown office building, with a gathering of press covering the event. While they are escorted outside, a hitman guns them down with a high-powered rifle and escapes. Frustrated that the leaders of the organization will likely never be caught, and that some of his colleagues on the police force are likely working for the organization, Tibbs strolls pensively down the street while his partner drives patiently beside.
