IMDb plot summary: A blind, uneducated white girl is befriended by a black man, who becomes determined to help her escape her impoverished and abusive home life by introducing her to the outside world.
Directed by Guy Green. Starring Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, and Elizabeth Hartman.
A Patch of Blue tells the story of a young blind woman who lives with her neglectful mother and grandfather. She does work stringing beads together to make necklaces, and one day when she is doing this work alone in the park, she befriends a man who sees she needs some help and wants to step in and help her out. This man is played by Sidney Poitier, and a key feature in their relationship is that she does not know he is black and therefore has no qualms about befriending him the way her family does. This is an odd movie, occasionally seeming sweet and likable and occasionally hitting hard on infantilizing sexism and ableism. Poitier's interest in helping her is heavily based in pity, but treating her like a child when there's also clearly a bit of a romantic vibe between them is often a little squirmy. The one thing that saves it is how quickly she takes to her independence once she learns a few foundational skills for coping in the big world, which helps give her at least a little more agency. I have to admit I did fall into the sweetness of the film enough that I was eventually sold on it and enjoyed the story for what it was, but I'm not sure it's one I'd recommend.
How it entered my Flickchart:
A Patch of Blue > Ripley's Game
A Patch of Blue < Woman in the Dunes
A Patch of Blue < Battle Royale
A Patch of Blue < Josie and the Pussycats
A Patch of Blue > Bonnie and Clyde
A Patch of Blue > Viva Zapata!
A Patch of Blue < Star Trek: Generations
A Patch of Blue > An Affair to Remember
A Patch of Blue > What Happened, Brittany Murphy?
A Patch of Blue < 101 Dalmatians (1961)
A Patch of Blue > The Italian Job (1969)
Final spot: #1617 out of 3622, or 55%.
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