You won't be disappointed!

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fresh and Exciting

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The type of triumph-of-the-human-spirit film that MGM made in the 30s but instead of Spencer Tracy and some delinquent boys, we have Sidney Poitier and some highly resourceful nuns. As a drifter with a heart of gold, Poitier's energetic performance dominates this film. He's somehow bullied by Mother Superior Lalia Skala into becoming a handyman for her tiny convent and then into building a chapel for the nuns. Poitier is great (he won the Oscar of course) and there's a fine supporting cast. In addition to Skala, there's Stanley Adams, Francesca Jarvis, and Dan Frazer (as an itinerant priest). Skala and Poitier engage in some feisty verbal sparring. The screenplay is by the great James Poe and the film is directed, efficiently, by Ralph Nelson.

Lilies of the Field is a great movie. Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) is a traveling handyman who while passing through New Mexico he builds a church for a group of German nuns under the strict Mother Maria (Lilia Skala). Along the way Homer begins to help the nuns learn English and he comes connected to the townspeople. The church is a symbol of hope for the nuns and the townsfolk alike and it's really all about Homer's relationship with the nuns and the townsfolk. The best parts of the film in my opinion are when Homer teaches the nuns English. This movie is just happy and leaves you with a good feeling. While watching you want to forget all the ugly things in life and focus only on the good. Problems in this movie arise of course, like the scene where Homer almost leaves, but those are all resolved. I highly recommend Lilies of the Field. It just leaves you singing "Amen."

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.

When I first watched this film years ago I was moved by it, by the growing solidarity of an isolated desert community, bereft of everything but their faith, and some members without even that to rely on. Now that I'm more, well, experienced -- I'm trying to avoid the word debauched -- it's a little more difficult to warm my heart but not yet impossible.Poitier is a happy-go-lucky handyman who bumps into half a dozen German nuns in the Sonoran desert. They more or less force him to begin building them a chapel, so that the Catholic circuit rider doesn't have to say mass from the back of his trailer. There are all sorts of travails. Obstacles must be overcome. There is neither enough labor nor materials. Does the entire Hispanic community show up to provide the missing labor? Does the local construction company provide the bricks and mortar as a result of a sort of desert-parched Pascal's choice? Does Poitier build the nuns their chapel? Are you kidding? Now, having seen it for the second time, it's still uplifting, and somewhat comic as well, with occasional dramatic elements. Lilia Skala, as the mother superior, has the truly thankless role of the authoritarian who believes that if you trust in God you needn't worry about anything else, but she delivers. You might not think so when you see her in action because the character is so stern and lacking in humor. Poitier is to Skala as fire hydrant is to dog. But it takes skill to play such an unpleasant role.And this must be ranked among Sidney Poitier's better performances. (He won an Oscar for it but that means nothing.) Poitier's forte was similar to Gregory Peck's. He could project sincerity and moral fury almost flawlessly. But this role gives him a chance to lighten up. There's hardly a moment when he's on screen that you can take your eyes from him. He invests the smallest moments with something unique. Nobody else could have done it quite the same way. And there are some keenly observed moments: Poitier and the men have finished the chapel and are playing music, dancing, and getting drunk, while the nuns and the wives sit on benches and glare at them. Women don't like seeing men have a good time and getting drunk with other men. I enjoyed watching it again.Having said that, I'm forced to admit that a second viewing, after years of marination in movie conventions, means hauling one's aesthetic sensibilities stark naked through some exceedingly prickly beavertail patches.Are you familiar with the scene in which some worldly outsider teaches a couple of uptight nuns how to sing a raucous spiritual con mucho gusto? Clapping their hands and swaying from side to side? No? How about the scene in which somebody teaches some non-English speakers how to speak English -- in a REGIONAL DIALECT? As in, "Sit yo' self down, y'all?" Would you believe an Irishman who drinks too much? An Irish priest? There were times when I winced, when I turned my face aside, as I tend to do when a large animal is slaughtered on screen.Yet, for all that, it's still an uplifting and, in its own limited way, a satisfying fable. Have the kids watch it too. The more innocent among us will get more out of it.