In the Heat of the Night with Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier is a great movie. I have it on dvd and watch probably watch it once a month. I love the movie plot. It is about a murder in a Mississippi town. The police look for the killer. They search the train station and mistakenly arrest Poitier because he is black. They check on him and find out he is a homicide detective from Philadelphia.

 

There is a lot of racial overtones in the movie but it shows they can be overcome.

 

The t.v. show didn't do the movie any justice.

But it made Archie Bunker filthy rich.

Planet of the Apes. It really made you think about the conflict and suppression of the 2 societies.

Planet of the Apes. It really made you think about the conflict and suppression of the 2 societies.

 

Not only that, but you were also made aware of the ethnic hierarchy between the gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees.

Not only that, but you were also made aware of the ethnic hierarchy between the gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees.

 

Well stated. This was not just a movie about talking apes!

But it made Archie Bunker filthy rich.

Actually All in the Family did that. :thumb:

Jungle Fever

Here's one that most would not think of: the musical South Pacific

 

Frenchman De Becque marries & has children with a Polynesian woman.

 

When the musical debuted in 1949, people walked out of the theatre because of this.

 

The crucial song that addresses the issue is "You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught"

 

South Pacific received scrutiny for its commentary regarding relationships between different races and ethnic groups. In particular, "You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught" was subject to widespread criticism, judged by some to be too controversial or downright inappropriate for the musical stage.[1] Sung by the character Lieutenant Cable, the song is preceded by a lyric saying racism is "not born in you! It happens after you’re born..."

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ve_Got_to_Be_Carefully_Taught

Here are the lyrics to "You've got to be carefully taught"

 

You've got to be taught

To hate and fear,

You've got to be taught

From year to year,

It's got to be drummed

In your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

 

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.

 

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!

Here's one that most would not think of: the musical South Pacific

 

Heck yeah, the military in WWII was one of the charter organizations for organized racism. As a matter of fact, my grandfather (a caucasian) was a fire-controlman in a Navy destroyer in the South Pacific, and when his C.O. found out that he had befriended several of the black cooks, the C.O. made him move his bunk down to the segregated "Colored Quarters". All the same, my grandpa said he appreciated the change, because he much preferred the company of the cooks, especially since they were really the ones who could bring food (and home-made hooch) back to their quarters.