The Organization

We first met Virgil Tibbs in “In the Heat of the Night,” when he was a cop from Philadelphia. In “They Call Me Mister Tibbs,” he moved to San Francisco and had a really detailed top home. Now, in “The Organization,” released in 1971, he (Sidney Poitier) has moved into a less detailed home (maybe after reading the reviews thinking how he could pay the bills on his police salary), but he still has his loving wife (Barbara McNair), sweet daughter and smart-mouth son (George and Wanda Spell). However, there is just a little chance for each member to do what he does because Tibbs is at his breaking point in the most difficult criminal of his career. Roger Ebert said in his review, “It is so complicated, in fact, that I am not sure I could figure it out. Maybe we're supposed to take things in the spirit of "The Big Sleep" (1946) which didn't bother to tie up several very loose ends.”

The story is not really focused. It’s about an obscure group of characters (a storefront preacher, a member of a girl’s track team, etc.) who steal a large amount of heroin. The members include preacher Dave Thomas (Billy Green Bush) and the passionate Juan Mendoza (Raul Julia), Annie (Lani Miyazaki), Charlie (Lamont from “Sanford and Son,” Demond Wilson), Stacy (James A. Watson Jr.) and Joe (Ron O’Neal). Ebert noted, “But after they make their getaway, someone else kills the guy they left behind, bound and gagged. They let Tibbs in on their secret because they don't want the murder rap (although since they DID kidnap the guy and nothing can bring him back to life, you'd think they would keep quiet).”

Anyway, after an investigation that gets a little confused, Tibbs is suspended from the force for hiding what he knows. Ebert noted, “And then he is either put back on the force (in a scene not in the picture) and is on plainclothes duty in the unfinished subway system, or he was not cleared and just happens to be working on the subway when the movie's big chase scene goes by.” Anyway, there’s a little shooting, a few identities are revealed, and the movie comes to an unsatisfying end.

What happened? The first two movies had a focused, well put together story. What’s the story and focus here, if there was one? I don’t get this movie and what it was trying to do. All I can say is this is a sad attempt to end a trilogy that I have ever seen. If you liked the first two movies of the “Tibbs Trilogy,” don’t see this one. You will be confused all throughout the duration of the movie of what they were trying to do.

Stay tuned on Sunday for the yearly “Valentine’s Day Movies.”