For Love of Ivy

1968 "Sidney Poitier in the love, love, loveliest movie of the year."
6.1| 1h41m| en
Details

A white family has had the same Black maid for many years. When she tells them she wants to go back to school and will be leaving soon, the 20ish year old son decides what she needs is a change and begins searching for a man to wine and dine her, but who won't marry her, thinking that this will distract her from her plans. The man he finds doesn't entirely cooperate.

Director

Producted By

Cinerama Productions Corp.

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Reviews

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
ehrldawg A family tires to match a maid to a trucking company president.The first 15 minutes of the film is painful to watch. But maybe that's the point. I was about to through this disc out of the truck Then I found out Sidney Portier is a trucking company president. So I watched the rest of the movie,painful parts and all. It ended up being a pretty cool movie.Mr Portier ends up with the girl at the end. The racket he came up with was pretty ingenious. The wrighting and acting in this film are pretty good.Hugh Hurd drives the White big rig.Hugh Hurd was a permanent A list actor.Abbey Lincoln and Nan Martin was hot!!Lauri Peters is hot!!---One Truck Drivers Opinion---erldwgstruckermovies.com
moonspinner55 Sidney Poitier developed the original story for this fantasy-romance between a black maid working for a neurotic, rich white family out on Long Island and a handsome, confirmed bachelor--a partner in a trucking firm which deals (rather craftily) in illegal gambling on the side. In the most prominent role, Abbey Lincoln (real-life jazz vocalist who resembles a young Dionne Warwick) has a firm jaw and a shyly self-conscious manner, but she grows on you--and in her lighter moments displays a tentative yet winning smile and personality. After a static, stilted beginning, the movie picks up some steam and quickly overcomes its contrived set-up, and Poitier is full of jubilant charisma. Nice end-credits theme song, written by Quincy Jones and performed by Shirley Horn, received an Oscar nomination. Good fun! *** from ****
happipuppi13 For film history buffs,this is the film that followed,"Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" in Sid's career. What a great choice it was too! I can't believe I'm only the third person to review this film. I bought a marked down copy of this on DVD and I'm glad I did.Sidney plays Jack Parks,owner of a trucking company who is a client for Mr. Austin (Carroll O'Conner). This is not the somewhat "good guy" we're used to seeing Sidney play. He's got a secret,his company is a front for an illeagal "traveling casino",in the back of the semi.The Austin family have a maid named Ivy whose worked for them since she was 18. ...but now she's 27 and wants to leave her job to become a secretary in the city and go to school too. The Austin family react like their whole world is falling apart! Especially Mrs. Austin,who hasn't kept house herself in those 9 years with Ivy. Mr. Austin seems to be the only voice of reason,as far as Ivy leaving is concerned.Mr. Austin's spoiled hippie son concocts a plan to keep Ivy working for them. If she marries Jack,she'll "have" to stay! Even his usually level-headed sister goes along with it,making it clear that they have only their own selfish interests in mind and not what it is Ivy wants.I wont spoil the movie for you by saying how it all plays out but it's well worth the watching. It's not strictly a question of race in this film but more about what anyone as a human being wants and needs in their life. 1960's or now,that message is still universal to all. The dialouge,acting and direction are smartly done,so without a doubt,10 stars. Buy it or rent it...but you have to see it. (END)
gwitherspoon I wish they were still making movies like this. The dialog is dated and so is the reaction to the son's marriage proposal to Ivy, but I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Sidney and Abbey made "acting" look like art. Abbey Lincoln exuded elegance, poise, common sense and a good sense of humor. Sidney is always classy in whatever role he portrays.I liked the Austin family too. They seemed to genuinely care about their housekeeper and seemed ahead of their time in terms of their views on race and class. They really meant well even when they said the wrong thing to Ivy, and didn't seem to realize that she wanted a better life for herself, a home of her own and a family of her own just as they did. Why should she be their "maid" until she died and be satisfied with that? Ivy wanted to pursue American Dream just like all of us do. Even the son who really seemed to care about her was selfish and wanted to trick her into staying under the guise of having her best interests at heart.