A Patch of Blue

Plot

Selina DArcey (Elizabeth Hartman) is a blind girl living with her prostitute mother Rose-Ann (Shelley Winters) and grandfather Ole Pa (Wallace Ford), in a city apartment. She strings beads to supplement her familys small income, and spends most of her time doing chores. Her mother is abusive, and Ole Pa is an alcoholic. Selina has no friends, rarely leaves the apartment, and has never received an education.

Selina convinces her employer to bring her to the park, where she happens to meet Gordon Ralfe (Sidney Poitier), an educated and soft-spoken black man working night shifts in an office, and the two quickly become friends. Gordon learns that she was blinded at the age of 5 when Rose-Ann threw chemicals on her while attempting to hit her husband, and also that she was raped by one of Rose-Anns "boyfriends".

Rose-Anns friend, Sadie, is also a prostitute, and while lamenting the loss of her youth, she realizes that Selina can be useful in their business. Subsequently, Rose-Ann and Sadie decide to move into a better apartment, leave Ole Pa and force Selina into prostitution.

In the meantime, Gordon has contacted a school for the blind which is ready to take Selina. While Rose-Ann is away, Selina runs away to the park and with some difficulty, meets Gordon. She tells Gordon about Rose-Anns plan, and he assures her that she will be leaving for the school in a few days. Finding Selina missing from the apartment, Rose-Ann takes Ole Pa to the park and confronts Gordon. Despite Rose-Anns resistance, Gordon manages to take Selina away, and Ole Pa stops Rose-Ann, telling her that Selina is not a child anymore.

At Gordons house, Selina asks Gordon to marry her, to which Gordon replies that there are many types of love, and she will later realize that their relationship will not work. Selina tells him that she loves him, and knows that he is black, and that it does not matter to her. He then tells her they will wait one year to find out if their love will lead to marriage. Meanwhile, a bus arrives to pick up Selina.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to A Patch of Blue was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. It gained Goldsmith his second Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score following his score to Freud in 1962. It was also one of the 250 nominated scores for the American Film Institutes top 25 American film scores. The score has been released three times on CD; in 1991 through Mainstream Records (with the score to David and Lisa by Mark Lawrence), in 1992 through Tsunami Records (with his score to Patton), and an extended version in 1997 through Intrada Records.

"A Cinderella Named Elizabeth"

The films creators also made a short about Hartmans selection to play the starring role. The short, called "A Cinderella Named Elizabeth," focuses on her status as an unknown actress from the middle America town of Youngstown, Ohio, and includes segments from her screen test and associated "personality test", in which the actress is filmed while being herself and answering questions about everyday topics such as her taste in clothing. The short also shows her visiting the Braille Institute of America to watch blind people being trained to do handwork — similar to the beadwork her character does in the film — and to perform tasks of daily living and self-care, of the sort that Poitiers character teaches Selina to do.

Critical reception

A Patch of Blue has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Box office

The film proved to be the most successful in Poitiers career, which proved a lucrative development considering he agreed to a salary cut in exchange for 10% of the films gross earnings. In addition, the film made Poitier a major national film star with excellent business in even southern cities like Houston, Atlanta and Charlotte.