The Organization

Plot synopsis:
After a break-in at the headquarters of a company, the police are called in. One of the executives has been murdered, and the watchman has been bludgeoned. It is not a simple robbery, the man was killed by shots from two different guns, there are several unexplained facts and nothing was stolen.
Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) is contacted by the group which committed the break-in, stealing four million dollars' worth of heroin. They are urban revolutionaries who explain that the company is a front for drug-dealing. They had hoped the break-in would lead the police to investigate the company itself and want to use the heroin to get to the leaders of the organization. Tibbs arrests the security guard to question him, but he is murdered while in the police car.
Tibbs agrees to help the group, if they co-operate with him. One member of the group is hunted down and beaten by the drug-pushers, another is murdered. Tibbs himself comes under suspicion from his superiors when the narcotics division tie him to these stolen drugs, he is removed from the case, and suspended.
He persuades one of his colleagues to help him with information on the bogus company behind the drug traffic. One of the revolutionaries, Juan, contacts the drug dealers and offers them the drugs back for $500,000. He sets it up smartly, proposing to exchange the first half of the drugs for half the money, with an exchange with identical suitcases in a very busy square.
Once the exchange takes place one of the other revolutionaries ´robs´ the suitcase with the money. The drug dealer tries to get away, gets tackled by Juan, the drug dealer shoots a policeman but gets arrested. Juan notes the numberplate of the executives of the criminal organization that had carelessly come to supervise the deal. The person running off with the suitcase with the money is pursued by some of the gang through the construction site for the unfinished Montgomery Street Station.
Tibbs after that goes to the house of the wife of the security guard. When Tibbs' colleague arrives, Tibbs confronts the wife as the runner of the gang, shows heroin in a package she has just brought home and tells her she can choose between prison or getting killed by the mob like her husband. She gives in and identifies the two chiefs of the organization.
The chiefs are arrested by a large group of police officers, including Tibbs. When they are taken to the police car, a mob hit man takes them out, before they can talk. Tibbs now sees that he won a battle, but lost the war.

Tags: suspenseful, humor, neo noir, murder, violence

Review:
Sydney reprises his Mr. Tibbs moniker in a nicely paced crime drama that has some well orchestrated action sequences, especially the one at the onset of the film.
This is the third of Virgil Tibbs series based on the role originated in the successful ¨In the heat of the night¨.
3º installment based on the role originated in the successful ¨In the heat of the night , this ¨The organization¨(1971) directed by Don Medford , in which Tibbs/Sidney Poitier is out to break up a ring of dope smugglers while helps a bunch of idealistic vigilantes (Ron O'Neal ,Raul Julia , Miyazaki , James Watson , Billy Geen Bush) expose a drug ring run by a powerful ringleader .
This outing boasts a nice cast as Barbara McNair , Shree North , Raul Julia , Ron O'Neal , Allan Garfield and Daniel J Travanti .
Here we find San Francisco Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) called in to investigate a sinister case .
This packs the further adventures of the role Tibbs/Sidney Poitier created for the film ¨In the heat of the night¨ .
The trilogy starts with the excellent ¨In the heat of the night¨ (1967) that won 5 Oscars , in which Tibbs joins forces with redneck sheriff who grudgingly accepts helps in resolve a bizarre killing , being directed by Norman Jewison , it stars Rod Steiger , Warren Oates , Lee Grant , Anthony James .
The second installment is ¨They called me Mister Tibbs¨ (1970) in which Tibbs is called to investigate when a liberal street preacher (Martin Landau) is suspicious the murder a prostitute , as again finding out a killing and attempting to clear his friend , as well .
Perhaps the least-known Poitier work, certainly of the period; at date of writing only nine IMDb members had voted on this film.
Apart from a rather crude edit where a car accident occurs in the second half of the picture, the scenes are melded together seamlessly and flow together exceptionally well.Poitier reprises the role of Tibbs, an arrogant, aloof, bad-tempered, authoritarian, bigoted Lieutenant.
This time he is not let down by the plot, either, which sees Tibbs caught between the Police Department and a vigilante gang that seeks to expose a wide net of heroin dealers.
The racial motif is again absent, though a rival black cop played by Bernie Hamilton gives off a frisson of resentment.While predictably not of the calibre of "In Heat of the Night", The Organization stands as the greatest of Sidney's seventies vehicles.Post-Script, March 2016: Over 16 years since I wrote this review (where does the time go?) I realise that I was too soft on what is quite a shaky film.
It's OKAY, but the concluding line that it's the best of Sidney's 70s movies was clearly written by a man who hadn't then seen The Wilby Conspiracy or Brother John.
It is also peopled with the great character actors of the time, many who have become stars later in their film careers.
Raul Julia plays a Puerto Rican drug dealer which was certainly no great stride for Hispanic actors working in Hollywood, but it is after all a crime drama and such people do exist.
Poitier is his usual cool and intelligent self which is a big thing in films of just about any period, and Alan Garfield again plays the New York con with his usual believability.
The chase in the finale is breathtaking and equal to that of such great films as "The French Connection."  Also, the kicker is in the final expedition seen where the entire crime is exposed by the brilliant work of our intrepid hero detective Virgil Tibbs.
One of the notable actors in this film is Sherry North who plays the rich Park Avenue white woman with a past in a manner not unlike her work in "Charlie Varrick."      It is a shame that Sidney Poitier did not again portray Virgil Tibbs, but we do have these three films, two of which are sensational.
We first met Virgil Tibbs waiting for a train in Sparta Mississippi In the Heat of the Night.
Now, he had his badge taken away after no keeping his Captain informed as he fought The Organization in San Francisco.Maybe the hippie thing is getting tired: calling police "pigs," and the weird dress, and constant "man"'s, or maybe Tibbs is getting tired, but this was just a fair viewing of Sidney Potier as Virgil Tibbs.Well, at least he is still married to the same woman (Barbara McNair), and I always like seeing Raul Julia (Moon Over Parador, Kiss of the Spider Woman), there is "Superfly" (Ron O'Neal), Daniel J.
Close on the heels of Isaac Hayes as Shaft, there was Sidney Poitier as Mister Tibbs.
Both starred in a number of films based around their characters, although Poitiers tended to be slightly more realistic in nature (What with them being directly made with the assistance of the local force) and with less wanton violence.That doesn't mean they were immune to suffering from cliché-itis, though.
It may not be the movie's fault that such scenes have been done to death over 40 years, but it is what it is.Poitier keeps things ticking over nicely with his usual reliable screen presence, and the sparse family moments he shares with his wife and son are a nice touch...
From its suspenseful opening heist scene to its realistic ending,Sidney Poitier's third and final outing as Vigil Tibbs is everything a cop movie should be.Well cast with some great chase scenes.Director Don Medford keeps the fun rolling along at a nice pace.All in all,a great film..
Virgil Tibbs, San Francisco detective.
Virgil Tibbs apparently left his detective post in Philadelphia for one in San Francisco, where he shows up investigating a robbery of furniture company that's actually a front for The Organization, a group of businessmen dedicated to the sale of heroin.
A Mod Squad of locals orchestrates the robbery as the film opens, stealing four million dollars worth of smack, not to sell it, but to keep it off the streets.
Since they're not hardened drug dealers, they're not much of a match for the well-portrayed hit men of the Organization, leaving it up to Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) to try to protect them while working to break the heroin ring.
When he first showed up as MISTER Tibbs in Heat of the Night, I knew it would be a great watch.
The premise of a group of amateurs trying to bring down "the organization" and then trying to drag in a good cop like Tibbs (who doesn't let the force know what he is doing) is, well, thin and silly.
There were great slices of Tibbs' home life with his son and daughter, which goes to show that Poitier brings life into even a tedious period cop piece like this one.
Of the films starring the immortal character Virgil Tibbs, The Organization is the third and final installment.
Don't worry, though; Sidney Poitier made a lot of movies where he played an agent or a detective, so you can keep watching him save the day.
It's not necessary, but you'll probably want to watch In the Heat of the Night first, and depending on how much you liked it, They Call Me Mister Tibbs.
In this one, Sidney is drawn into a radical group who want to expose and destroy "the organization".
It feels a little more like a mediocre detective movie with the normal amount of violence, law-breaking, explosions, and gun-waving.Believe it or not, my main criticism with the film is one others might not even notice.
When Barbara McNair asks her husband what's going on, since she's concerned for his safety after the violence and death threats in the beginning of the film, Sidney's response is to say, "Honey, make me a sandwich," and wink at her.
Sidney Poitier walks through role as San Francisco police lieutenant Virgil Tibbs in this second sequel to 1968's "In the Heat of the Night", following "They Call Me Mister Tibbs!" from the previous year.
Plot, however, is engrossing and complicated as a multi-racial, anti-drug revolutionary group summons Tibbs to their hideout, hoping to take him into their confidence.
They've just pulled off the elaborate robbery of four millions dollars' worth of heroin from the vault of a furniture-making company--unfortunately, they had to kidnap one of the top executives to get the vault open and, after they left, he was murdered.
Still, they manage to disrupt everyone involved in the acquisition of the smack, from the suit-and-tie organization in their skyscraper headquarters to their goons on the street to the furniture company's night watchman, who gets shot on his way to the station with Tibbs for questioning.
Tibbs agrees to work with the group, which forces him to conceal his knowledge of information from his department as well as from the highly defensive chief of narcotics, whose superior just committed suicide.
Poitier isn't convincing interacting with the vigilantes, nor with his superiors, nor with wife Barbara McNair and their two kids; it's a dud performance.
The colorful supporting cast of character actors (Raul Julia, Allen Garfield, Bernie Hamilton, Billy "Green" Bush, Dan Travanty, Sheree North, Ron O'Neal, Maxwell Gail Jr.) nearly makes up for the star's lethargy, and the San Francisco locations are an asset.
Director Don Medford keeps the scenario busy, but it's activity without a lot of gripping action, the chases and shoot-outs coming right off an assembly-line.
Similar to "Bullitt," but with Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) as the detective.
RELEASED IN 1971-72 and directed by Don Medford, "The Organization" features detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) working in San Francisco where he encounters a noble radical group who want to take down a crime syndicate that deals in heroin.
Barbara McNair plays Virgil's wife while Raul Julia & Ron O'Neal play two of the vigilantes.
This was the third and final Virgil Tibbs movie, which happened to be the first detective movie series in color to go three films (or so they say).
Between the first film, "In the Heat of the Night" (1967), and the second film, "They Call Me Mr. Tibbs" (1970), Tibbs transferred from Philadelphia to San Francisco and now had a family (he was single in the first film).
Speaking of the iconic "Bullitt," "The Organization" is similar in tone, but more melodramatic, like "Dirty Harry," which was released around the same time.
If you've seen "In the Heat of the Night," it's interesting to see Tibbs in his own stomping grounds, i.e. the multiculturalism of the big city, as opposed to be an understandably angry stranger in a small town of the still-prejudiced Deep South.
As a snapshot of Big City, USA, 1970 (when it was filmed) "The Organization" is priceless.
THE FILM RUNS 106 minutes and was shot in San Francisco.
Sidney Poitier reprises his Virgil Tibbs role from In the Heat of the Night as a San Francisco police officer who forms an uneasy alliance with a group of well-meaning vigilantes who stole 40 lbs of heroin from the syndicate's import headquarters.It's hard to find anything specific that's wrong with the film, except that if you're going to have a car chase in SF, it should be more than a minute long.Maybe it's just the annoying 70s music.....
I lived in San Francisco from 1964-1980 and got to see a LOT of movies filmed there.
I watched them film the sections in Bart ( being built back then and one of the film's chase scenes goes on in the tunnel) and Muni and saw this and the 2 previous Virgil Tibbs films in San Francisco theatres.It is fun to look at this movie after 30+ years and see what is still there and what has changed over the years.
The hofbrau on Turk Street ( Iate there every night, it was cheap) and Lew Lehr's steak house disappeared in the 80s.Hare Krishna's on Market Street across from the Sheraton Palace.I feel this movie is better than the previous Tibbs film, but my opinion is, of course, subjective.
Of course, the premise of this film, that 6 people could bring down "the organization" ( mafia?) by stealing 4 million dollars worth of heroin is kind of silly.
And the organization is having a hard time coming up with cash to buy back the drugs?
Come on guys....As for the 70s music, well, Lalo Schiffrin and others composed a lot of movie music back then and times change.
I liked the music myself.The 70s saw a lot of movies filmed in the city by the bay.
I worked as an extra in films in those days and miss that era of cheap food, cheap rent, and cheap Giants tickets...A great site I just found shows probably every movie filmed in San Francisco.http://www.MisterSF.comclick on cinematic sf !George Senda Concord, Ca. Taking down The Organization?.
Sidney Poitier for the third and last time essayed his Virgil Tibbs character in The Organization.
It's definitely one film for the paranoid.There's a robbery/homicide at a furniture warehouse factory outlet in San Francisco.
But Virgil Tibbs is known as an honest cop far and wide and when the robbers contact him with their story, he's real interested.
The outlet was an organized crime front and what was taken and not reported was five million dollars worth of heroin.
If he's willing to work with them, maybe we can take down The Organization.But The Organization is very resourceful indeed and Poitier has to watch his back 24/7 because he doesn't know who he can trust in the San Francisco PD.
The film does have a real cop feel for it because guys like Garry Walberg, Daniel J.
O'Loughlin who all played prominent TV cops are all in the San Francisco PD with Sid.The robbers are a group of Seventies Revolutionaries and have such diverse folks as Lani Miyazaki, Ron O'Neal, Billy Green Bush and heading the curious crew is a young Raul Julia.
Poitier is right, these people have every reason to be concerned.The key to the whole thing is widow Sheree North who will either be rich or dead depending on how she plays it.
Sheree is great as always.Poitier as in They Call Me, MISTER TIBBS is married to Barbara McNair.
Funny though, when Virgil Tibbs as Howard Rollins decided to go back to work for the Sparta, PD his wife became Althea instead of Valerie which she is in both of these films.The ending shows that the effort might not have been worth it after all.
While investigating a corporate break-in, San Francisco Police Detective "Virgil Tibbs" (Sidney Portier) discovers that the suspects are in reality a group of revolutionaries bent on destroying a drug cartel known as "The Organization." Without permission from his superiors, "Tibbs" begins to work with the revolutionaries.
They work their own ways, "Tibbs" working within police regulations, but still together.This is a pretty well written movie, but with some slight flaws in performances.
This is the third movie where he portrays "Tibbs," of which he is probably best known for.
He plays "Tibbs" two ways in the film.
"Tibbs" passion is his work, and Portier makes you believe it.
In fact, I felt that these characters would fit better in an early-1970's television series than in a major motion picture.When it comes to the soundtrack, it's typical 1970's movie music.
However, some pieces of music was used quite well in scenes.The action is pretty toned down in this film, probably because of the time it was filmed.
The only thing that makes these scenes intense is the music played over them.There is a pretty good, and unexpected twist at the end of the movie, and it's handled pretty well thanks to Portier's performance.
Don was an excellent TV director, but as a director of feature films like "The Organization", he was unteachable.
To Medford, a really good movie was one composed almost entirely of close-ups.
There is, however, one scene in this movie that Medford actually got right – or maybe he was away that day?
***SPOILERS*** The third and final installment of the adventures of former Philadelphia detective Let. Virgil Tibbs, Sidney Poitier.
Tibbs now a member of the SFDP homicide division gets in over his head in an effort to take on "The Organization" that's running both the city and State.In the movie Tibbs gets himself involved with this rag tag revolutionary group made up of former junkies or persons who had members of their family or friends end up dead because of using illegal drugs.
The revolutionaries lead by street corner preacher Dave Thomas, Billy Green Bush, had raided one of "The Organization's" phony business fronts, the Century Furniture Co., used as a storage center for it's drug shipments.
Not by the revolutionaries but by someone, or someones, who were afraid he'd talk to the police if it's found out that he's a front-man for "The Organization".Called to the scene of the break-in murder Tibbs senses that he's on to something big in that the night watchman George Morgan, Charles H.
Bishop, has Tibbs decide not to have his superiors on the SFPD know about what he's doing in working with them to find Bishop's killer!
As well as his connection with "The Organization" who's suspected by Tibbs in having him killed!***SPOILERS*** Let. Tibbs against his better judgment gets himself involved with a bunch of mentally unstable,from being addicted to hard drugs, persons who end up almost getting him killed in his, very foolishly, trying to help them.
In fact they themselves, or some of them, tried to sell the drugs back to "The Organization" which tipped it off to just who were the people who stole it!
In that there's was never another sequel to the Virgil Tibbs saga, this being the third and final installment, to come out of the Hollywood studios again!