The Organization (1971)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1971
Running Time	103:32 (Case: 108)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Don Medford
Studio Distributor	MGM	Starring	Sidney Poitier Barbara McNair Gerald S. O'Loughlin Sheree North Fred Beir Allen Garfield Bernie Hamilton Graham Jarvis Raul Julia Ron O'Neal James A. Watson Jr. Charles H. Gray Jarion Monroe
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Gil Melle

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired French Italian Spanish Dutch Portuguese Hungarian	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I enjoy Sidney Poitier's work, especially his intensity and gravitas. Accordingly, I was keen to review this film, which I had not previously seen, starring Sidney Poitier as one of his signature characters, Virgil Tibbs, in what is the second sequel to In The Heat of The Night after They Call Me, Mister Tibbs.

    In The Heat of The Night is a renowned film which features Poitier in one of his best performances paired with an equally impressive Rod Steiger. It won 5 Academy Awards in 1967 including Best Picture and Best Actor for Steiger. Unfortunately, The Organization is not of that calibre or even particularly related to that film except that it features a character of the same name and profession (although in a different city), played by the same actor. This is not to say that the The Organization is a bad film because it certainly isn't, it just doesn't have the themes and drama of the earlier film or an actor of Steiger's quality to play against Poitier.

    The Organization is a competently made police procedural/action film which includes some good chase sequences and an involving plot. A break-in occurs at a furniture company in San Francisco and Lt Virgil Tibbs of the SFPD homicide squad is called in to investigate, due to the fact that the dead body of the manager is found at the scene. The company is into more than furniture as Tibbs soon discovers when he is contacted by a group of vigilantes, led by a young Raul Julia, who admit to the break-in but deny involvement in the murder. Tibbs is soon embroiled in an investigation involving big business where his fellow officers are suspects and he must keep details of what he knows from his superiors.

    This is an enjoyable film with an engaging lead performance by Sidney Poitier and a really interesting jazz score by Gil Melle who was in fact a Blue Note recording artist during the 1950s. For those who are not aware, Blue Note was one of the top Jazz labels of the Post Bop era and features recordings by many of the great jazz artists. The score includes some interesting Avant-garde jazz especially during the chase sequences.

    If you do not go into this film expecting another classic like In the Heat of the Night there is much here to enjoy.

Video

    The video quality is surprisingly good for a film of this age.

    The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise, although there was some very light grain . The shadow detail was fine for a film of this age, but was nothing spectacular.

    The colour was generally pretty good and well saturated although it did not have the vibrancy of more modern films.

    From an artefacts perspective there were very few, with some minor specks here and there, a jump in the film at 74:30 and an opaque spot in the middle of the screen for 10 seconds or so at 102:00.

    There are subtitles in 8 languages including both English & German for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear, easy to read and very close to the spoken word.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good but mono.

    This DVD contains five audio options, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s and the same in German, French, Spanish & Italian.

    Dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand and generally there was no problem with audio sync, however, I did notice a couple of times when Poitier's lips were moving but there were no words heard. I can only think that these words were removed in post-production. It does not affect the flow of the film.

    The score of this film by Gil Melle is very enjoyable, especially for jazz fans. Some portions of the soundtrack are quite avant-garde especially during a particular chase scene around 73:00. The music was one of the highlights for me.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer are not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu included shots from the film and a scene selection function, and was easy to use.

Theatrical Trailer (2:45)

    This trailer is presented in 1.33:1, contains some minor spoilers and includes a very serious and earnest voiceover. It does the job.

    This film has been released in Region 1 & Region 2  in exactly the same format except for NTSC/PAL differences. Let's call it a draw.

    The video quality is very good for a film of this age.

    The audio quality is good.

    The disc has only a theatrical trailer as an extra.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall