A Patch of Blue

A Patch of Blue is a 1965 American drama film directed by Guy Green about the relationship between a black man (played by Sidney Poitier) and a blind white female teenager (played by Elizabeth Hartman), and the problems that plague their relationship when they fall in love in a racially divided America. Made in 1965 against the backdrop of the growing civil rights movement, the film explores racism from the perspective of "love is blind."

Shelley Winters won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, her second win for the award, following her victory in 1959 for The Diary of Anne Frank. It was also the final screen appearance for veteran actor Wallace Ford.

Scenes of Poitier and Hartman kissing were excised from the film when it was shown in film theaters in the Southern United States. These scenes are intact in the DVD version. According to the DVD audio commentary, it was the decision of director Guy Green that A Patch of Blue be filmed in black and white, although color was available.

The film was adapted by Guy Green from the 1961 book Be Ready with Bells and Drums by the Australian author Elizabeth Kata. The book later won a Writers Guild of America award. The plot differs slightly from the film in that it has a less optimistic ending. In addition to the Best Supporting Actress win for Winters, the film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Elizabeth Hartman), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Black-and-White) (George Davis, Urie McCleary, Henry Grace, Charles S. Thompson), Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) and Best Music (Original Music Score). Hartman, 22 at the time, was the youngest Best Actress nominee, a record she held for ten years before 20-year-old Isabelle Adjani broke her record in 1975.

Plot
Selina D'Arcey is a blind girl living in a city apartment with her prostitute mother Rose-Ann and grandfather Ole Pa. She strings beads to supplement her family's 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 grandfather to take her to the park, where she happens to meet Gordon Ralfe, an educated and soft-spoken black man working night shifts in an office. The two quickly become friends, meeting at the park almost every day. Gordon learns that she was blinded at the age of five when Rose-Ann threw chemicals on her while attempting to hit her husband, and also that she was raped by one of Rose-Ann's "boyfriends".

Rose-Ann's 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 out, Selina runs away to the park and, with some difficulty, meets Gordon. She tells Gordon about Rose-Ann's plan, and he assures her that she will be leaving for school in a few days. Finding Selina missing from the apartment, Rose-Ann takes Ole Pa to the park and confronts Gordon. Despite Rose-Ann's resistance, Gordon manages to take Selina away, and Ole Pa stops Rose-Ann from chasing after them, telling her that Selina is not a child anymore.

At Gordon's 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 for her trip to the school, and both friends say goodbye. Gordon had wanted to give Selina a music box that his grandmother gave him, but the bus has already left, so he goes back to his apartment.

Cast

 * Sidney Poitier as Gordon Ralfe
 * Shelley Winters as Rose-Ann D'Arcey
 * Elizabeth Hartman as Selina D'Arcey
 * Wallace Ford as Ole Pa
 * Ivan Dixon as Mark Ralfe
 * Elisabeth Fraser as Sadie
 * John Qualen as Mr. Faber
 * Kelly Flynn as Yanek Faber
 * Debi Storm as Selina, age 5
 * Renata Vanni as Mrs. Favaloro
 * Saverio LoMedico as Mr. Favaloro
 * Casey Merriman as Casey M

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 Institute's 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 film's creators also made a short about Hartman's 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 &mdash; similar to the beadwork her character does in the film &mdash; and to perform tasks of daily living and self-care, of the sort that Poitier's character teaches Selina to do.

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

Awards and honors
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
 * 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated
 * 2005: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated

Box office
The film proved to be the most successful in Poitier's career, which proved a lucrative development considering he agreed to a salary cut in exchange for 10% of the film's 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.