Pressure Point

Sidney Poitier is a veteran psychiatrist who helps a frustrated younger colleague (played with animated gusto by Peter Falk) with a difficult patient by sharing a story from his own past in this 1962 drama. As a young psychiatrist working in a federal penitentiary in 1942, Poitier's character (the characters are unnamed) was assigned to the case of an angry white supremacist (Bobby Darin) convicted of sedition for his hate speech and pro-Hitler leanings. The young man can't sleep, is haunted by nightmares, and he takes his anger out on the psychiatrist with jibes and insults. But with the encouragement of his boss, the psychiatrist perseveres and helps the inmate through his problems. Or, some of them, anyway. Pressure Point is a true psychological drama, taking place almost entirely in therapy sessions, taking a Freudian approach to psychological trauma. Filmmaker Hubert Cornfield dramatizes the bigot's memories in highly stylized fashion—not flashbacks so much as experiences etched into his mind that are presented in an expressionist manner with minimalist sets and theatrical lighting. One of the many films of the era that confronted issues of racism and bigotry, Pressure Point approaches the topic with seriousness and integrity, but it is also heavy-handed and comes across as somewhat simplistic when viewed from our contemporary perspective. But Poitier brings a strength and dignity to the role, and Barry Gordon also shines (playing Darin's character in his memories). A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)