Edge of the City (aka A Man is Ten Feet Tall)

Sidney Poitier earned rave reviews for his performance in this enthralling drama, playing a stevedore who befriends a drifter.

  • Director

    Martin Ritt

  • With

    Sidney Poitier, John Cassavetes, Jack Warden, Ruby Dee

  • USA 1957. 85min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    12A

  • A BFI National Archive print

This gritty film sees Poitier play Tommy Tyler, an ebullient New York City dockworker who takes John Cassavetes’ new hire under his wing. But a racist colleague soon threatens their friendship. Adapted from TV drama (with a role written specifically for him), Tommy is the embodiment of the self-sacrificing hero that defined this stage of the Poitier’s career.

Contains violence, racist language and outdated racial terms.

The screening of Edge of the City on Thursday 23 January 20:40 NFT2 will be introduced by season programmer Jonathan Ali and will be followed by a Q&A with Ryan Calais Cameron, writer of the play Retrograde and Ivanno Jeremiah, who stars as Sidney Poitier in the play.

Film on Film