For Love of Ivy is a 1968 romantic comedy film directed by Daniel Mann

Daniel Mann

Daniel Mann, also known as Daniel Chugerman , was an American film and television director.Daniel Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a stage actor since childhood, and attended Erasmus Hall High School, New York's Professional Children's School and the Neighborhood Playhouse...

. The film stars Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier

Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...

, Abbey Lincoln

Abbey Lincoln

Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...

, Beau Bridges

Beau Bridges

Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...

, Nan Martin

Nan Martin

Nan Martin was an American actress who starred in movies and on television.Born in Decatur, Illinois and raised in Santa Monica, California, her first film role was The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit...

, Lauri Peters

Lauri Peters

Lauri Peters is an American actress, dancer, singer, drama teacher and author. Birth name - Patricia Peterson.Peters created the role of Liesl Von Trapp in the original 1959 Broadway production of The Sound of Music. She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting or Featured Actress in...

 and Carroll O'Connor

Carroll O'Connor

John Carroll O'Connor best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades...

. The story was written by Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier

Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...

 with screenwriter Robert Alan Arthur. The musical score was composed by Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones

Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...

. The film received Golden Globe supporting acting nominations for Beau Bridges

Beau Bridges

Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...

 and Abbey Lincoln

Abbey Lincoln

Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...

.

Plot

Seeking to improve herself, Ivy Moore, an African-American maid, announces her decision to leave her job working for the Austin family and go to secretarial school. The Austins are desperate to keep her and the teenagers, Gena and Tim, hatch a scheme to do so. Tim Austin sets up Ivy with Jack Parks, a trucking company executive, to wine and dine Ivy Moore. He hopes that the introduction of excitement in her life will dissuade her from leaving the family. Tim Austin persuades a reluctant Jack Parks to date her by threatening to reveal his illegal gambling casino. Their initial meetings are awkward for the cosmopolitan Parks and the less sophisticated Moore. Eventually, however, romance blossoms, but when Moore learns that Parks was coerced into initially dating her, she breaks up with him. Parks overcomes his attachment to bachelorhood and asks Moore to marry him. She accepts.

Themes

While it isn't a race movie, or primarily about race, Jack Parks (Sidney Poitier) enjoys playing on the Austin children's racial stereotypes.

The film was released on Region 1 DVD by MGM Home Video January 20, 2004.

External links

• For Love of Ivy at Turner Classic Movies
  Turner Classic Movies
  Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...