Jewison was a master of all genres

There are plenty of movie directors who have mastered a genre.
Then there was Norman Jewison, who died Jan. 20 at 97. He mastered them all.
He directed two powerful racial dramas, “In the Heat of the Night” (shown here) and “A Soldier’s Story.” He made two musicals, one Christian (“Jesus Christ Superstar”), the other Jewish (“Fiddler on the Roof”). His comedies ranged from the light fun of two Doris Day films to the satire of “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.”
Jewison never won a competitive Academy Award, but one of his films won best-picture and four others were nominated. The winner, and then the nominees, were:
— “In the Heat of the Night” (1967). Sure, the plot sounds contrived and commercial: A Black police detective, visiting home in Mississippi, is rounded up as a murder suspect; soon, he’s told to help a bigoted cop solve the case. But Jewison cast two of the greatest actors – Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger – and let them mesh perfectly.
— “A Soldier’s Story” (1984). Jewison’s other racial drama didn’t require much heavy lifting. It was already a powerful stage play about a murder in a military post in the 1940s; he directed it perfectly. Alongside the stars (Howard Rollins, Larry Riley, etc.), we get early glimpses of Denzel Washington, David Alan Grier and more.
— “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” (1966). When red-menace talk was big, this imagined a Russian sub getting too close to the New England coast. Local folks over-react in broadly funny ways; Alan Arkin is terrific in his movie debut.
— “Moonstruck” (1987). Yes, Jewison could also do subtle comedy. This one started with a clever script by John Patrick Shanley, capturing mixed emotions in a vibrant Italian family. It won Oscars for Shanley, Cher and Olympia Dukakis.
— “Fiddler on the Roof” (1971). Hollywood made a lot of bad musicals after “Mary Poppins” and “Sound of Music” triumphed, but it also made some good ones. “Fiddler” is more about the story – a sweeping tale of family, tradition and change – than the music. Jewison directed it beautifully.
And beyond those Oscar-nominees, he had plenty of other worthy movies.
He followed “Fiddler” with another musiical, the splendid “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1973). He made two Doris Day comedies, “The Thrill of It All” (1963) and “Send Me No Flowers” (1964), turning both into enjoyable romps.
He made Al Pacino a lawyer, Sylvester Stallone a union boss, James Caan a violent athlete and Steve McQueen an elegant thief. (That was in the 1978 “And Justice For All,” 1979 “F.I.S.T,” 1975 “Rollerball” and 1968 “The Thomas Crown Affair.”)
He made a lot of films, all worth watching. A quick check (subject to change) ahows that Max has “Thomas Crown” and Amazon Prime has several – “In the Heat of the Night,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Rollerball,” “And Justice For All.”
Others are on rental or sales sites and/or on Roku or Freevee. Sprawled across the mediia landscape, you’ll find the products of a masterful life.