FILM/SNEAK PEEK : ACADEMY SALUTES POITIER WITH TWO-NIGHT FILM FEST.

Byline: - Bob McCarthy

American audiences first caught a glimpse of Sidney Poitier in 1950's ``No Way Out.'' What they witnessed was the beginning of a long and influential career of an actor who possessed a rare combination of erudite mannerisms and steely-eyed intensity.

Poitier's dynamic screen presence has opened doors for the African-American actors who rank among the elite in their profession today: Morgan Freeman, Laurence Fishburne, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson and Wesley Snipes.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences devotes two nights to a salute to Poitier's contribution and work, beginning at 8 p.m. Thursday. Clips from his many films will be shown, and colleagues including Diahann Carroll, Richard Roundtree, Richard Benjamin, Norman Jewison and Phil Alden Robinson, who directed Poitier in the 1992 ``Sneakers,'' will be there.

On Friday, a restored print of ``In the Heat of the Night'' (1967), starring Poitier as a Philadelphia police detective working on a mysterious murder in a small Southern town, screens at 8 p.m. The event will reunite the award-winning cast that took home five Oscars, including Best Actor for Rod Steiger, who played a redneck sheriff who grudgingly accepts the big-city detective's help in the case.

Poitier was nominated for an Academy Award in 1958 for ``The Defiant Ones,'' and five years later won a Best Actor Oscar for ``Lilies of the Field.'' His other acting credits include ``The Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), ``To Sir With Love'' (1967) and ``Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' (1967).

He directed ``Buck and the Preacher'' (1972), ``Uptown Saturday Night'' (1974) and ``Stir Crazy'' (1980). ``Uptown Saturday Night'' paired Poitier and Bill Cosby as middle-class pals who, along with their wives, unwittingly stumble into trouble with gangsters and assorted bad dudes, and led to some amusing follow-ups built on the same colorblind premise that bad things happen to good buddies.

Tickets cost $5 for the general public, $3 for academy members. Doors open at 7 p.m. at the academy, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Call [phone] for information.

Creme de la crime

A five-weekend series of classic French crime and gangster films, starts tonight with a double feature at the Raleigh Studios' Charlie Chaplin Theater.

All films in the ``Jean-Pierre Melville and the French Crime Film'' series are in French with English subtitles. ``The French crime film was the very definition of cool - a quicksilver world of silent killers and speeding Citroens,'' according to sponsor American Cinematheque.

Tonight opens with ``Classe Tout Risque'' by director Claude Sautet, which was forgotten until last year's Telluride Film Festival. Lino Ventura plays a fading gangster who, with his wife and family, runs from the mob. ``Classe Tour Risque'' screens at 7:15 tonight and 9:45 p.m. Saturday.

Also tonight at 9:45 is ``Bob Le Flambeur,'' Jean-Pierre Melville's nostalgic 1955 film about the rough-and-tumble days of casino takeovers and shifty men and women in the Montamarte district of Paris.

The theater is at 5300 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Tickets cost $7 general admission, $4 for American Cinematheque members. For tickets, call [phone], Ext. 3.

Spies, spies, spies

The '60s spy spoof ``Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery'' was good for laughs, but how does Mike Myers stack up against his suave predecessors who saved the world from villains and looked like a million bucks in a tux?

Find out June 19-25 when the Nuart Theatre puts up a week's worth of mostly lighthearted Cold War spy pictures, starting with Dean Martin as Matt Helm in ``The Silencers,'` followed by the '96 spoof ``Austin Powers.'' Sean Connery (007 himself) does a double Bond feature June 20 with ``Goldfinger'' and ``From Russia With Love.''

On opening night, the bowler hat worn by TV's ``The Avengers' '' John Steed will be on display in the theater lobby. David Niven, Diana Rigg, Rod Taylor, James Mason, Peter Sellers, Donald Sutherland and Orson Welles are headliners in the weeklong program.

The Nuart is at 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. Call [phone] for program and ticket information.

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Photo

Photo: A restored print of the 1967 film ``In the Heat of the Night,'' with Sidney Poitier, left, and Rod Steiger, screens at 8 p.m. Friday.