Synopsis
They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it.
An African American detective is asked to investigate a murder in a racist southern town.
1967 Directed by Norman Jewison
An African American detective is asked to investigate a murder in a racist southern town.
Sidney Poitier Rod Steiger Warren Oates Peter Whitney Lee Grant Anthony James William Schallert Scott Wilson Larry Gates James Patterson Quentin Dean Kermit Murdock Larry D. Mann Matt Clark Beah Richards Arthur Malet Fred Stewart Timothy Scott William Watson Eldon Quick Jester Hairston Stuart Nisbet Khalil Bezaleel Peter Masterson Phil Adams Nikita Knatz Sam Reese Jack Teter Alan Oppenheimer Show All…
No Calor da Noite, 恶夜追缉令, 月黑风急杀人夜, Al calor de la noche, Dans la chaleur de la nuit, Среднощна жега, Gecenin sicaginda, U vrelini noći, In caldura noptii, W upalna noc, Natten var het, Istoria enos eglimatos, 밤의 열기 속으로, 밤의 열기 속에서, Опівнічна жара, De Nacht van Inspecteur Tibbs, У врелини ноћи, En el Calor de la Noche, Душной южной ночью, In der Hitze der Nacht, La calda notte dell'ispettore Tibbs, En el calor de la noche, 炎热的夜晚, I nattens hetta, Gecenin Sıcağında, Полуночная жара, Forró éjszakában, V žáru noci, Ιστορία ενός Εγκλήματος, כחום הלילה, 夜の大捜査線, Спекотної ночі, W Upalną Noc, I nattens hede, 惡夜追緝令, În arșița nopții, Yön kuumuudessa, En la calor de la nit
The one thing that I think is overlooked about In The Heat Of The Night is that it is not just about racism.
Even back in 1967, a time of desperately needed political and social upheaval, director Norman Jewison was keen to make this film more than just 'Sidney Poitier sorts out some racists in a small Southern town'. It was quite a brave decision, really, and I don't think anyone could possibly have blamed him if he had made the film just that.
Rather subtly, though, Jewison makes his film almost as much about the 'Big City North' versus 'Small Town South'. He is careful with it. He doesn't just have hotshot homicide detective Poitier stroll into Sparta and…
sidney poitier said: ill smack this racist plantation owner’s face so hard it’s gonna sound like a screenshot
All he wanted to do was catch the 4:05 train to Memphis. Instead, Virgil Tibbs gets stuck in the middle of a Deep South homicide investigation where he clashes with a hard-headed stuck-in-his-ways Chief of Police. A Peckerwood's not-so-tasty pie. A peep-show. A homicide on Main Street. My favorite actor Warren fuckin Oates as a deputy who wants to get fucked and have his pie too. A train station confrontation. Guess who's a fuckin cop? Freaking everyone the fuck out when you're the smartest man in the room. The way Rod fuckin Steiger chews bubble-gum and kicks ass at the same time. The bluesy soundtrack that inspired Jimmy Rabbitte and his friends. An angry widow. A lucky lefty. A racist-fuck…
This film earned its Best Picture win the moment Sidney Poitier slapped a previous slave owner in the face.
wanted to punch nearly every single person in the face who wasn't sidney poitier
also the fact that this won best picture and rod steiger won best actor but sidney wasn't even nominated is actually the most laughable thing in the world and clearly the academy has always been on crack
70/100
Was inspired to revisit this by James Baldwin's discussion of the final scene, as seen in I Am Not Your Negro, and it's much more psychologically acute and formally robust than I'd vaguely recalled from my one previous viewing (ca. 1990–91, when I was first bulldozing my way through the canon on VHS). Biggest problem is the imbalance between its genre-based narrative and its sociological critique—the film is so heavily weighted toward the latter that it barely seems to care about the murder mystery at all, even as it devotes a whole lot of screen time to aspects of the investigation that don't particularly dovetail with Sparta's racial animus. (This may have been less of an issue in the…
Don't think it's unfair to criticize this for some of the easy, lecture-y liberalism baked into the reconciliation concept of a racist southern sheriff learning to be less racist when he meets a smart, educated black northern detective who helps him solve a local murder case, but as far as broad Hollywood issues pictures go Jewison has managed to assemble a lot of talent to elevate and complicate it in the details. The script itself by Stirling Silliphant who wrote Tourneur's Nightfall and Siegel's The Lineup has a solid feel for the tough genre procedure and class detail (the initial rage here is not only that they've wrongly pointed their fingers at a northern cop but a better-paid one), and…
Damn Haskell Wexler going so hard that he basically invents 70s American cinematography in one movie
They say Rod Steiger chewed that ossified piece of gum until the day he died.
I've been sitting on this one for almost a month now because I'm just so torn about it, and I still haven't really sorted out my feelings yet, but at this point I just need to pin down my points of indecision and move on.
In the Heat of the Night is famous for its portrayal of racism in the American South, and I love a good Issue Film, so what's the problem here? First, the film has little to no interest in systemic racism: racism here is limited to the racist people who mistreat Sidney Poitier and their luridly obvious slurs and physical violence. There's no subtlety or nuance, it's all brute force and far too limiting.
Second, this…
Criterion Collection Spine #959
A skilled homicide detective from Philly gets pulled into a murder investigation while passing through a small southern town. The cops there would be glad to have his help, if they were not so hung up about the color of his skin.
"They call me MISTER TIBBS!"... "Ya dig?"
It is fascinating to see such a mediocre police procedural like In the Heat of the Night, be elevated by focusing in on the flagrant racist attitudes of so many of the white characters in this Mississippi town in the mid-60s. In the lead role we have Sidney Poitier as detective Tibbs, who only gets involved because an officer arrests him just because he is a black…
I like that the film doesn’t take the easy way out. In a scene where Jewison could have easily tied a “we’ve all learned things and made progress towards racial equity through one murder case” bow on the film, he goes for realism instead.
In one scene towards the end, Tibbs and Gillespie seem to be finding common ground. Gillespie even shows vulnerability in discussing his background. However, the second Tibbs appears to draw an equivalency between the two, the connection is immediately severed.
Rod Steiger gives a great performance, though he does remind us that he can chew scenery when he’s literally just chewing gum. This is Poitier’s film, though; he comports himself with the kind of poise and quiet strength that makes the behavior of Sparta, Mississippi’s white population look even more grotesque and repugnant.