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Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, James Patterson ... see more see more... , Scott Wilson , Quentin Dean , Larry Gates , Beah Richards , William Schallert , Matt Clark , Anthony James , Kermit Murdock , Khalil Bezaleel , Peter Whitney , William Watson , Timothy Scott , Larry D. Mann , Stuart Nisbet , Eldon Quick , Fred Stewart , Arthur Malet , Peter Masterson , Alan Oppenheimer , Phil Garris , Jester Hairston , Clegg Hoyt , Phil Adams , Nikita Knatz , Buzz Barton , Sammy Reese , Jack Teter

The winner of the 1967 Oscar for Best Picture (as well as four other Oscars), In the Heat of the Night is set in a small Mississippi town where an unusual murder has been committed. Rod Steiger plays ... read more read more...sheriff Bill Gillespie, a good lawman despite his racial prejudices. When Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), a well-dressed northern African-American, comes to town, Gillespie instinctively puts him under arrest as a murder suspect. Tibbs reveals himself to be a Philadelphia police detective; after he and Gillespie come to a grudging understanding of one another, Tibbs offers to help in Gillespie's investigation. As the case progresses, both Gillespie and Tibbs betray a tendency to jump to culture-dictated conclusions. Still, the case is solved thanks to the informal teamwork of the two law officers. Based on the novel by John Ball, In the Heat of the Night inspired two sequels, both starring Poiter as Virgil Tibbs. In 1987, a TV series version of In the Heat of the Night appeared, with Carroll O'Connor as Gillespie and Howard Rollins as Tibbs. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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90% liked it

21,069 ratings

Critics

96% liked it

28 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min.

Directed by: Norman Jewison

Release Date: August 2, 1967

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DVD Release Date: January 9, 2001

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Stats: 1,191 reviews

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Poitier, Steiger and Norman Jewison Sidney Poitier as Mr. Tibbs Warren Oates as Sergeant Sam Wood Lee Grant and Sidney Poitier Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger Lee Grant, Larry Gates and Rod Steiger Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger Sidney Poitier and Larry Gates Rod Steiger as Police Chief Gillespie In the Heat of the Night In the Heat of the Night In the Heat of the Night In the Heat of the Night Lee Grant in In the Heat of the Night In the Heat of the Night Rod Steiger in In the Heat of the Night
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Flixster Reviews (1,191)

  • jamers2011
    May 15, 2011
    jamers2011
    "They call me Mr. Tibbs!"

    Great film! Not really one i'd call a classic, but this is timeless piece that was completely ahead of it's time.

    Released in 1967, during the Civil Rights movement, In the Heat of the Night is about a Black Philadelphia cop who gets involved in a ... read moremurder case in a small rascist Mississippi town. The film dared to go where so many other films of the time dared not, and it's for that reason it will remembered forever.

    Strong performance by Sidney Poitier, but the whole film is driven by the masterful performance by Rob Steiger! He definitely deserved the Oscar.

    In the Heat of the Night is a great crime/mystery film! I recommend it to everyone!
  • axadntpron
    March 21, 2011
    axadntpron
    An interesting film on the changing power dynamics of race relations in the Bible Belt at a time when the nation seemed to be mired in social upheaval. The film centers around the murder of a white business man and the way that small town mentalities react to an African American ... read moreman of power infringing on what they hold so dear: their ignorance. Sidney Poitier's character Virgil Tibbs symbolizes the African American rejection of caucasian paternalism. In his Academy Award winning performance, Rod Steiger plays Chief Bill Gillespie who is caught in the middle of serving justice and aiding in the upkeep of the small town naivety. Important for its time? Absolutely. Does it hold up very well? Fairly well. Does it lay the foundation for future bi-racial buddy cop films? I believe so.
    However, maybe because of my very own ignorance of the deep south, I have a hard time swallowing the blithe southern disposition that most of these characters embody. I understand that Jewison was trying to show a stark contrast between the old stock Americans and the more modern view of humanity, however it made many of these character appear a little too juvenile and prevented them from seeming like real people. With a film attempting to tackle such important social issues head on, the last thing you want is to feel as though it were an isolated incident.
    This is not meant to detract from the strengths of this film. The performances are strong, even though I find it odd that a film about race relations would give the award to Steiger, whose performance in my mind was not as important or as gripping as Poitier's. There is also some really interesting uses of POV shots to get the audience immersed in the film. On top of this, Wexler's cinematography is gritty and really gives the viewer a sense that you are truly in the deep South. All in all, a flawed but important film that is worth a watch.
  • fb619846742
    March 5, 2011
    fb619846742
    A compelling drama centering on a black detective (Sydney Poitier), who reluctantly takes on a case in the still racist and bigoted South, pairing up with an uneasy sheriff (Rod Steiger), whose corrupt nature is unquestionable. While suffering from a slight dose of a formulaic na... read moreture, and a nice, all too neat ending, this film is largely watchable thanks to a well-thought out story and impeccable casting. Poitier's calm, cool demeanor is perfect when compared to Steiger's toothpick chomping, easily angered one, and the two make for a certainly interesting pair. Sure, some buddy-cop cliches are thrown into the thing, but that's beside the point. Steiger does outshine Poitier, but both performances are still excellent overall. Definitely worth a view, if perhaps a little over-rated, still a solid noir that also does a great job establishing a hot, humid atmosphere loaded with an appropriate sense of paranoia.
  • ajv2688
    December 10, 2010
    ajv2688
    Poitier fights for both justice and racial equality as a police officer in a small southern town, and he's just so intense he makes the movie. The best reason to watch this is for his performance. This is a great movie.
  • smith44
    January 27, 2010
    smith44
    "They call me Mister Tibbs!"
  • kiriyamakazou
    October 23, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    It's so easy to make a 'race issue' movie, but it's hard to do it this well. Neither Poitier or Steiger are perfect human beings. Poitier is driven by a somewhat overbearing amount of arrogance. It's this, rather enjoyable, character flaw, that prevents him from being just anothe... read morer black man kept down by whitey. The plot is actually just a tool to explore the hate of the time and place, and because of this the conclusion is just an afterthought. The performances are powerful and it speeds through at a gripping pace. In the Heat of the Night, has no doubt lost a lot of it's power over the last 40 years, but it's still a wonderful movie.
  • matertenebraum
    October 16, 2009
    matertenebraum
    There are many bad "issues" movies out there, but this is not one of them. In a bad movie, all of the racist characters would be one dimensional and one hundred percent evil; here, Steiger is allowed to play a prejudiced man who is actually sympathetic and capable of growth (henc... read moree the Oscar). In a great twist, Virgil Tibbs himself is shown to be capable of prejudice, as he pursues Endicott without sufficient evidence. It's refreshing to see a movie that portrays the entire spectrum of racism, from the crazy extremists (and there are plenty of those on hand here) to the more subtly prejudiced.

    "Mississippi Burning," a weaker effort, is not only more tediously didactic, but also less progressive; that film doesn't feature a protagonist like Virgil Tibbs, and instead focuses on the actions of two white federal agents. In this case, the old movie really is the better movie; produced at the height of the civil rights struggle, "In the Heat of the Night" feels more immediate and passionate than preachy films on the subject that were made years later, after the tension had died down.

    Some reviewers complain that the mystery segments of the film are confusing, but I follow them without much trouble. Tibbs does a great Sherlock Holmes routine throughout, as he pieces together the solution based on clues that are also available to viewers. Sure, the ending is surprising, but it doesn't come entirely out of left field; I actually admire the subtle ways that clues are sewn throughout the film. If you're not used to mysteries, the barrage of red herrings and dead-end clues might surprise you, but it's pretty standard stuff for the genre.

    I knew about the classic line "They call me Mr. Tibbs!" long before I actually saw this movie. I used to wonder why the line was so famous; it doesn't sound that exciting, does it? But when I finally heard Poitier say it in context, I asked my brother to pause the tape so I could cheer without missing any of the subsequent dialog. That's how excited I get during this movie. The performances are so naturalistic, and the racial conflict so vividly drawn, that I get pulled into the action completely. Though 1967 was a strong year for films, I still think that the right one got Best Picture, and not just because it was topical; "In the Heat of the Night" is a well-directed, superb character study, populated by some of the most vivid characters I've ever encountered in a movie.
  • middleeasternfilms
    April 30, 2009
    middleeasternfilms
    Sidney Poitier portrays a black Philly detective who just happens to be passing through Sparta, Mississippi when he gets arrested for a murder that happened less than an hour earlier; all because he happens to be black and staying over in a racist southern town. When he convinces... read more the local police he didn't do it, he is then asked to stay and help solve the murder. But through it all, Rod Steiger's sheriff Gillespie has reservations and is constantly trying to get him to leave town so the local all-white police department can solve the case. The fact that a black police detective was so much better than a group of white police officers at solving crimes was only part of the reason this movie was so successful. Racial tensions were still simmering over in some places and this movie only portrayed those, especially with the acting talents of Academy Award winners Poitier and Steiger. And this film was 1,000 times better than that puke television show. Ugh!
  • FireStormStudios
    April 18, 2009
    FireStormStudios
    Any movie with so much racism in it, I find hard to get through at times. This film did a great job of showing the prejudice that unfortunately, still continues today. I can only image the impact this movie had in the late 60s. A great performance by Sidney Poitier. A must see.
  • superclerk25
    April 18, 2009
    superclerk25
    I really dug this flick. The combo of the two main actors really set off the screen. I enjoyed watching them do their thing.
    The murder mystery took a far back seat to the story of how the town deals with the black detective trying to do his job.
    There was only one character I ... read morethought didn't do a good job at all and that was the creepy girl that ended up being the key to the murder. She over acted and just came off creepy and a bit touched.
    I'm looking forward to seeing more of Sidney Poitier character.
    I loved any scene where we get Tibbs doing something that the white folk find appalling. When he examines the body and when he has to deal with the cotton grower. For only being a few decades away this frame of mind seems barbaric.

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Critic Reviews

February 20, 2009
TIME Magazine

No deep solutions are suggested in this subtle and meticulously observed study. Yet Director Norman Jewison has used his camera to extract a cer tain rough-cut beauty from each protagonist. Full Review

A.D. Murphy
February 19, 2008
A.D. Murphy, Variety

An excellent Sidney Poitier performance, and an outstanding one by Rod Steiger, overcome some noteworthy flaws to make In The Heat of the Night an absorbing contemporary murder drama. Full Review

Dave Kehr
December 13, 2006
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

A decent piece of do-good cinema. Full Review

Bosley Crowther
May 20, 2003
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

A film that has the look and sound of actuality and the pounding pulse of truth. Full Review

Christopher Null
February 28, 2008
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

far -- far -- more interested in racial politics than criminal capers, and it's Tibbs' interactions with the local yokels that make the film so memorable Full Review

October 31, 2007
Empire Magazine

Probably Norman Jewison's best picture. Full Review

October 31, 2007
Film4

The cleverness of Silliphant's script is in combining the investigation of a murder with a message film. Full Review

December 13, 2006
TV Guide's Movie Guide

[A] superb thriller. Full Review

Wesley Lovell
November 21, 2006
Wesley Lovell, Oscar Guy

Rod Steiger delivers an engaging performance as a bigoted police chief who comes to trust a strong black homicide detective. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
July 25, 2006
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Norman Jewison's drama is a message film in the guise of a small-town murder mystery, propagating interracial friendship between blacks and whites. Full Review

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    • Police Chief Bill Gillespie: Just once in my life, I'm gonna own my temper. I'm telling you that you're gonna stay here. You're gonna stay here if I have to go inside and call your chief of police and have him remind you of what he told you to do. But I don't think I have to do that, you see? No, because you're so damn smart. You're smarter than any white man. You're just gonna stay here and show us all. You've got such a big head that you could never live with yourself unless you could put us all to shame. You wanna know something, Virgil? I don't think that you could let an opportunity like that pass by.
    • Virgil Tibbs: They call me MISTER Tibbs!
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In the Heat of the Night Trivia

  • Oscar winner for Best Picture of 1967:  Answer »
  • Top 100 Movie Quotes Which 1967 movie has the quote "They call me Mister Tibbs!"?  Answer »
  • Name the actor who has appeared in The Blackboard Jungle, Buck and the Preacher, Defiant Ones, Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner, The Heat of the Night, and To Sir, With Love.  Answer »
  • The following movies were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1967. Which movie won the Oscar?  Answer »
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