In the Heat of the Night Movie

In the Heat of the Night
Rating:
Run Time: 109 min
MPAA Rating:
Released: 1967
Directors: Norman Jewison
Genre/Type: Mystery
Crime Drama
Message Movie
Odd Couple Film
Police Detective Film
Producers: Walter Mirisch
Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
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 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.

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It was filmed in Sparta, Illinois. The bridge scene was at Chester, Illinois on the Mississippi River between Illinois and Missouri. Incidentally, the train depot has been restored to its former glory and is now an art museum with a section...
Blues man Ches Collins (Bobby Short) sings a song in his nightclub act that recounts the 1948 murder of Louis Sweet... more | add synopsis
In the 1988 television series, Mr. Virgil Tibbs was played by the actor Howard Rollins.
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Cast

Actors Character Born
Sidney Poitier Virgil Tibbs Feb 20, 1927 in Miami, FL
Rod Steiger Police Chief Bill Gillespie Apr 14, 1925 in West Hampton, NY
Warren Oates Deputy Sam Wood Jul 5, 1928 in Depoy, KY
Lee Grant Mrs. Leslie Colbert Oct 31, 1927 in New York, NY
James Patterson Purdy
Scott Wilson Harvey Oberst
Quentin Dean Delores Purdy
Larry Gates Eric Endicott Sep 24, 1915 in St. Paul, MN
William Schallert Mayor Schubert Jul 6, 1922 in Los Angeles, CA
Beah Richards Mama Caleba Jul 12, 1920 in Vicksburg, MS
Matt Clark Packy Harrison Nov 25, 1936 in Washington, DC
Anthony James Ralph Henshaw
Kermit Murdock H.E. Henderson
Khalil Bezaleel Jess
Peter Whitney George Courtney
William Watson McNeil
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Back to the topReview

Review by Bruce Eder
Norman Jewison's In The Heat of the Night was one of the unlikeliest hits to come out of 1967. Few issues were more provocative or dangerous to discuss in private, much less on screen, than race relations in the United States, and that went double for the Deep South, where the movie (based on John Ball's book) was set. Additionally, the country didn't seem to be clamoring for that kind of discussion: to this day, Roger Corman's The Intruder (1961) is the only theatrical film ever made about school integration in the South. Jewison defied every piece of industry wisdom and won out, mostly because he played it straight and honest, with a cast led by two actors who could hardly have been improved upon for the parts they played. The thematic set-up was surprisingly similar to The Defiant Ones, in which Poitier had co-starred for Stanley Kramer nine years earlier, but the directorial touch was smoother and the film was filled with an enviable range of wonderful supporting performances. In The Heat of the Night was successful enough to generate a brace of films that tried for the same mix of topicality and drama (as well as two sequels, They Call Me Mister Tibbs and The Organization that were more action-oriented), among them William Wyler's The Liberation of L.B. Jones (which came from the same screenwriter), Lamont Johnson's made-for-television My Sweet Charlie, and Ralph Nelson's Tick Tick Tick, all of which opened race relations to more honest and straightforward cinematic exploration.

In the Heat of the Night on TV

Zip Code: 10010 · Provider: Verizon Fios Freehold NY Plus-Digital (Jersey City) Edit
Today , 11:00 AM ET · In the Heat of the Night: Child of Promise  · Channel 8 · WGNAMER · Duration: 60 min.
Mon , 11:00 AM ET · In the Heat of the Night: Paper Castles  · Channel 8 · WGNAMER · Duration: 60 min.
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