In the Heat of the Night (film)

In the Heat of the Night
original movie poster
Directed by	Norman Jewison
Produced by	Walter Mirisch
Written by	John Ball (novel) Stirling Silliphant (screenplay)
Starring	Sidney Poitier Rod Steiger Lee Grant
Music by	Quincy Jones
Cinematography	Haskell Wexler, ASC
Editing by	Hal Ashby
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	August 2, 1967
Running time	109 min.
Language	English
Followed by	They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!

In the Heat of the Night is a 1967 film based on the John Ball novel published in 1965, which tells the story of an African-American police detective from Philadelphia who becomes involved in a murder investigation in a racist small town in Mississippi. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

The film was followed by two sequels, They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! in 1970, and The Organization in 1971. It also became the basis of a television series entitled In the Heat of the Night, starring Carroll O'Connor, Howard Rollins, Alan Autry, David Hart, Anne-Marie Johnson and Hugh O'Connor.

Although the film was set in the fictional Mississippi town of Sparta (no connection to the real Sparta, Mississippi, an unincorporated community), part of the movie was filmed in Sparta, Illinois, where many of the film's landmarks can still be seen.

The quote "They call me Mister Tibbs!" was listed as #16 on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, a list of top movie quotes.

Synopsis

Gillespie (left) and Tibbs (right) question a wealthy bigot (offscreen).

When a wealthy man planning to build a factory in Sparta, Mississippi, is murdered, Police Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) is pressured to find his killer quickly. Northerner Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), passing through, is picked up at the train station with a substantial amount of cash in his wallet. Gillespie, heavily prejudiced against blacks, jumps to the conclusion he has his culprit, but is embarrassed to learn that Tibbs is a respected Philadelphia homicide detective who had been visiting his mother. After this racist treatment, Tibbs wants nothing more than to leave as quickly as possible even though his captain recommends he stay and help, but the victim's widow (Lee Grant) is impressed by the detective's expertise clearing another wrongly accused suspect of the crime and threatens to stop construction on the much-needed factory unless he leads the investigation. Gillespie then talks Tibbs into lending his services.

Despite the rocky start to their relationship, they come to respect each other as they are forced to work together to solve the crime.

The film contains the famous scene in which Tibbs and Gillespie visit the home of Eric Endicott (Larry Gates) to question him, following Tibbs' discovery of trace evidence in the murder victim's car. Upon discovering that Tibbs is questioning him, Endicott slaps Tibbs. Tibbs then slaps him back. The scene was originally omitted from the film, which stayed true to the novel with Tibbs not reacting to the slap. However when Sidney Poitier read the script he was uncomfortable with that reaction as it wasn't true to the values his parents instilled in him. He requested that the producers alter the scene to Tibbs slapping Endicott back. This was important due to the ongoing battle for civil rights, which was still raging in 1967 despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Also, this was one of the first times in any major motion picture where a black man reacted to provocation from a white man in such a way. Referring to the scene Poitier said : "[The scene] was almost not there. I said, 'I'll tell you what, I'll make this movie for you if you give me your absolute guarantee when he slaps me I slap him right back and you guarantee that it will play in every version of this movie." "I try not to do things that are against nature. I stayed away from films that didn't speak well of my values. I could only say yes to films if I passed it by my dad. I passed it by my father because I did not want ever to make a film that would not reflect positively on my father's life."

The film contains two classic lines read by Poitier. When Gillespie asks Tibbs what they call him in Philadelphia, he replies proudly, "They call me Mister Tibbs." Later, having deduced that the murderer is diner counterman Ralph Henshaw (introduced killing flies in the first scene of the film) and not police officer Sam Wood, Tibbs says, "Sam couldn't have driven two cars."

In the end, Tibbs discovers that Henshaws killed Colbert, with Henshaws doing so after Colbert picked him up as he hitchhiked to his graveyard shift at a local diner. Colbert, a former Chicagoan who had come to Sparta to build a factory (thereby earning the enmity of the rich cotton plantation owner Endicott), was out driving around aimlessly after he left the hotel where he lived with his wife, unable to sleep. After picking up Henshaws, Colbert was asked, first, if he could provide Henshaws with a job at his factory, and, second, if he could point out its location. Colbert does so, and, while he and Henshaws are looking at the field in which the factory will be built, Henshaws picks up a wooden stake and strikes Colbert in the head with it. Colbert is killed, which was not Henshaws' desire. He puts Colbert into his car, drives him into town (taking $600 of the $900 found in his wallet), and dumps him in an alley. He then heads to work as though nothing has happened. Henshaws needs the money, it turns out, to pay for the abortion of 16-year-old Delores Purdy. Tibbs ultimately discovers this need, and, in the climatic scene, confronts Henshaws when he arrives with Delores Purdy to pay for her abortion.

Cast

Awards

In the Heat of the Night was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning five. They are as follows:

Academy Award wins

• Academy Award for Best Picture
• Academy Award for Best Actor - Rod Steiger
• Academy Award for Film Editing - Hal Ashby
• Academy Award for Sound - Samuel Goldwyn Studios
• Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay - Stirling Silliphant

Academy Award nominations

• Academy Award for Directing - Norman Jewison
• Academy Award for Sound Editing - James Richard

Other wins and nominations are:

Wins

• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama - Rod Steiger
• Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Stirling Silliphant
• BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor - Rod Steiger
• BAFTA UN Award - Norman Jewison
• Edgar Award - Best Motion Picture Screenplay - Stirling Silliphant (Ball's book also received an Edgar, for Best First Novel)
• New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Picture
• In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Nominations

• BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor - Sidney Poitier
• BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source - Norman Jewison
• Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures - Norman Jewison
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Director - Norman Jewison
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama - Sidney Poitier
• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Lee Grant
• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Quentin Dean
• Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media - Quincy Jones
• Writers Guild of America for Best Written American Drama - Stirling Silliphant

See also

• Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: In the Heat of the Night (film)

• In the Heat of the Night at the Internet Movie Database
• In the Heat of the Night at Allmovie
• In the Heat of the Night at the TCM Movie Database
• In the Heat of the Night at Filmsite.org

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