In the Heat of the Night (1967)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Norman Jewison

Writers:

Stirling Silliphant (screenplay)
John Ball (novel)

Release Date:

14 October 1967 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime

Tagline:

They got a murder on their hands . . . they don't know what to do with it.

Plot:

An African American detective is asked to investigate a murder in a racist southern town.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Racist | African American | Murder | Investigation

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 17 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Sidney Poitier	...	Virgil Tibbs
Rod Steiger	...	Gillespie
Warren Oates	...	Sam Wood
Lee Grant	...	Mrs. Colbert
Larry Gates	...	Endicott
James Patterson	...	Mr. Purdy
William Schallert	...	Mayor Schubert
Beah Richards	...	Mama Caleba
Peter Whitney	...	Courtney
Kermit Murdock	...	Henderson
Larry D. Mann	...	Watkins
Matt Clark	...	Packy
Arthur Malet	...	Ulam
Fred Stewart	...	Dr. Stuart
Quentin Dean	...	Delores
Scott Wilson	...	Harvey Oberst
Timothy Scott	...	Shagbag
William Watson	...	McNeil (as William C. Watson)
Eldon Quick	...	Charles Hawthorne
Stuart Nisbet	...	Shuie
Khalil Bezaleel	...	Jess
Peter Masterson	...	Fryer
Jester Hairston	...	Butler
Phil Adams	...	1st Tough
Nikita Knatz	...	2nd Tough
Sammy Reese	...	Clerk (as Sam Reese)
Anthony James	...	Ralph
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Buzz Barton	...	Conductor (uncredited)
Philip Garris	...	Engineer (uncredited)
Clegg Hoyt	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Warren Kenner	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Michael LeGlaire	...	City Councilman (uncredited)
Alan Oppenheimer	...	Ted Appleton (uncredited)
David Stinehart	...	Baggage Master (uncredited)
Jack Teter	...	Philip Colbert - Murder Victim (uncredited)

Directed by
Norman Jewison

Writing credits
Stirling Silliphant		(screenplay)
John Ball		(novel)

Produced by
Walter Mirisch	....	producer

Original Music by
Quincy Jones		(music by)

Cinematography by
Haskell Wexler		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Hal Ashby

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Art Direction by
Paul Groesse

Set Decoration by
Robert Priestley

Costume Design by
Alan Levine		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Del Armstrong	....	make-up

Production Management
Jim Henderling	....	production manager (as James E. Henderling)
Howard Joslin	....	unit production manager (as J. Howard Joslin)
Allen K. Wood	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Newt Arnold	....	second assistant director (as Newton Arnold)
Terry Morse Jr.	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Stephen R. Ferry	....	property
Joseph Musso	....	production illustrator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Walter Goss	....	sound
Clem Portman	....	re-recordist
James Richard	....	sound editor
Kevin F. Cleary	....	sound (uncredited)
Charles Cooper	....	sound (uncredited)

Stunts
John Moio	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ralph Gerling	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Ross A. Maehl	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Morris Rosen	....	key grip (uncredited)
Don Stott	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Alan Levine	....	costumer: men

Editorial Department
Byron 'Buzz' Brandt	....	assistant film editor (as Byron Brandt)

Music Department
Alan Bergman	....	song lyrics (as Alan)
Marilyn Bergman	....	song lyrics
Richard Carruth	....	music editor

Other crew
Hal Ashby	....	assistant to producer
Murray Naidich	....	titles
Meta Rebner	....	script supervisor
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Mirisch Corporation, The (presents)

Distributors

• United Artists (1967) (USA) (theatrical)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (Brazil) (DVD)
• CBS/Fox Home Video (1983) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Telecommunications (????) (USA) (TV) (as MGM/UA Communications)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1972) (USA) (TV)
• Opção (Brazil) (VHS)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Sound)

Certification:

Australia:M | South Africa:(Banned) | Iceland:16 | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Brazil:12 | South Africa:A (re-rating) | Argentina:13 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1968) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | USA:Approved | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Belleville, Illinois, USA

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Rod Steiger was asked by director Norman Jewison to chew gum when playing the part. He resisted at first but then grew to love the idea,and eventually went through 263 packs of gum during the shooting of the film.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The action is set in the heat of a Mississippi summer, but the director shows cotton pickers toiling in the fields. That's done in late fall, never in the summer.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ofcr. Sam Wood: Where you keeping the pie tonight?
Ralph Henshaw, diner counterman: I ate the last piece just before you came in.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In: (#1.9)" (1968)

Soundtrack:

Foul Owl on the Prowl

Through The Mississippi Darkness

Gritty realism and a strong performance by Rod Steiger rev up the technical quality of this taut drama about a visiting Northern Black detective named Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) who gets nailed as a suspect, foolishly, in the murder of a local VIP, in a small town in Mississippi. Eventually, the town's White police chief, the gum chewing Gillespie (Rod Steiger), accepts Tibbs' innocence. And the two of them then work together, reluctantly, to solve the case.

Forty years after the film was made, the racial themes seem just a tad heavy-handed. Whites are always backward and racist. And Tibbs is smart, urbane, and sophisticated. But back in the 1960s, the filmmaker probably did need to be blunt. And the point is made that Blacks and Whites, working together, can accomplish worthy aims, even though old Black Joe is still pickin' cotton at the Endicott Cotton Company.

As a whodunit, the story is fairly good, convenient coincidences notwithstanding. The clue to the killer's identity is pleasantly subtle.

The film's cinematography and production design are terrific. Many scenes take place at night. And the opaque lighting makes for a moody, slightly dangerous look and feel. Loved how they photographed that train moving down the tracks in the Mississippi darkness, a metaphor related to the film's theme. And the sound of a train whistle adds to the mournful realism.

Interiors look authentic. The masking tape that covers rips in a big leather chair in Gillespie's shabby office is so true to life. A single white light bulb hangs down from the ceiling in a small neighborhood grocery store, where the shelves are filled with empty fruit jars. And that greasy spoon called Comptons reeks of 1960's Southern rural reality.

My only complaint with this film is the background music. Some of the jukebox songs are not consistent with the film's overall tone.

"In The Heat Of The Night" is a technically well made, and quite interesting, murder mystery. Yet, it will always be remembered, rightfully, as the film that offered hope of racial harmony, during a decade in which there was none. Its "Best Picture" Oscar award is thus explained.