Goofs for
In the Heat of the Night (1967) More at IMDbPro »

• Errors in geography: When all three men, Virgil, Sam, and Police Chief Bill go into the diner, we see Virgil's breath. Although the film is set in warm, humid Mississippi, it was filmed in chillier Illinois.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The town of Sparta is in east-central Mississippi. The Mississippi River forms the western border for most of that state. If Harvey Oberst (the fugitive being chased early in the film) made it as far as a bridge to Arkansas, he would have been at least 100 miles out of the jurisdiction of the Sparta police (who catch him). Even if, unbeknownst to the audience, the Sparta police had been deputized by some other jurisdiction, it's doubtful that they could have brought him back to the Sparta jail in the time frame presented.
  
  
• Continuity: When Det. Virgil Tibbs is at the train station, and Police Chief Bill Gillespie comes back to get him, in the wide shot there is a dog slinking along the building. When they close in, the dog is gone.
  
  

• Revealing mistakes: It's still early morning when Harvey Oberst is running for Arkansas (Tibbs wants to catch the noon train). The sun should be on his back, not his face on the bridge.
  
  
• Continuity: During the shot where Sam Wood first approaches the train depot, he casts a very long shadow reaching behind him all the way up the building wall as if lighting is directly in front of him. In the next shot when he is passing the door and sees Virgil, the shadow has greatly shrunk down as if the lighting is directly overhead.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene where Chief Gillespie keeps Virgil at his house they appear to be drinking a bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon. When the Chief gets up and walks out of the room the bottle is not on the table. This occurs just after the Chief tells Mr. Tibbs that he doesn't want his pity.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: In the scenes where Harvey is being chased through the woods, there are shots that are supposed to be from Harvey's POV as he looks around the woods. If you look at the bottom of the screen where you're supposed to see Harvey's shadow, his shadow is that of the cameraman with the camera clearly mounted on the shoulder.
  
  
• Errors in geography: Though the film takes place during a Mississippi summer, the exhaust of the patrol car can be seen briefly as condensed vapor as they drive up to Endicott's house. The only way this would be possible in the daytime is if the temperature outside was cold, which it was because the film was actually shot in Illinois during the fall.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The police chase Harvey Oberst through the yellow leaves of an Autumn forest, clearly indicating it is not the middle of summer, as claimed in the movie.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Continuity: When Virgil is in the morgue helping examine the corpse, the clock on the wall stays on the same time throughout the discussions and examinations.
  
  
• Plot holes: It's suppose to be set during a very hot summer, yet the main characters (played by Lee Grant and Rod Steiger) are walking around in a coat and a jacket.
  
  
• Continuity: When the sheriff is called to go and see the Mayor at his place of work Rod Steiger drives through Sparta and passes an elderly black gentlemen on the sidewalk . He is dressed in a shabby suit wearing a beige V-neck sweater and a hat. You then see the car drive a few hundred yards further into town and in the next shot, a few seconds later the same 'extra' is again walking along the sidewalk.
  
  

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