In the Heat of the Night

(US / 1967 / Directed by Norman Jewison)

When a wealthy industrialist is found murdered in a small Mississippi town and an African-American man (Sidney Poitier) is picked up at the train station with a wallet full of cash, local Police Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) immediately assumes he has caught his culprit. He’s soon embarrassed to learn that the man he has arrested is Virgil Tibbs, an experienced police officer from Philadelphia. The unlikely pair are forced to work together to unravel the mystery, leading them on a line of inquiry that will challenge both of their preconceptions.

Director Norman Jewison splices incisive commentary into this thrilling procedural with the help of Haskell Wexler’s vivid cinematography, Quincy Jones’s eclectic score, and two idelible lead performances – a career-defining display of seething indignation and moral authority from Poitier and an Oscar-winning master class in Method acting from Steiger. Winner of five Academy Awards, including for best picture, In the Heat of the Night is one of the most enduring Hollywood films of the civil rights era.

Unrated
1 hr 50 mins.