Film Review: In the Heat of the Night

Director: Norman Jewison

Based on the novel of the same name by John Ball, this 1967 mystery drama was ground-breaking at the time as America was still reacting to the Civil Rights movement. An infamous scene sees Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) slap a white man in the face which is now an infamous scene from the movie and caused astonishment upon release. It explores the racial divide in a fictional town in Mississippi as the deep south was the very last area of America to start to introduce civil rights to non-white citizens.

A weahlthy man is found murdered so the police need to quickly find the killer so they arrest Virgil Tibbs at the train station as he has a large sum of money in his wallet. Tibbs proves his innocence after much racial abuse from the police officers and is convinced to stay by his own chief back in Philadelphia to solve the crime. He quickly shows that he has a much sharper investigative mind than the current police officers and looks to overcome the racism of the town to solve the murder case.

Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier)

Sidney Poitier is truly excellent as Virgil Tibbs, he plays the prejudiced police detective with charisma whilst maintaining huge intergrity despite the narrow minded view of the locals. The film itself captures the mood of the time brilliantly for a small town in Mississippi which can be a difficult task so that it doesn't seem contrived. Certain parts of the murder case are a lot sketchy and uneven but the murder case itself is a side plot in comparison to the bigger issue addressed.

3.5/4 controversial in its day and still a renegade