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 film quotes.
Plot
Colbert, a wealthy man from Chicago who was planning to build a factory in Sparta, Mississippi, is found murdered. Police Chief Bill Gillespie comes under pressure to quickly find his killer. A northerner Virgil Tibbs, 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 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 suspects include Eric Endicott, a wealthy plantation owner who opposed the factory, diner counterman Ralph Henshaw and even police officer Sam Wood.
In the end, Tibbs discovers that Henshaw killed Colbert, with Henshaw doing so after Colbert picked him up as he hitchhiked to his graveyard shift at a local diner. Colbert was out driving around aimlessly after he left the hotel where he lived with his wife, unable to sleep. After picking up Henshaw, Colbert was asked, first, if he could provide Henshaw with a job at his factory, and, second, if he could point out its location. Colbert does so, and, while he and Henshaw are looking at the field in which the factory will be built, Henshaw picks up a wooden stake and strikes Colbert in the head with it. Colbert is killed, which was not Henshaw's 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. Henshaw 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 Henshaw when he arrives with Delores Purdy to pay for her abortion.
Cast
Production
The film contains the famous scene in which Tibbs and Gillespie visit the home of Eric Endicott 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. Tibbs' action was originally omitted from the screenplay, 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."
Following the slapping scene, Tibbs storms off and tells Gillespie that he is determined to get Endicott for the murder: "I can pull that fat cat down. I can bring him right off this hill!", to which the bemused police chief answers "Oh, boy. Man, you're just like the rest of us, ain't ya?"
The film contains two classic lines read by Poitier. When Gillespie sarcastically asks Tibbs what they call him in Philadelphia, he snaps, "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."
Reception
Roger Ebert gave In the Heat of the Night a positive review and placed it at number ten on his top ten list of films that year. AD Murphy of Variety magazine felt it was a good, but uneven film.[1]
Awards
In the Heat of the Night was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning five. They are as follows:
Academy Award wins
Academy Award nominations
Other wins and nominations are:
Wins
Nominations
References
See also
External links
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Norman Jewison |
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" Your Hit Parade" (1950–1959) · "The Big Revue" (1952) · "Wayne and Shuster" (1954) · "The Denny Vaughan Show" (1954–1957) · "The Barris Beat" (1956) · "The Adventures of Chich" (1958) · "The Chevy Showroom Starring Andy Williams" (1958) · "The Big Party" (1959) · "The Revlon Revue" (1960) · "Picture Windows" (1994) · The 20th Century: Funny Is Money (1999) · Dinner with Friends (2001) |
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