Themes: Murder Investigations, Members of the Clergy, Clearing One's Name
Main Cast: Sidney Poitier, Martin Landau, Barbara McNair, Juano Hernandez, Anthony Zerbe, George Spell
Release Year: 1970
Country: US
Run Time: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Sidney Poitier reprises his role as Virgil Tibbs in this crime drama, a story unrelated to that of the earlier film In the Heat of the Night. Once again, he is a veteran homicide detective and is currently investigating the murder of a prostitute. The primary suspect is San Francisco political activist Reverend Logan Sharpe (Martin Landau), the last person seen with the victim. Tibbs and Sharpe are friends, and Tibbs would like to believe the priest is not guilty. Sharpe admits to Tibbs he has slept with the late hooker, and the detective intensifies his focus on his friend, and in one climactic scene, Virgil interrupts a city-council meeting where the priest is campaigning for political reform. On the home front, after dealing with dope peddlers, pimps, murderers and other crooks all day, Virgil returns home to his wife Valeri (Barbara McNair) and his two children, only to be firmly chided for being late for dinner and spending too much time on the job. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
It's a long way down from In the Heat of the Night to They Call Me MISTER Tibbs, but this sequel to the Oscar-winner is not without merit: it just doesn't compare in any way with its predecessor. Taken on its own terms, it's a slightly below average crime drama that probably suffers most from the period in which it was filmed. In 1970, an actor like Sidney Poitier was still being called upon to try to be all things to all people -- he was "THE black actor," and as a result, every move made by any character he played was watched to see what kind of significance it had for the integration of the races. That's not the kind of atmosphere that encourages good writing of idiosyncratic, complex characters. In Tibbs, Poitier's performance is great; his acting skills are in beautiful form. They're just not given the chance to stretch the way he wants and needs them to. Even with this problem aside, Tibbs has problems -- at heart, it's simply a common, ordinary, run-of-the-mill detective film. There are some nice moments here and there that do give it flavor, but too much of what's on the screen is stuff we've seen before. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Jeff Corey - Capt. Hank Marden; Beverly Todd - Puff; Norma Crane - Marge Garfield; Ed Asner - Woody Garfield; Linda Towne - Joy Sturges; Wanda Spell - Ginger Tibbs; Ted Gehring - Sgt. Deutsch; David Sheiner - Lt. Herbert Kenner; Garry Walberg - Medical Examiner
Credit
Lynn Stalmaster - Casting, Gordon M. Douglas - Director, Bud Molin - Editor, Quincy Jones - Composer (Music Score), Al Fleming - Makeup, Mark Reedall - Makeup, Addison Hehr - Production Designer, James F. McGuire - Production Designer, Gerald Finnerman - Cinematographer, Walter Mirisch - Producer, Herbert Hirschman - Producer, Edward Boyle - Set Designer, Justus Gibbs - Special Effects, Robert Martin - Sound/Sound Designer, Alan R. Trustman - Screenwriter, James R. Webb - Screenwriter
The plot involves Tibbs' investigation of the murder of a prostitute, of which a liberal street preacher and political candidate, played by Martin Landau, is accused. The film has a blaxploitation style, unlike its predecessor. It can also be viewed as a forerunner to other 1970s cop films, such as Dirty Harry (1971) and The French Connection (1971). Like Dirty Harry, the action was set in San Francisco.
Production
Quincy Jones wrote the score, as he did with In the Heat of the Night, although the tone of the music in both is markedly different. The previous film, owing to its setting, had a country and bluesy sound, whereas his work for this film was in the funkmilieu that would become Jones' trademark in the early 1970s.
The film's title was taken from Virgil's line in In the Heat of the Night.
