Rent In the Heat of the Night (1967)

1960s America race tensions in murder mystery - In the Heat of the Night review by CP Customer

An interesting depiction of the tensions between blacks and whites in 1960s America wrapped up in a murder mystery.

Race Crime. - In the Heat of the Night review by Steve

This is remembered more as a civil rights film than a police drama, but it excels either way. Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), is a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time; he gets hauled in front of the local police chief (Rod Steiger) as a convenient suspect when a body turns up on Main St., Sparta, Mississippi. After Detective Tibbs produces his badge, he stays to supervise the investigation himself.

Sparta might as well have a Welcome to Hell sign posted on the edge of town. Law and order are enforced on a whim. The duo establish a volatile hatred at the start of the film, but the redneck sheriff turns out be be the least reactionary man in a territory where poor black people still pick cotton under the hostile, unbending feudalism of the southern aristocracy.

Maybe there is too much balance in the film, as so often in the civil rights films of the sixties. Is Tibbs' hatred of this apartheid really similar to the oppression he suffers himself? He becomes pre-determined to prove that the bigoted white landowner (Larry Gates) is guilty. The white citizens are presented as victims themselves, of poverty and ignorance. I guess a white audience wouldn't sit still for a polemic.

If it pulled its punches, then it worked because the film sold tickets in the south and won the Oscar. Norman Jewison thankfully pulls up short of the two cops becoming odd couple buddies, but there is still a rapport between Poitier and Steiger. The politics dominate, but this is also a thrilling police drama. Great jazz score (Quincy Jones) and neo-noir photography too.

Classic Murder Film - In the Heat of the Night review by GI

One of the landmarks of American cinema. A mystery thriller with a central theme of racial prejudice set in the Deep South USA in the early 60s. If you are a film fan and have never seen this then it needs to be on your list. The narrative is a fairly basic murder story with the finding of a body in the street in a small Mississippi town. When the police find a smartly dressed black man with money in his pocket waiting at the local train station they are convinced they have their man. But when this turns out to be a Philadelphia homicide detective they find they need his help to solve the crime. Indeed his help is crucial to the future of the town itself. The film caused quite a controversy on its initial release with a scene of a black man striking a white man. But Sidney Poitier insisted the scene was included and as Virgil Tibbs Poitier gave the film world one of the iconic black characters in cinema history. Aided by Rod Steiger as the bigoted town sheriff this is a superb film which holds up very well today. A true classic and based on a great novel, which is well worth checking out too. A film to have in your collection. It's simply marvellous.

In the Heat of the Alright - In the Heat of the Night review by AM

This is a very good film - and an important one, made as it was during the height of race riots in US, and dealing with racial discrimination. How pertinent for today, indeed? Poitier is superb as the cool-headed black cop subjected to abuse, discrimination and physical violence as he tries to help a prejudiced small-town Mississippi police chief solve a murder. Rod Steiger won the Oscar for Best Actor for this as the aforementioned chief - and he was great too. But a travesty (and ridiculously ironic, considering the subject matter of the film!) that Poitier wasn't similarly rewarded - he's the real star of this film.

Well deserving of its excellent critical reviews - In the Heat of the Night review by CD

This is a highly accomplished film - great photography and acting all round with a storyline that hangs together. Sidney Poitier shows a hard edge as well as being the voice of reason and Rod Steiger gradually grows as a character to be more than a caricature police chief. The heat and humidity of the South come through nicely, although Sidney Poitier seems to be quite comfortable throughout in a smart suit and tie.