In the Heat of the Night
They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it.
Rating
Release Date
8/2/1967Runtime
109 minsOverview
African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.
Status
ReleasedOriginal Language
EnglishBudget
$2,000,000Revenue
$27,379,978Homepage
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How It Feels
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A sharp, taut murder mystery that uses the whodunit structure to examine racism and institutional prejudice head-on, with two men from opposite sides of a color line forced into an uneasy alliance. Watching it is to witness both a propulsive thriller and a film that doesn't flinch from the casual brutality of its setting.
Mood
Themes
Tone
Pacing
Look
Structure
Heads up
Sidney Poitier
Virgil Tibbs
Rod Steiger
Police Chief Bill Gillespie
Warren Oates
Deputy Sam Wood
Peter Whitney
Deputy Courtney
Lee Grant
Mrs. Leslie Colbert
Anthony James
Ralph
William Schallert
Mayor Schubert
Scott Wilson
Harvey Oberst
Larry Gates
Eric Endicott
James Patterson
Mr. Purdy
Quentin Dean
Delores Purdy
Kermit Murdock
Henderson
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Virgil Tibbs Trilogy
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