In the Heat of the Night
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Actor: Larry Gates, Lee Grant, Rod Steiger, Sidney Poitier, Warren OatesDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-09
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of In the Heat of the Night
DVD Review: Two Greats Mesmerize Film Audiences
Summary: 5 Stars
Rare and exciting events in cinema annals occur when two great performers are at the top of their craft and are drawn by each other's energy to scale soaring heights. This occurred in David Lean's "The Bridge on the River Kwai" with Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa. It happened again with Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine in "Sleuth" after, as the latter actor noted, he told his co-star at the film's outset, "Take your best shot, Larry!"
The same kind of brilliant one-on-one chemistry emerged in the 1967 classic produced by Walter Mirisch and directed by Norman Jewison, "In the Heat of the Night." From the very outset, when Sidney Poitier as a visitor to a small rural Mississippi town is arrested by enthusiastic deputy Warren Oates as he sits on a train station bench, believing that he has solved a recently committed murder, viewers were aware that this film contains a special kind of magic. Oates eagerly takes Poitier to the police station and presents his murder suspect to his boss, the town's police chief played by Rod Steiger.
It is a very small rural town buried deep in racial stereotypical tradition. When Poitier is spotted on a bench awaiting the next train after a wealthy northern white man has been murdered, it is assumed that the stranger is guilty. Both Steiger and Oates receive a tremendous jolt when the well dressed Poitier explains that not only is he a visitor from the northeast, specifically Philadelphia, who was preparing to leave town after visiting his mother; he is a top homicide officer from the major eastern city who makes considerably more money more than Steiger.
The interesting character to observe for the film's character arc is Steiger. While a police chief in a small town deeply rooted in a segregationist past, he immediately demonstrates not only a pragmatic willingness to adapt that is not evident in his deputies and others in town; he exhibits ethical fairness when it comes to evaluating Poitier. He concludes that Poitier possesses an expertise for shrewd murder investigation that none of the members of his force, including himself, possess.
Considering the controversy of using an African American detective from the northeast to solve a local case, the issue becomes a hot potato for Steiger. The deciding element becomes Lee Grant, widow of the murdered man, who was a rich northern manufacturer planning to build a factory in town amid great controversy. Grant concludes that solving her husband's death will be greatly enhanced by Poitier heading the investigation.
The decision is naturally a controversial one and town bullies immediately seek to attack Poitier, who is assisted by Steiger, to the fury of the racist element, that feels Steiger is a traitor to his race and class. Two strong men from different backgrounds and cultures, there is a natural clash between Poitier and Steiger, but the film's ultimate message of hope is that the latter is able to learn and put past prejudices behind him in the pursuit of justice.
In the most memorable clash between the two men, occurring early in the film, Poitier responds with the most single memorable line of his distinguished movie career. When, after Poitier has been referred to as "boy" with great frequency and is asked by Steiger what he is called among his colleagues in Philadelphia, he stiffens with determination, stares determinedly at Steiger, and emphatically responds:
"They call me Mr. Tibbs!"
As the film progresses and the hunt for the killer intensifies, we learn that Steiger is a natural outsider within the small town he serves as chief of police. Like Poitier he is married to his job, as both are bachelors. When he invites the African American visitor inside his house one evening the chief of police reveals that Poitier is treading where townsfolk do not. Steiger is a man dominated by privacy.
Steiger won a highly deserved "Best Actor" Oscar for his brilliant portrayal, assisted by the powerful work done by Poitier, who had secured an Academy Award less than five years earlier for the 1963 release "Lillies of the Field." In addition to Steiger's award, the film was honored as "Best Picture" while Stirling Silliphant won in the "Best Screenplay" category and Hal Ashby took home the Oscar for "Best Editor".
In addition to being a powerful visual experience, "In the Heat of the Night" is also memorable for Quincy Jones's brilliant musical score with Ray Charles opening the film on a brilliant note by singing the film's title song.
Description of In the Heat of the Night
Starring Academy AwardÂ(r) winners* Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger and Lee Grant, this provocative mystery thriller won** five 1967 OscarsÂ(r), including Best Picture. Highlighted by an evocative score from OscarÂ(r)-winning*** composer Quincy Jones, In The Heat Of The Night is a "powerful film" (The New York Times) that delivers the "highest level of exciting entertainment" (New York Daily News)! While traveling in the Deep South, Virgil Tibbs, a black Philadelphia homicide detective, becomes unwittingly embroiled in the murder investigationof a prominent businessman when he is first accused of the crimeand then asked to solve it! Finding the killer proves to be difficult, however, especially when his efforts are constantly thwarted by the bigoted town sheriff (Steiger). But neither man can solve this case alone. Putting aside their differences and prejudices, they join forces in a desperate race against time to discover the shocking truth. *Poitier: Actor, Lilies of the Field (1963); Steiger: Actor, In the Heat of the Night (1967); Grant: Supporting Actress, Shampoo (1975) **Actor (Steiger), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Sound ***1994: Jean Hersholt Humanitarian AwardBoth riveting murder mystery and classic fish-out-of-water yarn, Norman Jewison's Oscar-winning In the Heat of the Night represents Hollywood at its wiliest, cloaking exposé in the most entertaining trappings. Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger prove the decade's most formidable antagonists. Poitier plays Virgil Tibbs, an arrogant homicide detective waylaid in Sparta, Mississippi; Steiger, in his bravura Oscar-winning turn, is Bill Gillespie, the town's hardheaded, bigoted sheriff who first arrests Tibbs for murder and then begs for his expertise. As the clues and suspects mount, Gillespie and his deputies develop begrudging respect for the black officer. The first-rate supporting cast includes Lee Grant as the victim's angry widow, Warren Oates as a voyeuristic deputy, William Schallert as the pragmatic mayor, and, in his screen debut, Scott Wilson (In Cold Blood) as an unlucky fugitive. The brilliant widescreen cinematography is by Haskell Wexler, and the scat-music score is by Quincy Jones. Ray Charles wails the blues theme song. --Glenn Lovell
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