In the Heat of the Night

"They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it."

1967 1h 49m EN

🙌

7.7

BANGER

🔥

96%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.9

IMDB

★7.7TMDB · 1,305🍅96%Rotten Tomatoes●76Metacritic★7.9IMDB · 87,737

CrimeDramaMysteryThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it.”

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Cast

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

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Norman Jewison
Writers: Stirling Silliphant
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $27M — a 13.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

59 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Part of the "Virgil Tibbs Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Norman Jewison, shot by Haskell Wexler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Quincy Jones. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Hal Ashby shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger and Warren Oates carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Norman Jewison directs. Haskell Wexler behind the camera. Quincy Jones scores. Hal Ashby cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $27M — a 13.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
359 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Part of the "Virgil Tibbs Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Norman Jewison, shot by Haskell Wexler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Quincy Jones. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Hal Ashby shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger and Warren Oates carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it.".
10IMDB entry: tt0061811 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 28 themes, including "small town", "southern usa", "police chief", "stolen money".
12Released under 21 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Haskell Wexler
Original score: Quincy Jones
Editing: Hal Ashby
Costume design: Alan Levine
Makeup / hair: Del Armstrong
Sound: Clem Portman
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Box office: $27,379,978
Return: 1369% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Rotten Tomatoes: 96% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 76/100
IMDB rating: 7.9/10 · 87,737 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Won 5 Oscars. 23 wins & 16 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Sound
Academy Award for Best Picture

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Virgil Tibbs Trilogy

In the Heat of the Night is a 1967 American mystery drama film directed by Norman Jewison. It is based on John Ball's 1965 novel of the same name and tells the story of Virgil Tibbs, a black police detective from Philadelphia, who becomes involved in a murder investigation in a small town in Mississippi. It stars Sidney Poitier. The film was followed by two sequels also starring Poitier, They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) and The Organization (1971). It was also the basis of a 1988 television series adaptation of the same name.

Also by

Norman Jewison

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Community reviews

What people are saying

GenerationofSwine2023-01-11
★ 10/10
I have a love/hate thing for how this ended. It looked good but it was too dark... visually. I think they were going for a source lighting thing and failed a bit. It was realistically dark but not Hollywood viewer in mind dark. Anyway the bad is out of the way, the good is the performance, it was really Oscar worthy in the truest sense, and the evolution of both the lead character and the supporting cast right down to the town around him was legendary. Subtle, but legendary. It even had a sense of humor, little jokes in it that were probably added to break the tension, but added in a way that you have to look for them so it doesn't break. Start to finish it is brilliant.
CinemaSerf2023-05-22
★ 7/10
Warren Oates ("Wood") steps from his patrol car in the quiet town of Sparta and discovers the body of "Colbert" - a controversial local employer. Shortly afterwards he discovers "TIbbs" (Sidney Poitier) sitting waiting for the 4.05 train. He is black and there is a wealthy white murder victim on the street - ergo, two and two... Next thing, though, the police chief "Gillespie" (Rod Steiger) is interrogating their visitor and discovers that he is an accomplished homicide detective. Initially inclined to just send him on his way, "Gillespie" decides - with a bit of persuasion from the widow (Lee Grant) that it might make sense for "Tibbs" to do some of the investigating himself. Backs up, heckles raised, the white supremacists are outraged and astonished in equal measure as the police allow him to follow his nose and to uncover some rather nasty little home truths about their community and the people who dwell within. On the face of it, it's about racial prejudice and perhaps, offers a rather simplistic get out solution. Or, maybe, it demonstrates that the best cure for ignorance is exposure to that which we loathe or don't understand and let behaviours and experience alter these views? There is room for both perspectives as we evaluate the police attitudes to this clever and slightly arrogant man who clearly considers himself to be as superior to them as they to him. Fifty-five years on, it's hard to appreciate just how profound this kind cinema was in alerting the US population to the bigotries in their own backyard, and Poitier always was a poised and measured actor when it came to making a point without shoving it down your throat! Steiger is also on good form here. He underplays his role, his character has flaws - sure - but as we progress there appears to be a willingness to mature and his performance manages that well. Small town life, small town mentality - with a racist, xenophobic, tinge. Well worth a watch.