In The Heat Of The Night

UK Release Date. 1 September 1967
Certification. A
Running Time. 1 hour 50 mins
Director. Norman Jewison
Cast. Lee Grant, Warren Oates, Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger.
Rating. 76%

Review.

More than 50 years after the film's theatrical release, I suspect few people will be able to recall the crime at the centre of In The Heat Of The Night. By today’s standard, the incident is rather arbitrary, and the procedural aspects of this forensic thriller are neither compelling nor exciting. Instead, the film's director, Norman Jewison uses the police investigation as the impetus to chronicle the complex, evolving relationship between Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) and Detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), and how, in particular, the latter's participation in the investigation impacts proceedings.

In a year that included the release of Barefoot In The Park, Bonnie And Clyde, In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, The Dirty Dozen, The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? and To Sir, With Love, the film picked up five Academy Awards, including the awards for Best Picture and Best Actor. With stand-out performances from both actors - Poitier is stylish and polished, Steiger is adept and honest - it was Rod Steiger, rather than Sidney Poitier, who picked up the Academy Award. Poitier had already received the award for his portrayal of the unemployed construction worker Homer Smith in Ralph Nelson's 1963 film, Lilies Of The Field. In a review of the films of 1967, the renowned film critic Roger Ebert remarked that this was Poitier's “first opportunity to step down from his series of noble characters and become angry and frustrated for a change.” 

Over the passage of time, In The Heat Of The Night has evolved into a period piece, perfectly capturing the issues of race, prejudice and bigotry in the US in the 1960s. Jewison's film has a rougher edge than some later examples reflecting on this period. For example, there is a tactlessness in the racial confrontations, especially between the arrogant and ignorant, small-town Police Chief, and the black, sophisticated, out-of-town homicide detective. Chief Gillespie and Tibbs don’t develop a friendship; their feelings evolve from mutual antipathy to grudging respect, but no further.