In the Heat of the Night (film) 1967
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 and Rod Steiger, and was produced by Walter Mirisch. The screenplay was written by Stirling Silliphant.
The film won five Academy Awards, including the 1967 awards for Best Picture and Rod Steiger for Best Actor.
The quote “They call me Mister Tibbs!” was listed as number 16 on the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes, a list of top film quotes. In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”
Wealthy industrialist Phillip Colbert moves to Sparta, Mississippi, to build a factory there. Late one night, police officer Sam Wood discovers Colbert’s murdered body lying in the street. Wood finds Virgil Tibbs, a black man with a fat wallet, at the train station and arrests him. Police chief Gillespie accuses him of murder and robbery but soon learns Tibbs is a top homicide inspector from Philadelphia. Tibbs wants to leave town on the next train, but his boss suggests he stay in Sparta to help with the murder investigation. Though Gillespie, like many of Sparta’s white residents, is racist, he and Tibbs reluctantly agree to work together.
A doctor estimates that Colbert had been dead for a few hours when his body was found. Tibbs examines the body and concludes the murder happened earlier than the doctor thought, the killer was right-handed, and the victim had been killed elsewhere and moved to where Wood found his body.
Tibbs tells Purdy to check Delores’ purse for the money Ralph gave her for an abortion, which he got from killing and robbing Colbert. Purdy realizes Tibbs is right when he examines the purse. After Purdy confronts him for getting his sister pregnant, Ralph shoots Purdy dead. Tibbs grabs Ralph’s gun as Gillespie arrives on the scene. Ralph is arrested and confesses to Colbert’s murder. After hitchhiking a ride with Colbert and asking him for a job, Ralph attacked him at the construction site of the new factory. Ralph only meant to rob Colbert but unintentionally killed him.
Tibbs asks Wood to re-trace his patrol car route during the night of the murder; Gillespie joins them. After questioning why Wood partially detours from his patrol route, Tibbs finds Wood enjoys passing by Delores’ house, with its bright lights and unobscured windows, to look at the 16-year-old’s naked body. Gillespie discovers that Wood made a sizable deposit to his bank account the day after the murder. He arrests Wood, despite Tibbs’s protests that he is not the murderer. Tibbs tells Gillespie that the murder was committed at the site of the planned factory, which clears Wood because he could not have driven both his and Colbert’s cars back into town.
Tibbs boards a train bound for Philadelphia, as Gillespie, having carried his suitcase, respectfully bids him farewell.
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