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Actors: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about In The Heat Of The Night |
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This milestone 1967 racial commentary spawned two sequels and a long-running TV show, and won that year's Best Picture Oscar.
Sidney Poitier plays Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia homicide expert visiting family in Sparta, Mississippi. When a Northern industrialist is found dead, Tibbs is immediately arrested to confront Police Chief Bill Gillespie (Best Actor Oscar-winner Rod Steiger), who, after learning Tibbs' credentials and calling his chief, must grudgingly accept Tibbs' help in solving the murder.
Steiger's performance as the dedicated chief is brilliant (“I am familiar with the laws in the state of Mississippi, thank YOU!), as he somewhat breaks the film stereotype of Southern sheriffs. However, Warren Oates' superb portrayal of Deputy Sam Wood reinforces those stereotypes; so much so that the disgusted widow (Lee Grant) asks, "What kind of place is this? Who are you people."
What follows is the pair's struggle to work together despite tremendous opposition from the town. In one memorable scene, Tibbs exchanges slaps in the face with the white owner of Endicott Cotton, who compares his fragile plants to "the Negro," in that they "need special care." Endicott is Sparta's most influential businessman who'd least appreciate an influx of Afro-American labor.
As Tibbs brilliantly eliminates suspects, backtracks, and continually re-evaluates evidence, his time is running short as his detective efforts begin to pay off.
--Angry Jim Magin, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of In The Heat Of The Night |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Polit/Social/Race/Gender activism
Yes
Plotlet:
- rrrrrracism!!!!!
Crime & Scandal
Yes
Story of
- catching brutal killer/stalker
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- sensitive
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Black
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Deep South
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- sinister, like an X-Files Gomer Pyle
Misc setting
- prison
- moving train
- sports arena
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- encouraged
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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