Fresh
It's a pleasure, all too rare, to watch two splendid actors pitted against each other with equal force such as Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger in the exceptional murder mystery, In the Heat of the Night.
Wanda Hale, New York Daily News
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 · Approved
Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Directed by
Norman Jewison
Overview
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.
Director and cast
- Norman Jewison Director
- Sidney Poitier as Det. Virgil Tibbs
- Rod Steiger as Police Chief Bill Gillespie
- Warren Oates as Off. Sam Wood
- Lee Grant as Mrs. Leslie Colbert
- Larry Gates as Eric Endicott
- James Patterson as Mr. Purdy
- William Schallert Cast
- Beah Richards Cast
- Peter Whitney Cast
- Kermit Murdock Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
95%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Social importance aside, In the Heat of the Night works as a buddy film and as a tense thriller.
Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com
Fresh
An excellent Sidney Poitier performance, and an outstanding one by Rod Steiger, overcome some noteworthy flaws to make In The Heat of the Night an absorbing contemporary murder drama.
A.D. Murphy, Variety
Fresh
A decent piece of do-good cinema.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Fresh
Oozes sufficient Southern sweat and features enough admirably crumpled character faces to make up for its over-strident liberal rhetoric.
Paul Taylor, Time Out
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