In The Heat Of The Night (1967)

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In The Heat of The Night is a American mystery-drama film who released on August 2, 1967 in United States. Directed by Norman Jewison and Produced by Walter Mirisch. This movie based on John Ball's 1965 novel of the same name (In The Heat of The Night) and tells about Virgil Tibbs played by Sidney Poitier as a black detective who suffers racial slurs and humiliation at the hands of a white police chief Bill Gillespie played by Rod Steiger while he tries to solve a murder in a small town in Mississippi. It also starring

Plot

Sidney Poitier (left) and Rod Steiger in the film In the Heat of the Night

Philip Colbert, a rich Chicago man who was planning to build a factory in the small village of Sparta, Mississippi, was found murdered. Police Chief Bill Gillespie is under pressure to immediately locate Colbert's murderer.

Afro-American Virgil Tibbs, passing by, is picked up at the train station by a racist police officer who discovers Tibbs with a huge amount of cash in his pocket. Tibbs is brought to the police station where Gillespie, heavily prejudiced against blacks, jumps to the conclusion that he has his culprit, but is embarrassed to learn that Tibbs is a respected Philadelphia homicide detective who had been visiting his mother. After the bigoted and racist treatment he received, Tibbs wants nothing more than to leave Sparta as quickly as possible, but his captain from Philly recommends he stay and help the investigation.

Tibbs initially suspects wealthy plantation owner Eric Endicott, who opposed the new factory. When he attempts to interrogate Endicott about Colbert, Endicott slaps him in the face. Tibbs slaps him back, which leads to Endicott sending a gang of redneck hooligans after Tibbs. Gillespie rescues Tibbs from the fight and orders him to leave town for his own safety. Tibbs refuses to leave until he has solved the case.

Tibbs asks Sam Wood, the cop who found the body, to retrace his movements on the night of the murder. He and Gillespie join Sam on his patrol, arriving at a dinner where the counterman, Ralph Henshaw, declines to serve Tibbs because he's black. Purdy is insulted that Tibbs, a black male, was there for his sister's questioning over her sexual experience with Sam, and he gathers a lynch mob to take revenge on Tibbs.

Tibbs was able to clear Sam by identifying the initial scene of the crime and figuring out that Sam may not have been able to drive two vehicles at the same time to dispose the body and the victim's vehicle while pursuing his patrol. Working on a hunch, Tibbs tracks down a nearby back-room abortionist who discovers that someone has arranged for the abortion of Delores Purdy. When Delores returns, Tibbs pursues her outside, where he meets the murderer: the dining counter Ralph Henshaw. In the end Tibb's job done, he finally boards the Gulf, Mobile, & Ohio train out of town, seen off by a more respectful Gillespie.

Controversy

Sidney Poitier (left) and Rod Steiger in the film In the Heat of the Night.jpg

There is a scene where Tibbs, interrogated by Redneck Police Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) in Mississippi (the most racial in the United States), greeted with hatred and disbelief when Tibbs spoke. In a world that won't yield to him, he's a black man. He realized that words seem meaningless.[1] It also presents racism as a way of life, depicting people trapped in a structure that is sponsored by benign segregation and arrogant attitudes. The town centre is an insidious hate that has fueled a quaint, embraced notion of respectable Southern culture.[2]

This movie also shows the way that a police officer who can’t accept that the detective can do the job better than him just because he is a black man.[3]

Pros

Racims can be solved as long as the people start to respect to each other "In the Heat of The Night takes some shortcuts in its vision of race and prejudice, but it also works as a strong exploration of race to this day. It’s what we might call a reconciliation film — a story in which a white character learns to be less racist because of his or her interactions with a black character"[4]

It's clever that the mystery and detective work that would usually be at the center of the story should become secondary to the film's exploration of American racism while portrays a raw vision of the South full of hatred in the 60s.[5]

Reference