Overview
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Release Date:
14 October 1967 (Japan)
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Tagline:
They got a murder on their hands . . . they don't know what to do with it.
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Awards:
Won 5 Oscars.
Another 17 wins
&
12 nominations
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User Comments:
Through The Mississippi Darkness
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Crew verified as complete
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Dans la chaleur de la nuit (Belgium: French title) (Canada: French title) (France) (dubbed version) [fr]In der Hitze der Nacht (Austria) (East Germany) (West Germany) [de]Al calor de la noche (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]En el calor de la noche (Spain) [es]En la calor de la nit (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]Forró éjszakában (Hungary) [hu]Gecenin sicaginda (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]I nattens hede (Denmark) [da]I nattens hetta (Sweden) [sv]Istoria enos eglimatos (Greece) [el]La calda notte dell'ispettore Tibbs (Italy) [it]No Calor da Noite (Brazil) [pt]Yön kuumuudessa (Finland) [fi]
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Runtime:
109 min
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Sound)
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #75 Greatest Movie of All Time. It was the first inclusion of this film on the list.
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Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: In the scenes where Harvey is being chased through the woods, there are shots that are supposed to be from Harvey's POV as he looks around the woods. If you look at the bottom of the screen where you're supposed to see Harvey's shadow, his shadow is that of the cameraman with the camera clearly mounted on the shoulder.
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Soundtrack:
In the Heat of the Night
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FAQ
What was Gillespie chewing on throughout the whole film?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
Where was "In the Heat of the Night" filmed?
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Recommendations
Related Links
Gritty realism and a strong performance by Rod Steiger rev up the technical quality of this taut drama about a visiting Northern Black detective named Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) who gets nailed as a suspect, foolishly, in the murder of a local VIP, in a small town in Mississippi. Eventually, the town's White police chief, the gum chewing Gillespie (Rod Steiger), accepts Tibbs' innocence. And the two of them then work together, reluctantly, to solve the case.
Forty years after the film was made, the racial themes seem just a tad heavy-handed. Whites are always backward and racist. And Tibbs is smart, urbane, and sophisticated. But back in the 1960s, the filmmaker probably did need to be blunt. And the point is made that Blacks and Whites, working together, can accomplish worthy aims, even though old Black Joe is still pickin' cotton at the Endicott Cotton Company.
As a whodunit, the story is fairly good, convenient coincidences notwithstanding. The clue to the killer's identity is pleasantly subtle.
The film's cinematography and production design are terrific. Many scenes take place at night. And the opaque lighting makes for a moody, slightly dangerous look and feel. Loved how they photographed that train moving down the tracks in the Mississippi darkness, a metaphor related to the film's theme. And the sound of a train whistle adds to the mournful realism.
Interiors look authentic. The masking tape that covers rips in a big leather chair in Gillespie's shabby office is so true to life. A single white light bulb hangs down from the ceiling in a small neighborhood grocery store, where the shelves are filled with empty fruit jars. And that greasy spoon called Comptons reeks of 1960's Southern rural reality.
My only complaint with this film is the background music. Some of the jukebox songs are not consistent with the film's overall tone.
"In The Heat Of The Night" is a technically well made, and quite interesting, murder mystery. Yet, it will always be remembered, rightfully, as the film that offered hope of racial harmony, during a decade in which there was none. Its "Best Picture" Oscar award is thus explained.