In the Heat of the Night

1967 • 1h 49m •

Crime Drama Mystery Thriller

MOVIEVIBE Rating

★ 7.7/10

1,290 reviews

Your Rating

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.

"They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it."

Top Billed Cast

Sidney Poitier

Virgil Tibbs

Rod Steiger

Police Chief Bill Gillespie

Warren Oates

Deputy Sam Wood

Peter Whitney

Deputy Courtney

Lee Grant

Mrs. Leslie Colbert

Anthony James

Ralph

William Schallert

Mayor Schubert

Scott Wilson

Harvey Oberst

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

G GenerationofSwine Verified TMDB Critic

2023-01-11

I have a love/hate thing for how this ended. It looked good but it was too dark... visually. I think they were going for a source lighting thing and failed a bit. It was realistically dark but not Hollywood viewer in mind dark.

Anyway the bad is out of the way, the good is the performance, it was really Oscar worthy in the truest sense, and the evolution of both the lead character and the supporting cast right down to the town around him was legendary. Subtle, but legendary.

It even had a sense of humor, little jokes in it that were probably added to break the tension, but added in a...

C CinemaSerf Verified TMDB Critic

2023-05-22

Warren Oates ("Wood") steps from his patrol car in the quiet town of Sparta and discovers the body of "Colbert" - a controversial local employer. Shortly afterwards he discovers "TIbbs" (Sidney Poitier) sitting waiting for the 4.05 train. He is black and there is a wealthy white murder victim on the street - ergo, two and two... Next thing, though, the police chief "Gillespie" (Rod Steiger) is interrogating their visitor and discovers that he is an accomplished homicide detective. Initially inclined to just send him on his way, "Gillespie" decides - with a bit of persuasion from the widow (Lee...