Directed by:
Norman JewisonScreenplay:
Stirling SilliphantCinematography:
Haskell WexlerComposer:
Quincy JonesCast:
Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Larry Gates, James Patterson, William Schallert, Beah Richards, Kermit Murdock, Matt Clark, Larry D. Mann (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Passing through the backwoods town of Sparta, Mississippi, Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) becomes embroiled in a murder case. He forms an uneasy alliance with the bigoted police chief (Rod Steiger), who faces mounting pressure from Sparta’s hostile citizens to catch the killer and run the African American interloper out of town. Director Norman Jewison splices incisive social commentary into this thrilling police procedural with the help of Haskell Wexler’s vivid cinematography, Quincy Jones’s eclectic score, and two indelible lead performances—a career-defining display of seething indignation and moral authority from Poitier and an Oscar-winning master class in Method acting from Steiger. Winner of five Academy Awards, including for best picture, In the Heat of the Night is one of the most courageous Hollywood films of the civil rights era. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Sidney Poitier
USA
Best movies:
A Patch of Blue (1965)
To Sir, with Love (1967)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Rod Steiger
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
Der Zauberberg (1982)
The Longest Day (1962)
Warren Oates
USA
Best movies:
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
East of Eden (1981) (series)
Lee Grant
USA
Best movies:
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Detective Story (1951)
Larry Gates
USA
Best movies:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Airport (1970)
James Patterson
USA
Best movies:
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Lilith (1964)
Castle Keep (1969)
William Schallert
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Beah Richards
USA
Best movies:
The Miracle Worker (1962)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Kermit Murdock
USA
Best movies:
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)
Matt Clark
USA
Best movies:
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Brubaker (1980)
Larry D. Mann
Canada
Best movies:
The Sting (1973)
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Scott Wilson
USA
Best movies:
The Last Samurai (2003)
In Cold Blood (1967)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Fred Stewart
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Quentin Dean
USA
Best movies:
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Stay Away, Joe (1968)
Will Penny (1967)
Peter Masterson
USA
Best movies:
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Stepford Wives (1975)
Anthony James
USA
Best movies:
Prescription: Murder (1968) (TV movie)
Unforgiven (1992)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Alan Oppenheimer
USA
Best movies:
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Little Big Man (1970)
Peter Whitney
USA
Best movies:
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
The Big Heat (1953)
Arthur Malet
UK
Best movies:
The Gift of Love (1978) (TV movie)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
King Rat (1965)
Timothy Scott
USA
Best movies:
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)