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.
Sidney Poitier
as Virgil Tibbs
Rod Steiger
as Police Chief Bill Gillespie
Warren Oates
as Deputy Sam Wood
Peter Whitney
as Deputy Courtney
Lee Grant
as Mrs. Leslie Colbert
Anthony James
as Ralph
William Schallert
as Mayor Schubert
Scott Wilson
as Harvey Oberst
Larry Gates
as Eric Endicott
James Patterson
as Mr. Purdy
GenerationofSwine
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 ...
CinemaSerf
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...