In the Heat of the Night

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.

Cast

Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier

as Virgil Tibbs

Rod Steiger

Rod Steiger

as Police Chief Bill Gillespie

Warren Oates

Warren Oates

as Deputy Sam Wood

Peter Whitney

Peter Whitney

as Deputy Courtney

Lee Grant

Lee Grant

as Mrs. Leslie Colbert

Anthony James

Anthony James

as Ralph

William Schallert

William Schallert

as Mayor Schubert

Scott Wilson

Scott Wilson

as Harvey Oberst

Larry Gates

Larry Gates

as Eric Endicott

James Patterson

James Patterson

as Mr. Purdy

Reviews

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...

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