Review of In the Heat of the Night (1967) by Stefán Birgir S — 19 Jul 2010

"In The Heat of the Night" is just a classic, and certainly one of the best films of the 1960's. It was heart-pounding, intense, provocative, and just all around highly entertaining. This film pushed the envelope in so many areas, and that's why I like it so much. Sidney Poitier's performance is amazing, as well as Rod Steiger's. This is truly a wonderful movie.

Virgil Tibbs, a Pennsylvania police officer is just passing by a small town in the deep south. A murder takes place, and a cop arrests him, obviously for being black. When they find out that Tibbes is a cop, Tibbes' chief wants him to help with the investigation, and find out who killed the man. Tibbes must do this, while battling racist citizens of the town who are trying to kill him. It's a brilliant idea for a film, and like I said before, it's topic was certainly pushing the envelope and that's highly commendable.

The best thing about "In The Heat of the Night" was the acting. Like I said before Poitier and Steiger were both magnificent. The chemistry between these two actors in this film is truly remarkable. They just went so well together in this film, and they both did great jobs. They certainly made the movie what it was.

The movie flowed gradually in a great way. The execution of the film is one to awe about, because for the 1960's, I felt that this film was pulled off in a very unique fashion, if you pay attention to camera movement, and placement. There are a lot of zoom up shots, which you weren't seeing a lot of at the time, and a lot of focus-in and out shots, which was definitely uncommon at the time. They might have just been experimenting, but I thought it was great, and a lot of the shots, though they might have been experimental, kept me enthralled with the movie, and that's what it's all about.

"In The Heat of the Night" was also a wonderful movie for something else. It had this edge to it. The movie was just soo....soo.....BADASS. I loved it. Poitier was a complete badass from start to finish, and I know that in 2000 when Denzel Washington one best actor for "Training Day" and he looked up at Poitier, he had to be thinking of this movie as well, for how influential and inspiring it must have been to him. This is a wonderful movie, and a classic, and needs to be seen by anyone who is a fan of film, if they haven't seen this legendary film already.