Review of In the Heat of the Night (1967) by Jeremy S — 22 Jan 2010
Having grown up in the eighties and nineties, my first association with the title In the Heat of the Night has been that of the TV series starring Carroll Oâ??Connor for a long time. It was only much later that I began to realize this title also refers to a far more famous movie from 1967, starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger.
Until now, I never realized, though, how many similarities there are between these namesakes and that the series was trying to be some kind of spin-off of the movie, with a similar southern setting and some of the characters carrying the same names.
Steiger and Oâ??Connor even look like each other. The producers of the TV series selected some great source material there, â??cause In the Heat of the Night is a very good film indeed. It could be summarized as a crime film in a provincial setting (southern USA) with a subplot leaning on socio-racial tensions.
Somehow all this does not seem very original, even for 1967, but the execution of these themes is very good and thus lifts the movie to a high level. One can feel it all coming from the moment Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) introduces himself as a policeman from the north, making the stupid southerners led by Gillespie (Steiger) look like incompetent, racist fools.
Of course, we will now get the necessary frictions between Gillespie and Tibbs, intermingled with a growing degree of mutual respect. And of course, Tibbs will be the cleverest of them all, making connections noone else does, which will eventually lead to the correct solution of the whodunit plot just before the expiration of the time he was allowed for the task.
The strongest element of the movie in my opinion, apart from the more than adequate picture that is being painted of the rural south and its population, is the artistic photography: Norman Jewison makes great use of the camera and all its abilities, including impressive close-ups, shots from unusual angles and the use of light and darkness.
The music in the movie frames everything nicely too.
This review of In the Heat of the Night (1967) was written by Jeremy S on 22 Jan 2010.
In the Heat of the Night has generally received very positive reviews.
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