Review of They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) by Mereie D — 10 Apr 2011

Perhaps not as impressive as âIn the Heat of the Nightâ? (1967), but equally entertaining as a textbook example of an early seventiesâ(TM) American crime movie with a touch of blaxploitation to it â" which is typical, considering the fact that âShaftâ? (one of the classic kick-off movies of the aforementioned genre) was not to be released until a year later, in 1971.

âThey Call Me MISTER Tibbs!â? also seems to be ahead of its time in its social approach, which is more common in movies from the later seventies. One of the suspects is a priest (Logan Sharpe, played by Martin Landau) with more than one mission: not only does he want to spread the gospel, but also he has (left-wing) political ambitions.

True, he slept with the victim, but hell ... heâ(TM)s only human, just like the rest of us, is what the director seems to be saying here (knowing the ending of the film and the priestâ(TM)s cold-blooded lying to boot, one is inclined to conclude he is not such an amiable guy after all â" this I consider to be a flaw in the plot â" plus the fact that his motives are only very briefly touched upon).

The other social element is of course Virgil Tibbâ(TM)s (Sidney Poitier) trouble at the home front, notably with his adolescent son. These domestic scenes (which are dosed very well throughout the movie: they are on the verge of taking up too much time, but remain just below that limit of overpresence) show us that Tibbs might be a great detective, but also occasionally an inadequate father, which makes him only human too.

I had most of my fun with this production during the action scenes (the opening scene with the murder is wonderfully filmed with the light effects and all) and the scenes with stereoptypical shady characters like the creepy landlord Rice Weedon (Anthony Zerbe) and the sanctimonious Woody Garfield (with his bitchy wife).

Always a pleasure to get a good view of San Franscisco when the cops are chasing one of the bad guys, especially when accompanied by that super cool music (by Quincy Jones) that permeates the entire film anyway.

This film may be mediocre in its kind, but I find it a little treat.