In the Heat of the Night
Synopsis
While on a trip back home in Mississippi, detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested for the murder of a prominent industrialist. His only crimes: being out late at night and being black. After some prodding by his boss, Tibbs joins forces with the bigoted town sheriff to catch the real killer.
This film is not currently playing on MUBI but 30 other great films are. See what’s now showing
Show all
(27)
Awards & Festivals
Academy Awards
1968 | 5 wins including: Best Picture
1968 | 2 nominations including: Best Director
BAFTA Awards
1968 | 2 wins including: Best Foreign Actor
1968 | 2 nominations including: Best Film from any Source
Directors Guild of America
1968 | Nominee: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
Writers Guild of America
1968 | Nominee: Best Written American Drama (Screen)
It’s the anger, the pride, and the reassembly that stand out most in this film. It’s the evocative power of Poitier’s performance, in particular, that makes In the Heat of the Night feel practically like two separate films, whose extraordinary double vision can only really be appreciated from a black perspective.
K. Austin Collins
January 29, 2019
A feverish tension crackles in each frame of In the Heat of the Night, sparked by the very real danger involved in making the film. In the Heat of the Night is not a ‘historical fiction’ as such but very much an urgent product of its time.
Joanna Di Mattia
March 17, 2017
Wow… As Dinah Washington once sang, “what a difference a day makes”. It would be disingenuous to say that Norman Jewison’s sweat-dappled southern policier gains a chilling relevance at a time when then the White House is being populated with white supremacist yahoos, because the film’s power was evident long prior to the world going very wrong indeed.
David Jenkins
November 16, 2016
Related films
Cool Hand Luke
Stuart Rosenberg, 1967
Mystic River
Clint Eastwood, 2003
The Teacher
Howard Avedis, 1974
The Organization
Don Medford, 1971
They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!
Gordon Douglas, 1970
Castle Keep
Sydney Pollack, 1969
Sam Whiskey
Arnold Laven, 1969
Lolly-Madonna XXX
Richard C. Sarafian, 1973
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Stanley Kramer, 1967
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Don Siegel, 1956
The Great Gatsby
Jack Clayton, 1974
Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist
Saul J. Turell, 1979