In the Heat of the Night 1967
I was shopping Criterion titles today and saw this one was on a pretty good sale at Amazon. Then I looked it up in my movie database and saw that I already own it on blu-ray, picked up at a really good sale at Dollar General a couple of years ago. It was a rainy day, so I watched it and really enjoyed it.
I was a little apprehensive because the setup of a black police detective going to the south in the late 1960’s could be a little preachy or play off of very basic stereotypes and at times it kind of does. But it was a relief that people didn’t put on big accents or push southern culture that hard, other than racism, which is kind of a given. One problem I had early on was that all Poitier’s character (Mr. Tibbs, famously) had to do was talk to the police that were giving him a hard time instead of just being silent and them thinking the worst. It bothers me to watch a movie that hinges on an artificial lack of communication, but I can forgive a little of it. I like how no nonsense Mr. Tibbs is and how he doesn’t want to be there not because he is afraid, but just because he knows he won’t like the people. It is fun watching people squirm around him while he stays pretty calm and figures things out. You aren’t really given enough information to solve the central crime (though you can take guesses), but the movie is as much about hoping Tibbs will actually live through it. It is a very good movie with good writing and performances, but not quite great. Hard to believe it beat The Graduate for Best Picture, but it has some significant social relevance going for it.
Written: 15 Feb 2021
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital