In the Heat of the Night is one of the highest heights of American detective filmmaking for a number of reasons, the script is just fantastic with Steiger, Oates, and especially Poitier all running with it giving some of the best work of their careers(it’s ashamedly my first Poitier role but i plan on seeing more very soon), the technical work all around is nothing short of flawless, and the actual murder mystery narrative was so entertaining and made this runtime fly by. I’ve come out of it feeling positively about the racial elements which I was most worried about, the conception of Tibb’s character had me iffy in the beginning but after I realized it’s just Tibbs’ northern properness versus Gillespie’s southern carelessness I started to understand what the screenwriters and original author were going for thematically and it all really clicked for me. The ending is something I can understand this getting flack for as it’s a little naive but I also believe it’s not trying to say anything big with the warm departure of Tibbs and Gillespie, I saw it more as just the personal growth of Gillespie through having Tibbs so close in his life and while I definitely would’ve loved something addressing the systemic injustices here the ending had a sense of hope to it that, although clearly not well founded since we’re still struggling with the same problems today, had a nice effect on me as it’s a hope I still have in my heart even through our cynical world. And beyond that especially for 1967 film I thought the scene-to-scene portrayal of racial violence was quite effective and holds up well today, from the big impact scenes to the subtle moment-to-moment in the dialogue there’s so much here that feels incredibly ahead of its time and I definitely respect it for that. Now that I’m done touching on the heavier pieces of the puzzle I can get to the fun ones, even with movies like David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago pretty much defining the decade in these regards I think this is some of the best cinematography and editing work of the 60’s, every shot looks stunning through great shot composition and some of the most gorgeous lighting I’ve ever seen and the editing was perfectly clean. As I said in the beginning the cast here is great, in my first time seeing him act it’s already clear why Sidney Poitier is regarded as one of the best American performers ever, his screen presence here is just incredible and the line delivery is consistently electric. Rod Steiger works as the perfect pair for Poitier giving a much more nuanced performance than I ever thought possible from him, I loved his lead in Duck, You Sucker but for some reason I just never saw this potential for dramatic excellence in him, I’m always happy to be proven wrong though as he nailed the typical small southern town police chief to a realistic level I’ve never seen before. I also liked Warren Oates here and I haven’t seen him take on too many big characters yet so seeing this third billing performance was nice and it’ll definitely make me seek out a lead of his in the near future. There are a bunch of other solid and fun supporting performances too but none really worth mentioning by name besides Scott Wilson who although didn’t do all that much stunned me by being here because that’s the man who played Herschel in The Walking Dead and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him below the age of 70 let alone as young as 25, it was a similarly jarring experience to when I saw Jonathan Banks in Beverly Hills Cop. I think I’ve gotten everything there is to get thematically out of In the Heat of the Night but if I missed something bad here I’m more than open to hearing it though seeing the praise Spike Lee’s given this does give me confidence in my view, either way the rest of it, from the great script telling this entertaining detective mystery to the incredible performances and amazing technical experience comes together to make one of the best movies I’ve seen all year and it’s one I know I’ll cherish coming back to many times through the rest of my life. Oh and also this Ray Charles performed theme song may just be the best written for a movie of all time.
In the Heat of the Night is one of the highest heights of American detective filmmaking for a number of reasons, the script is just fantastic with Steiger, Oates, and especially Poitier all running with it giving some of the best work of their careers(it’s ashamedly my first Poitier role but i plan on seeing more very soon), the technical work all around is nothing short of flawless, and the actual murder mystery narrative was so entertaining and made this runtime fly by. I’ve come out of it feeling positively about the racial elements which I was most worried about, the conception of Tibb’s character had me iffy in the beginning but after I realized it’s just Tibbs’ northern properness versus Gillespie’s southern carelessness I started to understand what the screenwriters and original author were going for thematically and it all really clicked for me. The ending is something I can understand this getting flack for as it’s a little naive but I also believe it’s not trying to say anything big with the warm departure of Tibbs and Gillespie, I saw it more as just the personal growth of Gillespie through having Tibbs so close in his life and while I definitely would’ve loved something addressing the systemic injustices here the ending had a sense of hope to it that, although clearly not well founded since we’re still struggling with the same problems today, had a nice effect on me as it’s a hope I still have in my heart even through our cynical world. And beyond that especially for 1967 film I thought the scene-to-scene portrayal of racial violence was quite effective and holds up well today, from the big impact scenes to the subtle moment-to-moment in the dialogue there’s so much here that feels incredibly ahead of its time and I definitely respect it for that. Now that I’m done touching on the heavier pieces of the puzzle I can get to the fun ones, even with movies like David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago pretty much defining the decade in these regards I think this is some of the best cinematography and editing work of the 60’s, every shot looks stunning through great shot composition and some of the most gorgeous lighting I’ve ever seen and the editing was perfectly clean. As I said in the beginning the cast here is great, in my first time seeing him act it’s already clear why Sidney Poitier is regarded as one of the best American performers ever, his screen presence here is just incredible and the line delivery is consistently electric. Rod Steiger works as the perfect pair for Poitier giving a much more nuanced performance than I ever thought possible from him, I loved his lead in Duck, You Sucker but for some reason I just never saw this potential for dramatic excellence in him, I’m always happy to be proven wrong though as he nailed the typical small southern town police chief to a realistic level I’ve never seen before. I also liked Warren Oates here and I haven’t seen him take on too many big characters yet so seeing this third billing performance was nice and it’ll definitely make me seek out a lead of his in the near future. There are a bunch of other solid and fun supporting performances too but none really worth mentioning by name besides Scott Wilson who although didn’t do all that much stunned me by being here because that’s the man who played Herschel in The Walking Dead and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him below the age of 70 let alone as young as 25, it was a similarly jarring experience to when I saw Jonathan Banks in Beverly Hills Cop. I think I’ve gotten everything there is to get thematically out of In the Heat of the Night but if I missed something bad here I’m more than open to hearing it though seeing the praise Spike Lee’s given this does give me confidence in my view, either way the rest of it, from the great script telling this entertaining detective mystery to the incredible performances and amazing technical experience comes together to make one of the best movies I’ve seen all year and it’s one I know I’ll cherish coming back to many times through the rest of my life. Oh and also this Ray Charles performed theme song may just be the best written for a movie of all time.
