In the Heat of the Night
Norman Jewison · 1967
Norman Jewison’s 1967 crime drama follows Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), detained in a Mississippi town and reluctantly drawn into a murder investigation alongside racist police chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger). Haskell Wexler’s lighting, Hal Ashby’s editing, and Quincy Jones’ score serve a tightly wound procedural that exposes racial hierarchy as structural, not incidental. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
