Delayed Reaction: In the Heat of the Night

The Pitch: Just in case you aren't already convinced that Sidney Poitier is the man...

A black Philadelphia detective helps a racist Mississippi police department solve a murder.

I sold low on this movie. I went in assuming it was one of those over-hyped, good at the time but not meant to hold up movies. Best Picture winners are a great indication of how people want to see themselves at the time more than they are indicators of the best movie of the year. So, I didn't read much into the Best Picture win for In the Heat of the Night.

It turns out I really liked this movie. Even if you take out the race stuff, it's a solid police procedural about a detective who goes against his better judgment to solve a case. What surprised me the most is how much of a sense of humor it has. The cops at the station are kind of goofy a lot of the time. Weirdly, I got My Cousin Vinny vibes from watching this. Adding quirks for all the characters tamps down the self-seriousness of the movie and shades the townspeople effectively. It's a smart counterbalance for what could've be a heavy film.

Of course, the race material is what makes this an #ImportantMovie. I don't care if they were transparently crowd-pleasing moments. I was all about Poitier saying "They call me Mr. Tibbs" or slapping the white man back. I get that there was a larger, more significant cultural impact to seeing that at the time. I don't even need to know that though. Those are satisfying moment within the context of the movie itself. The movie doesn't pretend that it can solve racism. It's a "two steps forward, one step back" process. Rod Steiger's police chief comes to respect Poitier's Det. Tibbs, but there's still some hesitation; resentment, even. I really love the scene toward the end when they are in Steiger's house. Everything is going too well for two men who hated each other earlier that same day, so of course Poitier is going to say that one familiar thing too much that snaps Steiger back into his old ways.

It's funny how Green Book makes some of the same points about racism but they work so much better in In the Heat of the Night. It's not exactly surprising though. In the Heat of the Night was commenting on problems of the day that were still going on. Green Book felt like it was displacing the racism by looking back 50 years and placing it mostly in the South. It's much easier to say "weren't things bad back then and over there?"

One Last Thought: What was going on in 1967-68 with Oscar voters? Sidney Poitier was in two Best Picture nominees, including the eventual winner. These were movies that got several acting nominations. Rod Steiger and Katherine Hepburn even won for each movie. How exactly was Poitier not nominated for either? I'll be nice and suggest that it was vote-splitting, not some kind of unintentional racism (i.e. congratulating the white people for being brave enough to make these movies rather than the black actor who the movies were really about).

Verdict: Strongly Recommend