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Officer Sam Wood (Warren Oates) finishes up eating at a seedy diner where the server, Ralph (Anthony James), needles Wood about his love of coconut cream pie. Wood pays for his stuff and rides his usual patrol route on the overnight shift in Sparta, Mississippi. This includes driving down one road and sneaking a peek at one woman who is parading around her kitchen stark naked, apparently knowing full well she can be seen by Wood (and whoever else) from outside. As he continues on his route, he eventually comes across a body in the road near Main Street. Assuming it's just some drunkard passed out, he gets out of his car and tries to rouse him, but he then sees blood and realizes something's wrong. He calls it in and many others come to the scene, including Chief Gillespie (Rod Steiger). The body is identified as Philip Colbert, a wealthy entrepreneur and industrialist from Chicago who is planning to build a factory for his company in Sparta. The coroner estimates Colbert's time of death was pretty recent, so Gillespie orders Wood to check around town for anyone who may have seen or heard something, or just for anyone roaming around at this late hour.
Wood finds a black man sitting on a bench at the train station, which right now is closed and unmanned. Wood talks down to him and orders him to get in back of the police car after frisking him. The man says nothing in response. At the station, Wood brings the man to Gillespie, who asks how he killed Colbert. The man now speaks, saying his name is Virgil Tibbs (Poitier), and he was waiting for the 4:50AM train to Memphis. Wood had taken Tibbs's wallet, and it's now on Gillespie's desk containing quite a bit of money. Gillespie asks how he got all that. Tibbs replies it's because he's a police officer from Philadelphia who was on his way to visit his mother. Tibbs shows his badge. Gillespie angrily calls in Wood and shows him the badge as well. Gillespie calls Tibbs's chief in Philadelphia, and he proposes that Tibbs and Gillespie work together on the murder as Tibbs is a homicide expert. Gillespie seems keen on the idea but Tibbs just wants to get back to the train station. Gillespie admits he's not an expert, calls Tibbs by "Officer" and could use the help, so Tibbs reluctantly stays. He takes a look at the photos taken at the crime scene and heads off to see the body.
While checking out the corpse, Tibbs names a list of items he'll need. He also disputes the time of death given at the scene because rigor mortis has already started to set in, so the killing took place several hours before what was initially diagnosed. The coroner isn't keen on helping any, even after Gillespie gives him the order to help however needed.
The next morning, a man is on the run from police dogs. He's trying to get out of Mississippi and into Arkansas, but Gillespie catches up to him on the bridge. The man is brought to the station, where Mrs. Colbert (Lee Grant) is told by Tibbs about her husband's murder. She asks for a moment alone and sits in the chief's office while Tibbs checks out the suspect's hands. The suspect is brought into Gillespie's office and the redneck police force all hoot and holler thinking they've got their man. Tibbs asks if he confessed. The cops say they believe he will. The suspect's name is Harvey, and Tibbs asks if he's left-handed. The cops say he is. Tibbs says in that case, Harvey is innocent because the blows on Colbert were almost certainly delivered by someone right-handed, and the lab results he's holding back that theory up.
Gillespie brought Harvey into his office to Mrs. Colbert and gives her back her husband's wallet, which Harvey was found to be in possession of. This, in Gillespie's eyes, makes Harvey the murderer. Harvey swears he found the body already dead, and just took the wallet. Harvey is locked up in the cells. Gillespie is then told by his deputies about how Tibbs feels Harvey didn't do it. Gillespie refuses to accept this information and tries to get Tibbs's lab results, but he won't give them up. Tibbs says these go to the FBI and he'll deliver them personally. Gillespie locks up Tibbs for withholding evidence and tells his deputies to put him in the same cell as Harvey. Mrs. Colbert has also stepped out of the office by now and yells at the police for their style of policing.
When Tibbs is put into the same cell as Harvey, Harvey initially balks and talks down to him. Tibbs gets him to calm down and be quiet, showing him the police badge and asking Harvey why when they have multiple cells empty right now did they put the two of them together? He infers that he's there to talk with Harvey and prove his innocence. Harvey says he found the wallet, and it was sometime after 2AM, which is what the coroner's incorrect estimation was for the time of death. Harvey was at the pool hall between 11PM and 1AM until they closed. Harvey also makes mention of a certain woman he used to know who likes to parade around naked in her house. Tibbs checks Harvey's right hand and smiles as he digs something out from under his fingernails.
Gillespie comes by and lets Tibbs out so he can catch a train out of town. Tibbs tells Gillespie he should change the charge against Harvey, and explains that Harvey has pool chalk under his fingernails, which matches his alibi. The time of death was about 12:30AM, and Harvey was at the pool hall then, and has other people that can verify such. Tibbs also says the body was killed and later moved to Main Street. After Tibbs leaves, Gillespie angrily tells Courtney (Peter Whitney) to change the charge against Harvey to theft. Gillespie then gets a call from the mayor, who wants Gillespie to meet with him at the equipment factory.
The mayor and Mrs. Colbert are at the factory waiting for Gillespie. She threatens to pack up all of her workers and not have the new factory built if this crime isn't solved, and she absolutely wants Tibbs to stay on the case. The mayor influences Gillespie to follow through on her request. Gillespie goes to the train station and tries to guilt Tibbs into staying, but he isn't having any part of it, saying this town is racist and ignorant. Gillespie accuses Tibbs of simply wanting to show everyone in this town that he's smarter than they are. Both men seem to get through to each other, and Tibbs goes with Gillespie.
Tibbs visits Mrs. Colbert to gather some more information. He learns that one who could have been an enemy to her husband is Endicott (Larry Gates), who owns a cotton plantation and was a business rival of Colbert's. Tibbs checks Colbert's car for clues and gathers some material he finds on the seats, floors and pedals. One item of special interest to Tibbs is a twig he discovers, which he says later is fernroot. Gillespie comes onto the scene and Tibbs asks to be driven to Endicott's plantation.
They arrive at the plantation, which has lots of African-American workers in the fields picking cotton. Endicott is in his greenhouse. Tibbs admires the many orchids and names one particular type as his favorite. Endicott says it's funny that Tibbs would choose that one because, like the Negro, that type needs to be cultivated and molded into something special. Tibbs finds fernroot in the greenhouse and then delicately starts to question Endicott about Colbert's murder. Endicott slaps Tibbs. Tibbs slaps him right back. Endicott tells Gillespie he saw that, now what is he going to do about it. Gillespie says he doesn't know. Endicott tells Tibbs that at one time, he could have had him shot for that. Tibbs and Gillespie leave. Gillespie scolds Tibbs and tells him he may have just opened up a huge can of worms. Tibbs is sure he can bring "that fat cat" Endicott down with just a little more digging. Gillespie tells Tibbs he's getting his priorities clouded just like "the rest of us."
Gillespie tells the mayor Tibbs needs to leave Sparta immediately for his own safety. The mayor reluctantly agrees, and then wonders about Gillespie's feelings because the last police chief would have shot Tibbs immediately for slapping Endicott, Philly cop or not. We cut to Tibbs, who is driving and getting bumped from behind by another car full of whites, who are thugs sent by Endicott. Tibbs winds up trapped in a warehouse. He fights the foursome off for awhile until Gillespie finally arrives and semi-casually breaks up the skirmish. One of the thugs mouths off to Gillespie and gets a punch in the gut for it. The thugs leave and Gillespie tells Tibbs he warned him things were now going to get ugly.
Back at the station, Tibbs goes to Wood without Gillespie's knowledge and asks him to re-enact the night where he found Colbert's body, step by step. The first stop is the diner. Gillespie has followed Wood and he questions what they're both doing. He's eventually convinced to join in, so all three enter the diner. Ralph is there again, smarmy as usual. Ralph objects to Tibbs, saying he won't serve him. Tibbs only is interested in the time frame. Outside, Wood re-enacts calling in to the station and then they head out. After awhile, Tibbs questions why Wood changed his usual route. Wood complains to Gillespie about having to take orders from Tibbs. Tibbs simply leaves the car.
Tibbs is still convinced the murderer is Endicott and he awaits the lab results of his recent findings to prove it once and for all. Gillespie, however, has other theories. He's learned that Colbert had $900 on him the night he was killed, but when his wallet was found later it had only $300. Wood deposited $600 the next day. Wood, when questioned about this, says he won the money playing Quarters at the bar against a bunch of drunks. Gillespie asks Tibbs why he accused Wood of changing his route when they were re-enacting it. Tibbs tells him of the nude woman along the route, which he deliberately skipped this time.
Then into the station walks Lloyd Purdy (James Patterson) and his 16-year-old sister Delores (Quentin Dean). Lloyd wants to file a complaint against Wood. Gillespie brings them into his office. Tibbs comes in later as well, despite Lloyd's objections. Delores says that Wood comes down her street every night. On this one night in particular, he stopped to talk to her on her porch. They went to the cemetary and had consensual sex, and now she's pregnant. Lloyd doesn't care that it was consensual, it's still statutory rape so he wants Wood arrested.
Tibbs goes to the cells and asks Harvey about where a guy or girl can go if one winds up in a pregnant predicament. Harvey mentions someone named Mama. He's never needed her but his friend Packy at the pool hall would know where to find her. Tibbs also gathers more evidence, this time at the construction site of Colbert's new factory. He's gotten the lab results back regarding everything he found in Colbert's car and has deciphered that Gillespie was right about his feelings toward Endicott. He's innocent. What he thought was fernwood was actually pine. Also, Colbert was killed here at the site, then driven in his own car to where the body was dumped, which clears Wood as he couldn't have driven two cars at the same time.
While Tibbs and Gillespie are hanging out at Gillespie's house, Packy arrives to bring Tibbs to Mama (Beah Richards). She works out of a general store and reveals a young girl was coming here tonight for an abortion. In walks Delores, who in seeing Tibbs, immediately runs off. Tibbs goes after her but comes across someone with a gun, who Delores grabs onto. It's Ralph, the server at the diner. Tibbs says Ralph shouldn't use a gun but something more blunt like when he killed Colbert. Delores is in disbelief that Ralph is the murderer. Then Endicott's thugs arrive, and Delores's brother Lloyd is among them. Tibbs tells Lloyd that Wood didn't get her sister pregnant, Ralph did, and she's carrying money in her purse right now for the abortion. Both Ralph and Delores told Lloyd that Wood had done it in order to cover their tracks. Lloyd finds all this to be true and begins to go after Ralph, but Ralph shoots Lloyd instead. Ralph is disarmed by Tibbs as Gillespie and others arrive to arrest Ralph.
At the station, Ralph confesses to the murder, explaining it was just supposed to be a robbery. He didn't mean to kill Colbert. His job now done, Tibbs goes to the train station to head to Memphis. Gillespie goes with him to see him off. They shake hands and Gillespie tells him to take care. Both smile, having gained respect for each other.
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Poitier's most famous movie line, "They call me Mister Tibbs!", is from this film.....Tibbs slapping Endicott was the first time in movie history where an African-American character would retaliate to a racially-charged physical strike. Depending on which story you believe, the original script either had the second slap already written in or was added by Jewison and Poitier during filming. Audiences usually cheered and/or gasped when it would play on screen.....Quentin Dean, who was then in her early 20's, played 16-year-old Delores Purdy. She was very obviously closer to 23 than 16.....Steiger's character was given the trait of always chewing gum. Steiger wound up going through 263 packs of gum during the entire filming.....Critic Roger Ebert, who was a rookie reviewer in 1967, had this as one of first Top 10 movies that year.....Two sequels to the film followed. First was 1970's They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! and 1971's The Organization. These were films that featured Tibbs, but not Gillespie, as the settings were elsewhere besides Mississippi. Neither did particularly well at the box office. Much more successful was a TV adaptation that ran from 1988-1994, starring Carroll O'Connor as Gillespie and Howard Rollins as Tibbs. The TV series was set many years in time after what took place in the movie, with the history of both characters intact.
In the Heat of the Night was an instant hit at the box office, and critics agreed. They enjoyed the mystery, and audiences of all races enjoyed seeing Tibbs stand up to the racism of the South. As it turned out, 1967 had a lot of strong quality films, and this was one of them. The AMPAS garnished the film with 7 Oscar nominations. Sound Effects Editing and Director (surprisingly) were the only two categories that the film did not win. Statuettes did come for Best Film Editing (Hal Ashby), Sound (Samuel Goldwyn Studios), Best Adapted Screenplay (Stirling Silliphant), Best Lead Actor (Steiger) and Best Picture. That last win came over Bonnie and Clyde, Doctor Doolittle, The Graduate and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Except for that silly talking-to-the-animals musical, I think any of those other films could be argued as worthy to have won Best Picture as well. And how great was it to see Sidney Poitier prominently featured in not one, but two Best Picture nominees that year? The times, they were a-changin'. Steiger's win was unexpected by him, and upon accepting the trophy he thanked "Mr. Sidney Poitier for the pleasure of his friendship, which gave me the knowledge and understanding of prejudice to enhance my performance. Thank you...and we shall overcome." Steiger's win may have also been given a boost by, of all things, the heart attack he reportedly suffered after completing the movie shoot.
So does this film hold up today? Overall, I'd say yes, but my problem with the movie isn't anything in relation to race relations, or the film perhaps not aging well. I just think it's a bit uneven. There's some deducing going on by Tibbs that the rest of us just aren't following, but when he says such-and-such piece of evidence shows that the result is "A" and not "B", we just kinda shrug our shoulders and keep rolling with it. I think too much is inferred as having been said and done "offscreen", and it can get a bit confusing. Also, it seems a lot of things happen rather conveniently, and those astute enough to want to measure the timeline within the film itself would probably find that certain occurrences as they played out would be physically impossible in the rules of space and time. These are little issues though, not worth nitpicking over. The film works. Steiger and Poitier are an exciting team to watch on screen together. Give it a shot.
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