In the Heat of the Night
“They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it.”
Norman JewisonCast
Sidney Poitier 
Rod Steiger 
Warren Oates 
Lee Grant 
Larry Gates James Patterson
Credits
Written by: Stirling Silliphant
Plot
Virgil Tibbs, a well-dressed Black detective from Philadelphia, is arrested at a railway station in a small Mississippi town because he is the only stranger around when a wealthy man is found murdered. When his identity is established, the town's white police chief, Gillespie, reluctantly asks him to stay and help solve the case. Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger star.
Sinekatalog’s take
A murder mystery that is really about prejudice, and a landmark of its time. The slap scene and Poitier's line 'They call me Mister Tibbs!' are famous, and Steiger won the Oscar.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 7.9 / 10 (92,694 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
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