In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Norman Jewison's In The Heat of the Night was one of the unlikeliest hits to come out of 1967. Few issues were more provocative or dangerous to discuss in private, much less on screen, than race relations in the United States, and that went double for the Deep South, where the movie (based on John Ball's book) was set. Additionally, the country didn't seem to be clamoring for that kind of discussion: to this day, Roger Corman's The Intruder (1961) is the only theatrical film ever made about school integration in the South. Jewison defied every piece of industry wisdom and won out, mostly because he played it straight and honest, with a cast led by two actors who could hardly have been improved upon for the parts they played. The thematic set-up was surprisingly similar to The Defiant Ones, in which Poitier had co-starred for Stanley Kramer nine years earlier, but the directorial touch was smoother and the film was filled with an enviable range of wonderful supporting performances. In The Heat of the Night was successful enough to generate a brace of films that tried for the same mix of topicality and drama (as well as two sequels, They Call Me Mister Tibbs and The Organization that were more action-oriented), among them William Wyler's The Liberation of L.B. Jones (which came from the same screenwriter), Lamont Johnson's made-for-television My Sweet Charlie, and Ralph Nelson's Tick Tick Tick, all of which opened race relations to more honest and straightforward cinematic exploration. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide