Norman Jewison

In the Heat of the Night

In the Heat of the Night

Passing through the backwoods town of Sparta, Mississippi, Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) becomes embroiled in a murder case. He forms an uneasy alliance with the bigoted police chief (Rod Steiger), who faces mounting pressure from Sparta’s hostile citizens to catch the killer and run the African American interloper out of town. Director Norman Jewison splices incisive social commentary into this thrilling police procedural with the help of Haskell Wexler’s vivid cinematography, Quincy Jones’s eclectic score, and two indelible lead performances—a career-defining display of seething indignation and moral authority from Poitier and an Oscar-winning master class in Method acting from Steiger. Winner of five Academy Awards, including for best picture, In the Heat of the Night is one of the most enduring Hollywood films of the civil rights era.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1967
  • 110 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #959

Special Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New interviews with director Norman Jewison and actor Lee Grant
  • Segment from a 2006 American Film Institute interview with actor Sidney Poitier
  • New interview with Aram Goudsouzian, author of Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon
  • Audio commentary from 2008 featuring Jewison, Grant, actor Rod Steiger, and cinematographer Haskell Wexler
  • Turning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the ’60s, a 2008 program about the production of the film and its legacy, featuring Jewison, Wexler, producer Walter Mirisch, and filmmakers John Singleton and Reginald Hudlin
  • Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound, a 2008 program about Jones’s innovative soundtrack, including the title song sung by Ray Charles, featuring interviews with Jones, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and musician Herbie Hancock
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic K. Austin Collins

New Cover by Sean Phillips

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New interviews with director Norman Jewison and actor Lee Grant
  • Segment from a 2006 American Film Institute interview with actor Sidney Poitier
  • New interview with Aram Goudsouzian, author of Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon
  • Audio commentary from 2008 featuring Jewison, Grant, actor Rod Steiger, and cinematographer Haskell Wexler
  • Turning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the ’60s, a 2008 program about the production of the film and its legacy, featuring Jewison, Wexler, producer Walter Mirisch, and filmmakers John Singleton and Reginald Hudlin
  • Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound, a 2008 program about Jones’s innovative soundtrack, including the title song sung by Ray Charles, featuring interviews with Jones, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and musician Herbie Hancock
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic K. Austin Collins

New Cover by Sean Phillips

In the Heat of the Night
Cast
Sidney Poitier
Virgil Tibbs
Rod Steiger
Gillespie
Warren Oates
Sam Wood
Lee Grant
Mrs. Colbert
Larry Gates
Eric Endicott
James Patterson
Purdy
William Schallert
Mayor Schubert
Beah Richards
Mama Caleba
Peter Whitney
Courtney
Kermit Murdock
Henderson
Watkins
Matt Clark
Packy
Arthur Malet
Ulam
Fred Stewart
Dr. Stuart
Quentin Dean
Delores
Scott Wilson
Harvey Oberst
Anthony James
Ralph
Credits
Director
Norman Jewison
Producer
Walter Mirisch
Screenplay
Stirling Silliphant
Based on the novel by
John Ball
Director of photography
Haskell Wexler
Art director
Paul Groesse
Film editor
Hal Ashby
Music by
Quincy Jones
“In the Heat of the Night” sung by
Ray Charles
Song lyrics by
Alan and Marilyn Bergman

Current

The Real-Life Rage That Fueled Lee Grant in In the Heat of the Night
The Real-Life Rage That Fueled Lee Grant in In the Heat of the Night

In this excerpt from a new interview, the actor talks about how she channeled her political anger in the role of a distraught widow in Norman Jewison’s Oscar-winning crime drama.

In the Heat of the Night: The Double Bind
In the Heat of the Night: The Double Bind

Both a landmark film of the civil rights era and a complicated artifact of white liberalism, Norman Jewison’s Oscar-winning crime drama remains a powerful vision of racial tension and intimacy.

By K. Austin Collins

Quincy Goes to Hollywood
Quincy Goes to Hollywood

During a fertile period in American film history, Grammy-winning icon Quincy Jones used the cinematic medium as a platform for his wide-ranging musical ambitions.

By Carol Cooper