by Chris Marshall:
I loved this movie. Let me just get that out there. But In the Heat of the Night is one of those
cases, and there are a few, where a very good film did not deserve to win Best
Picture, for reasons that have nothing to do with its own quality. It’s roughly
analogous to the French Open today. Novak Djokovic played a great match and is one of the best
players of all time, but his opponent, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, would have deserved
the victory more. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
In the Heat of the
Night is not one of the best movies of all time, but it is immensely
enjoyable. It just came out in the wrong year. 1967 was one of the great years
in the history of cinema, giving us The
Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, and Cool
Hand Luke, among others. Even Guess
Who’s Coming to Dinner?, with its oddly placed question mark, garnered
acting nominations in every category.
That film, like In the
Heat of the Night, co-starred Sidney Poitier, who was garnering serious
respect for turning out one great performance after another and was just four
years removed from winning Best Actor for Lilies
of the Field, becoming the first black man to ever win the award. Poitier
wasn’t nominated for either of his 1967 roles, but he did end up with perhaps
the most memorable line[1]
of the year: “They call me MISTER Tibbs.”
