In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Trivia
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Spoilers (2)
Sidney Poitier insisted that the movie be filmed in the North because of an incident in which he and Harry Belafonte were almost killed by Ku Klux Klansmen during a visit to Mississippi. That's why Sparta, IL, was chosen for location filming. Nevertheless, the filmmakers and actors did venture briefly into Tennessee for the outdoor scenes at the cotton plantation, because there was no similar cotton plantation in Illinois that could be used. Poitier slept with a gun under his pillow during production in Tennessee. He did receive threats from local racist thugs, so the shoot was cut short and production returned to Illinois.
Rod Steiger was asked by director Norman Jewison to chew gum when playing the part. He resisted at first, but then grew to love the idea, and eventually went through 263 packs of gum during shooting.
This was the first major Hollywood film in color that was lit with proper consideration for an actor with dark skin. Haskell Wexler recognized that standard lighting used in filming produced too much glare on most black actors and others of dark complexion. He toned down the lighting to feature Sidney Poitier with better results.
According to Sidney Poitier, Tibbs' retaliation slap to Endicott (Larry Gates (I)) was not in the original script nor in the novel on which the film is based. Poitier insisted that Tibbs slap Endicott back and wanted a guarantee that the scene would appear in all prints of the film. According to Stirling Silliphant, the slap was in the original script, though not in the novel.
The scene that took place at the Sheriff's house featured dialogue that came out of improvisations between Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger.
Set in a hot Mississippi summer, but filmed during autumn in Illinois, many of the actors had to keep ice chips in their mouths (and spit them out before takes) to prevent their breath from appearing on camera during the night scenes.
Frequently cited as Sidney Poitier's favorite of all the films he's done.
The movie's line "They call me Mister Tibbs!" was voted as the #16 movie quote by the American Film Institute.
Mississippi was eventually ruled out as a location due to the existing political conditions. Sparta, IL, was selected as the location, and the town's name in the story was changed to Sparta so that local signs would not need to be changed. The greenhouse was added to an existing house and filled with $15,000 worth of orchids.
The distributors hesitated to release the movie in the southern states because of the potential for trouble and violence due to its theme of racial conflict. As it turned out, there were no reports of violence occurring at any venues in which this film played.
Scott Wilson so impressed Sidney Poitier that he contacted director Richard Brooks and suggested Wilson for a leading role in In Cold Blood (1967). Poitier never mentioned this to Wilson at the time, who only found out about this recommendation after he had been cast.
Rod Steiger received directions to base his performance as Sheriff Bill Gillespie on The Dodge Sheriff, a popular cultural icon and corporate spokesperson for Dodge automobiles. The Dodge Sheriff was a stereotypical southern Sheriff used in an array of advertisements in the 1960s. Steiger took the advice, although he greatly toned down the comedic aspects of the character.
Ironically, Warren Oates and Lee Grant (I) were among Hollywood's group of actors and actresses who played racist roles, or were in racist films, but were themselves up front and vocal in support of the civil rights movement at the same time. Others include Shelley Winters and William Shatner.
According to Norman Jewison and Haskell Wexler on the DVD commentary, they originally wanted to use "Lil' Red Ridin' Hood" by Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs in the movie, and this is the song Ralph Henshaw (Anthony James) was dancing to during filming. Unable to license Sam the Sham's song, "Foul Owl on the Prowl" was substituted, composed by Quincy Jones and performed by Boomer & Travis (better known as Owens Boomer Castleman and Michael Martin Murphey).
Producer Walter Mirisch used creative accounting to prove to United Artists that the film would make a profit even if it did not play in the South at all.
The slapping scene between Detective Tibbs and Endicott was shot in just two takes, and the slaps the characters made to each other's faces were real, according to a detailed account Norman Jewison, provided in 2011. Jewison let Larry Gates rehearse by slapping him, because Jewison wanted to be sure that Gates could slap hard enough.
The bridge that the fugitive (Harvey Oberst) runs across while being chased is the Chester Bridge, in Chester, IL, spanning the Mississippi River and over into Missouri.
Due to the assassination of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (April 4, 1968), the presentation of the Best Picture Oscar for this film was postponed for two days from Monday April 8th to Wednesday April 10, 1968. (see also The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and Raging Bull (1980)).
Rod Steiger spoke in the southern dialect consistently for the duration of filming.
In 2007 the American Film Institute ranked this as the #75 Greatest Movie of All Time. It was the first inclusion of this film on the list.
Beah Richards, who played the abortionist Mama Caleba, played the mother of a Sidney Poitier character in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967).
Virgil's salary of "$162.39 per week" would be roughly $1,285 in 2020. The cash in his wallet was $127.00, which comes to $1,005.00.
In a one-on-one interview that aired on TCM, Rod Steiger praised Lee Grant (I) for her performance in the film, calling it one of his favorites.
In 1967 Sidney Poitier starred in three of the biggest pictures of his career, two of which (In The Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) were nominated for Best Picture that year. Poitier was not nominated for either role, although his co-stars Rod Steiger and Katherine Hepburn both won Best Actor awards, and co-stars Spencer Tracy and Beah Richards were nominated for Oscars as well for these films. The third big movie for Poitier that year to was To Sir With Love, which may have led to him being passed over for Academy Award nominations that year due to vote splitting.
The only film directed by Norman Jewison to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Virgil says he's not married here, but in the sequel They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) he obviously has been for years.
The movie's line "They call me Mister Tibbs!" was voted as the #76 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
The song on Sam Wood's little transistor radio, "Bow-Legged Polly", was written and performed for the film by Glen Campbell.
George C. Scott was the first choice to play Chief Gillespie but he was unavailable due to The Flim-Flam Man (1967).
The brawl in the maintenance shed takes place under a sign that reads, "Let us ALL be Alert. We don't want ANYONE Hurt."
The film is considered to be the first part in a loose trilogy of films directed by Norman Jewison that deals with racism, the other two are A Soldier's Story (1984) and The Hurricane (1999).
The "bridge chase scene" is across the real Mississippi River, but was filmed on the Chester Bridge at Chester, Illinois. Chester is 20 miles west of Sparta, where the majority of the location shooting took place.
Lawrence Tierney was considered for the role of Chief Gillespie.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
A sign at the Sparta depot refers to the "Rebel Road". This is a reference to the Gulf Coast Rebel, a train that began in 1937 and ran between Mobile (AL) and Union (MS) and was later extended to St. Louis, MO. However, in 1966--when this film was shot--the GM&O; had ceased operations south of St. Louisa six years previously although the company headquarters were in Mobile until 1972.)
Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the 400 movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.
EMD E7A #103, the locomotive featured at the beginning and end of the film, was originally purchased by the Alton RR and acquired by GM&O; in 1947 when it bought out Alton. The producers rented the train and crew for the movie.
Beat a number of films that also went on to become iconic to win the 1968 Oscar for Best Picture, including Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Cool Hand Luke, The Dirty Dozen, Bonnie and Clyde, and The Graduate,. In Cold Blood and Doctor Doolittle also competed that year.
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio 103, the engine that pulls Tibbs' train, was an EMD E-7A, built in March 1945, as the GM&O; was the first "large" U.S. railroad to replace all steam locomotives with diesels The engine, passenger consist and operation crew were hired from the railroad for a two-day period in 1966 to film Tibbs' arrival and departure from Sparta, IL, (although the GM&O; had ceased passenger operations south of St. Louis, Missouri, eight years earlier) with the engine and train laying over at a yard with a turntable south of Sparta overnight. When the GM&O; merged with the Illinois Central to form the ICG in August 1972, 103 was renumbered to ICG 4011, and then was sold for scrap to the Precision National Corporation in March 1975.
Sidney Poitier and William Schallert appeared in another film about racial issues: Band of Angels (1957).
William Schallert and Warren Kenner are the only two actors to appear in both the film In the Heat of the Night (1967) and the TV series based on the film. For Warren Kenner, the film was his first on-screen appearance and the TV series was his penultimate on-screen appearance.
At least nine actors appeared in this film who also had roles in Levy, Gardner and Laven TV shows like The Rifleman and/or The Big Valley. Some starred in both shows. Lee Grant, William Schallert, Warren Oates, Peter Whitney, Anthony James, Quentin Dean, Arthur Malet to name a few.
Film premiere of Scott Wilson, who portrays Harvey Oberst.
Sir Mix A Lot's song "Sleepin Wit My Fonk" includes the line "Check in like Virgil Tibbs-ah."
Spoilers
When director Norman Jewison and editor Hal Ashby attended a sneak preview for the film, they found that the young audience was laughing uproariously at the dialogue. Although Jewison was upset that his dramatic film was not being taken seriously, Ashby assured him that the audience was laughing in approval of the southern Sheriff being put in his place by the confident and urbane Detective Virgil Tibbs. Jewison did not agree until the film got to the famous slapping scene; when the white audience was stunned at seeing an African-American man physically fight back against a white man for the first time in a modern mainstream American film, Jewison was convinced the film was effective as drama.