In the Heat of the Night

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Norman Jewison
Starring:	Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant
Release date:	04 June, 2002
List price:	~~$14.95~~
Our price:	$10.72 that is 28% off!

In the Heat of the Night

Average rating: Stars

In the Heat of the Night

A wonderfully acted movie.A joy to see a representation of the
way things should not be. Great job Sydney and Rod.

In the Heat of the Night - Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger and more

A trip back to a bad time for all

If you want to get a taste of how bad things use to be back in the bad old days of the South this would be a good place to start.

Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger and more - In the Heat of the Night

IN HINDSIGHT, NOT WITHOUT WARTS, BUT EXCELLENT FOR ITS TIME

There's a handful of reasons Joe Modern viewer may dislike this film.

The pace is very late 60s, relaxed. There isn't much flab in terms of a background score or other ornamentation, in fact at times silence goes belly to belly with grating hissing noises (thanks guys, you cretins in the DVD transfer department.)

Technical shortcomings aside, the film is guilty of the biggest blunder that a film hinging its hopes on mystery can commit -- it fails to come clean to its audience, on several fronts. We never quite figure out why our detective knew many of the things he claimed to know. Simply being a hotshot homicide detective from "up north" doesn't quite cut it as an explanation.

But those gripes out of the way, I should say it is engaging to watch how the lack of cinematic accoutrements in those times wrung filmmakers to actually *think* about character development and screenplay. Most modern suspense thrillers could probably take this 1967 Oscar winner to the cleaners in terms of visual and technical snazz, but it does exceptionally well in cobbling together its setup: the feel of its small southern American town, the palpable racism of the town folk (which runs throughout as an undercurrent but never brims over), the misadventures of inept cops, the sentiments of victims and suspects, and so forth.

Given that, I'd more readily label this a police procedural slash drama, not a suspense thriller.

If you have so much as a passing interest in sleuthing and don't mind a somewhat grainy print (par for the course for most 60s films) this should certainly be a worthy rental. I'd also recommend "Mississippi Burning" and "A Time To Kill" to people who enjoy this film.