They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it.
African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.
- 7.7
- 1967
- Released
- 1h 49m
Sidney Poitier
Virgil Tibbs
Rod Steiger
Police Chief Bill Gillespie
Warren Oates
Deputy Sam Wood
Peter Whitney
Deputy Courtney
Lee Grant
Mrs. Leslie Colbert
Anthony James
Ralph
William Schallert
Mayor Schubert
Scott Wilson
Harvey Oberst
Larry Gates
Eric Endicott
James Patterson
Mr. Purdy
Quentin Dean
Delores Purdy
Kermit Murdock
Henderson
Larry D. Mann
Watkins
Matt Clark
Packy
Beah Richards
Mama Caleba
Arthur Malet
Ulam
Fred Stewart
Dr. Stuart
Timothy Scott
Shagbag
William Watson
McNeilEldon Quick
Charles HawthorneJester Hairston
Endicott's Butler
Stuart Nisbet
ShuieKhalil Bezaleel
JessPhil Adams
1st ToughSam Reese
ClerkJack Teter
Philip Colbert (uncredited)
Alan Oppenheimer
Ted Appleton (uncredited)
Clegg Hoyt
Deputy (uncredited)Buzz Barton
Conductor (uncredited)
Released
en
$2,000,000.00
$27,379,978.00
- #small town
- #southern usa
- #police chief
- #stolen money
- #racial segregation
- #racist
- #thief
- #murder
- #youth gang
- #racism
- #whodunit
- #poverty
- #false accusations
- #police station
- #racial tension
- #bigotry
- #autopsy room
- #red herring
- #railroad station
- #white supremacists
- #nymphette
- #bigot
- #deep south
- #cotton plantation
- #southern small town
- #rumble
- #illegal abortionist
- #jumping to conclusions
Reviews
Warren Oates ("Wood") steps from his patrol car in the quiet town of Sparta and discovers the body of "Colbert" - a controversial local employer. Shortly afterwards he discovers "TIbbs" (Sidney Poitier) sitting waiting for the 4.05 train. He is black and there is a wealthy white murder victim on the street - ergo, two and two... Next thing, though, the police chief "Gillespie" (Rod Steiger) is int
I have a love/hate thing for how this ended. It looked good but it was too dark... visually. I think they were going for a source lighting thing and failed a bit. It was realistically dark but not Hollywood viewer in mind dark. Anyway the bad is out of the way, the good is the performance, it was really Oscar worthy in the truest sense, and the evolution of both the lead character and the su