starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger
directed by Norman Jewison
110 minutes
Detective Vergil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) of the Philadelphia Police Department is passing through Sparta, Mississippi when he gets picked up on suspicion of committing murder. Chief Gillespie (Rod Steiger) asks for Detective Tibbs help, once his identity has been revealed. Tibbs reluctantly agrees after his boss in Philadelphia orders him to do so.
Word gets out that Chief Gillespie has a black police officer helping him. Tibbs and Gillespie disagree about a lot of things. Gillespie rushes to solve the crime and ignores evidence that Tibbs discovers. Gillespie quickly comes to the conclusion that Tibbs has outlived his usefulness and tries to get him to leave town but Tibbs insists on sticking around until the job is done.
Rob Steiger's gum chewing deserves some sort of award. He expressed so much with it.
There's a lot of tension in this movie while Tibbs and Gillespie aren't getting along. That tension dissipates once they start cooperating, in the second half of the movie. The tension between them is the best part of the movie. I kind of lost interest when their relationship solidified and the focus of the movie turned toward solving the murder.
I thought the movie was great early on. I couldn't sop watching but the movie lost me once the focus shifted. Worth seeing but not as great as I was made to think it was because in my opinion it did not stick the landing.
I saw the sequel, They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970), a few years ago. That movie can't hold a candle to this one. This is much better than the sequel.
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