1967 In the Heat of the Night

1967 In the Heat of the Night

A very good movie, but infuriating watching the rampant racism, which I guess is the point.  The chief was an interesting character -sometimes he seemed like a good guy, other times like a racist jerk.  Sydney Poitier was great of course.  

Chief Gillespie and Detective Virgil Tibbs.

Sydney Poitier is Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia police detective who is traveling through the small, southern town of Sparta, Mississippi when he gets tangled up in a murder case.  A wealthy man has been killed, and Tibbs is arrested based solely on the fact that he is an unfamiliar black man.  Back at the police station, they discover that he is a homicide detective.  The police chief alternately begs for his help and disdainfully tells him to get out of town or puts him in a jail cell.  It's a pretty interesting detective story.  Of course, with so many police dramas on TV now, it takes a lot for a case to be deemed really interesting.

Tibbs is in serious danger while he stays in town, as the locals try to chase him down and attack him.  To the chief's credit, he helps protect him and the two end up bonding a bit.  The chief is only going to evolve a certain amount over the course of the couple of days that Tibbs is in town, however.  It really is disgusting to see how racist the people in the town are.  Tibbs hits a white man who attacks him first, and the amount of completely unwarranted hatred directed at Tibbs over this is ridiculous.  The mayor tells the chief, "Last Chief we had would've shot Tibbs two seconds after he slapped him and claimed Self Defense!"  It's insane.