In The Heat Of The Night Review

Overall Rating

This is both a crime drama and a study of racism in the deep South. Poitier is a big-city detective changing trains in a small town when he is arrested by the local police for a murder. After proving his credentials to the racist and skeptical sheriff, while he waits for the next train and in order to prove his innocence, he helps out with the investigation to find the real murderer.

This movie drips with tension and anger and frustration as Poitier, an educated and successful police detective, comes up against ugly forms of racism from people who are less capable and less knowledgeable than him and who are trying to protect their own. It recreates the racial tensions in the South, showing the nasty underbelly of the sort of small-town life that we feel sentimental about these days. Plus, it's acted brilliantly by two of Hollywood's finest talents.