Best Movies Guide: Why In the Heat of the Night Still Matters

In the Heat of the Night (1967) — an evergreen reference for this movie: the essentials, the cast, where to watch and what to watch next. They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it.

Where to watch

TMDB's U.S. watch-provider data lists Amazon Prime Video, History Vault, IndieFlix, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, IndieFlix Shorts Amazon Channel. Availability changes by country and date, so check your streaming app before watching.

Cast

Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs; Rod Steiger as Police Chief Bill Gillespie; Warren Oates as Deputy Sam Wood; Peter Whitney as Deputy Courtney; Lee Grant as Mrs. Leslie Colbert; Anthony James as Ralph; William Schallert as Mayor Schubert; Scott Wilson as Harvey Oberst

About In the Heat of the Night

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.

More like In the Heat of the Night

• Rosewood
• Insomnia
• The Detective
• The Defiant Ones
• The Intruder
• Shadow of a Doubt
• Bad Day at Black Rock
• No Way Out

Figures and availability come from public TMDB data and are provided as a sourced reference.