959 In the Heat of the Night

[swo17]

In the Heat of the Night



Passing through the backwoods town of Sparta, Mississippi, Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) becomes embroiled in a murder case. He forms an uneasy alliance with the bigoted police chief (Rod Steiger), who faces mounting pressure from Sparta's hostile citizens to catch the killer and run the African American interloper out of town. Director Norman Jewison splices incisive social commentary into this thrilling police procedural with the help of Haskell Wexler's vivid cinematography, Quincy Jones's eclectic score, and two indelible lead performances—a career-defining display of seething indignation and moral authority from Poitier and an Oscar-winning master class in Method acting from Steiger. Winner of five Academy Awards, including for best picture, In the Heat of the Night is one of the most courageous Hollywood films of the civil rights era.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New interview with director Norman Jewison
• New interview with actor Lee Grant
• New interview with Aram Goudsouzian, author of Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon
• Audio commentary from 2008 featuring Jewison, Grant, actor Rod Steiger, and cinematographer Haskell Wexler
• Turning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the '60s, a 2008 program about the production of the film and its legacy, featuring Jewison, Wexler, producer Walter Mirisch, and filmmakers John Singleton and Reginald Hudlin
• Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound, a 2008 program about Jones's innovative soundtrack, including its title song sung by Ray Charles, featuring interviews with Jones, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and musician Herbie Hancock
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic K. Austin Collins

[McCrutchy]

I seem to recall that there is some sort of issue with the existing MGM Blu-ray, at least in some shots? From looking at reviews it seems that it could be in a situation like The Great Escape, where the last restoration work was done ages ago in analogue as opposed to digital. I'll admit I don't remember watching my copy, but hopefully, this will be a good upgrade. I'm very pleased they got an interview from Jewison (at 92!), but it's a little perplexing that they couldn't get something from Poitier (at "just" 91) given that he was in attendance and did a Q&A for a 50th anniversary screening last year. I hope he's still doing okay.

[Foam]

Magic moment: seeing this on TCM in my early teens was one of my first revelations that old films could be great. Haven't seen it since then, and hadn't thought about it for a long time but did today at work for some reason, and then I come home to see it announced! Looking forward to revisiting.

[flyonthewall2983]

This is one I haven't seen, but I remember bits and piece of the television show, especially when they'd rerun it on TNT and WGN. I seem to remember not too long ago Showtime was developing a modern-day version of the material for a series but nothing ever came of it.

[criterionoop]

DVD Beaver Review: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/dvdrevie ... lu-ray.htm

[FrauBlucher]

Bluray.com

[ochsfan]

I'm surprised to see so few posts for this film. I've been using it to kick off an African-American film class I'm teaching and have enjoyed revisiting it. Especially impressed this time around with Haskell Wexler's camera cinematography, which really excels in the action sequences, like the chase on the Arkansas border near the beginning of the movie.

[zedz]

I watched this not long ago and didn't think enough of it to comment, but Wexler is easily the best thing about it: the film looks great, and a lot more modern than it feels. As a piece of socially conscious cinema it's embarrassingly dated, and the most telling comment in the back-patting extras came when it was revealed that there was originally more material with the other black characters (yes, there are other black characters: go back and have a look, but don't blink!), but it wasn't included in the final cut because Jewison wasn't really interested in them.

[ochsfan]

I would agree, although the lone hero standing up to injustice is still the formula Hollywood favors in its "socially conscious" moods. And that creakiness makes it all the more useful to kick off my course with. It should be fun to compare this to "Do the Right Thing" and "Get Out."

[Finch]

4K upgrade in May

4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Alternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Interviews with director Norman Jewison and actor Lee Grant
Segment from a 2006 American Film Institute interview with actor Sidney Poitier
Interview with Aram Goudsouzian, author of Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon
Audio commentary featuring Jewison, Grant, actor Rod Steiger, and cinematographer Haskell Wexler
Turning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the ’60s, a program about the production of the film and its legacy, featuring Jewison, Wexler, producer Walter Mirisch, and filmmakers John Singleton and Reginald Hudlin
Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound, a program about Jones’s innovative soundtrack, including the title song sung by Ray Charles, featuring interviews with Jones, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and musician Herbie Hancock
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic K. Austin Collins

Cover by Sean Phillips

[nicolas]

In case anyone’s considering getting the Criterion upgrade: German label Wicked Vision also released the film in 4K in 2023 but they did a HDR / Dolby Vision grade and it looks excellent. It’s not a fake HDR grade as the negative scan was done at a higher bit depth (I believe 10-bit). Still, the MGM restoration was only performed in SDR for whatever reason. It’s a strong release and can highly recommend it, however at the moment it’s not cheap: https://amzn.eu/d/5xlp5gm and JPC https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/movie/detail/- ... m/11566429