Erroneously referring to the title as Heat of the Night, the 16 Jun 1965 LAT announced that The Mirisch Corporation was set to produce a motion picture adaptation of John Ball’s first mystery novel, In the Heat of the Night. According to production notes in AMPAS library files, founder Walter Mirisch felt that the crime story made a strong statement about contemporary race relations, and scheduled the project as one of the company’s nineteen upcoming films. Three days later, a 19 Jun 1965 NYT article noted the involvement of actor Sidney Poitier and writer-producer Robert Alan Arthur, who previously worked with Poitier on a televised Philco Playhouse production of A Man is Ten Feet Tall. Arthur did not remain with the project, and the 3 Jan 1966 LAT reported that writing duties had been assumed by Stirling Silliphant, who adapted Poitier’s latest film, The Slender Thread (1965, see entry). The screenplay was completed by Feb 1966, at which point it was offered to director Norman Jewison. A 17 Aug 1966 HR item stated that Rod Steiger had been hired to play Police Chief “Bill Gillespie.” The 24 Aug 1967 LAHExam identified Steiger and Poitier as “old friends” who had long sought an opportunity to work together.
       With a director and principal cast in place, crewmembers began a three-month location scout of roughly 150—200 townships throughout the Southern and Midwestern U.S. before deciding on Sparta, IL. The fictional setting of “Wells,” MS, was changed to Sparta for the film, allowing the art department to use existing signage and storefronts. Conflicting dates in contemporary news items and production notes suggested that filming began either 19 or 26 Sep 1966. Production headquarters were located in Chicago, IL, and additional shooting was completed in the cotton-growing community of Dyersberg, TN, where filmmakers constructed a greenhouse containing a $15,000 orchid collection from growers in Signal Mountain, TN. The ten-to-twelve-week schedule brought roughly $500,000 to the local community. On 14 Nov 1966, however, DV reported that the crew left TN a day and a half early to finish production on a studio lot in Los Angeles, CA. Jewison claimed the crew lacked the cooperation from the local community and felt “insecure” at the location, hinting at racial tensions in the region; Poitier reportedly did not leave his motel room “except when necessary.” The 18 Nov 1967 NYT stated that the final cost was less than $2 million.
       According to the 15 Aug 1966 HR, Jewison used the photographic technique of “forced development” to compensate for underexposure, since most of the scenes were shot at night. In a 28 Dec 1967 letter to the AMPAS Sound Effects Award Committee, he explained that much of the picture was shot on handheld MOS cameras, while effects were recorded on “wild tracks” and mixed into the soundtrack during post-production. Jewison also claimed that several scenes were improvised by the actors.
       Prior to its domestic release, the 16 May 1967 NYT named In the Heat of the Night as one of fourteen American films scheduled to play out of competition at the Moscow Film Festival in Russia in Jul 1967. Contemporary sources indicated that the picture would also be screened at the Academy Award Theater in Los Angeles on 28 Jul 1967 and 5 Aug 1967 for events benefitting the Inner City Cultural Center and Reparatory Company, and the Frostig Center of Educational Therapy. A 2 Aug 1967 NYT item announced its release that day at the Capitol, Broadway and 31st Street, and 86th Street East Theatres. In Los Angeles, the film began an exclusive engagement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre 23 Aug—17 Oct 1967, with more playdates added citywide the following day.
       Well-received by critics, In the Heat of the Night won five Academy Awards: Actor (Rod Steiger), Film Editing, Sound, Writing (Screenplay—based on material from another medium), and Best Picture, and earned additional nominations for Directing and Sound Effects. The film was also nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards, of which it won three: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama (Rod Steiger), Best Screenplay – Motion Picture (Sterling Silliphant), and Best Motion Picture – Drama. AFI ranked it #75 on the 2007 list of 100 Years…100 Movies—10th Anniversary Edition, and #21 on the list of 100 Years…100 Cheers. Poitier’s “Virgil Tibbs” is the nineteenth most heroic character on the list of 100 Years…100 Heroes & Villains, while the line, “They call me Mr. Tibbs!” is #16 on the list of 100 Years…100 Quotes.
       In 1970 and 1971, Poitier reprised his role for They Call Me Mr. Tibbs and The Organization (see entries), which followed Tibbs’s career as a detective in San Francisco, CA. Tibbs returned to Sparta in the long-running television drama series, In the Heat of the Night (NBC, 1988—1992; CBS, 1992—1995), which starred Howard Rollins and Carroll O’Connor.