In the Heat of the Night
They got a murder on their hands. They don’t know what to do with it.
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.
- Director
- Norman Jewison
- Signature
- Craft · Drama · Tension
- Worldwide
- $27M
Who's in it
Cast
The billed ensemble, with character names. Open any performer for their Nutevio filmography.
The Nutevio profile
Movie DNA
How In the Heat of the Night actually feels to watch, measured on the twelve traits our editors track across every Nutevio title.
Perfect if you enjoyed
Story overview
What It's About
Spoiler-free. Read the analysis below for the full argument.
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.
Where to watch
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The numbers
Box Office & Release
In the Heat of the Night returned 13.7× its budget worldwide.
- Budget
- $2M
- Opening weekend
- —
- Domestic gross
- —
- International gross
- —
- Worldwide gross
- $27M
- Release date
- Aug 2, 1967
- Runtime
- 1h 49m
- MPAA rating
- —
- Language
- English
- Country
- United States of America
Figures from the verified production record. Fields we cannot source are left blank rather than estimated.
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