Where to watch In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Trivia & production notes

• Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger were longtime friends who had sought an opportunity to work together before starring in this film.
• The film marked the acting debuts of Scott Wilson, Anthony James, Quentin Dean, and Eldon Quick.
• Character actor Clegg Hoyt's unbilled appearance was his final film role before he died two months after the film's release.
• Most of the film was shot in Sparta, Illinois rather than the titular Sparta, Mississippi, allowing the production to use the town's existing storefronts and signage.
• The filmmakers unknowingly chose a real town called Sparta, Mississippi for their setting; the actual town bears little resemblance to the film's version, including being nowhere near Interstate 20 as depicted.
• Cinematographer Haskell Wexler adjusted the film's lighting to prevent glare on Poitier's dark complexion, making it the first major Hollywood color film to properly address lighting for a Black actor.
• The famous scene where Tibbs slaps Endicott back was added during screenplay revisions at Poitier's insistence, with the actor requiring a guarantee it would appear in every version of the film.
• Quincy Jones composed and conducted the film score, while Ray Charles performed the title song, which reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2002 as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
• The line "They call me Mister Tibbs" was ranked number 16 on the American Film Institute's list of top 100 movie quotes.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article In the Heat of the Night (film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.