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. 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.
Genres
Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Studio
United Artists
Language
en
Status
Released
How In the Heat of the Night performed
Budget
$2.0M
Worldwide Gross
$27.4M
Gross Profit
$25.4M
Return
13.7× budget
Opening Wknd (est.)
$5M
Source: TMDB. Domestic/international split (~48/52, genre-typical) and the opening-weekend figure (35% of the domestic run, typical for Crime) are MoviesRankd estimates. Profit is gross revenue minus production budget and excludes marketing — studios typically need ~2–2.5× budget to break even.
Where to Watch
Cast
Virgil Tibbs
Sidney Poitier
Virgil Tibbs
Police Chief Bill Gillespie
Rod Steiger
Police Chief Bill Gillespie
Deputy Sam Wood
Warren Oates
Deputy Sam Wood
Deputy Courtney
Peter Whitney
Deputy Courtney
Mrs. Leslie Colbert
Lee Grant
Mrs. Leslie Colbert
Ralph
Anthony James
Ralph
Mayor Schubert
William Schallert
Mayor Schubert
Harvey Oberst
Scott Wilson
Harvey Oberst
Eric Endicott
Larry Gates
Eric Endicott
Mr. Purdy
James Patterson
Mr. Purdy
Delores Purdy
Quentin Dean
Delores Purdy
Henderson
Kermit Murdock
Henderson
If you liked In the Heat of the Night
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One False Move
1992
Rebel Ridge
2024
Mississippi Burning
1988
Marked for Death
1990
Death Sentence
2007