In the Heat of the Night is a wonderful and culturally important film from the 1960s and while I don’t think it’s among Sidney Poitier’s best, with To Sir, With Love being my favorite of his, but it still is a great performance alongside Rod Steiger.
In the Heat of the Night
— The Criterion Collection —
(1967)
Genre(s): Suspense, Drama, Crime
Criterion | NR – 110 min. – $39.95 | January 29, 2019
Date Published: 02/22/2019 | Author: The Movieman
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The Criterion Collection provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
PLOT SYNOPSIS |
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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. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.0/5 |
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This release comes with a fold-out booklet. Audio Commentary – The track features Director Norman Jewison, Cinematographer Haskell Wexler and Actors Rod Steiger and Lee Grant which was recorded in 2008. Interviews:
Turning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the ‘60s (21:10) – This program is from 2008 and features interviews with Director Norman Jewison, Producer Walter Mirisch, filmmakers John Singleton and Reignal Hudlin and looks at the production of In the Heat of the Night and its legacy. Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound (13:03) is a 2008 featurette looking at the innovative soundtrack by Jones and the title song performed by Ray Charles. Trailer (2:45) |
VIDEO – 5.0/5 |
| Criterion Collection releases In the Heat of the Night with a newly minted 1080p high-definition transfer of a 4K digital restoration and this absolutely looks fantastic. I don’t have my old MGM Blu-ray handy, but I think this is a clear improvement, detail is incredibly sharp and colors appear natural looking to go along with the natural film noise which has been retained. There was absolutely no obvious instances of dust marks, scratches, aliasing or any other flaws. Another A+ effort from Criterion. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| The movie also gets a new LPCM Mono track which is also amazing. Dialogue comes through with great clarity to go along with the nice score from Quincy Jones and Ray Charles’ catchy theme song. |
OVERALL – 4.25/5 |
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Overall, In the Heat of the Night is a wonderful and culturally important film from the 1960s and while I don’t think it’s among Sidney Poitier’s best, with To Sir, With Love being my favorite of his, but it still is a great performance alongside Rod Steiger who took home the Oscar. This release from Criterion Collection offers up excellent video/audio transfers and a nice selection of bonus features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.