There’s a New Sheriff in Town: Cultural Values in In the Heat of the Night Kellie Veltri College

Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night (1967) is a thrilling murder mystery set in a small Mississippi town in the late 1960s, shortly after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. The story follows a black detective, Virgil Tibbs, who is accused of murdering a prominent industrialist who had come to the town to build a factory. However, Tibbs reveals that he is actually a talented detective from Philadelphia, and the town sheriff convinces Tibbs to stay and work the case after he discovers that the local department has arrested the wrong man. He chooses to do this with the knowledge that he will face a great amount of racial prejudice while working the case. In the Heat of the Night won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in a year with extremely fierce competition. The film’s commercial success, combined with its critical acclaim, signified that American audiences were interested in social problem films and beginning to reject some longstanding cultural norms. The Heat of the Night affirms the value that the American North is culturally and intellectually superior to the South while it criticizes the idea that white Americans are more intelligent and talented than their black counterparts.

At the time of this...