Director
Norman Jewison
Leading Actors/Actresses
Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Larry Gates
Genre
Crime, Drama, Mystery
Language
English
Awards
Won 5 Academy Awards: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium / Best Actor in a Leading Role - Steiger / Best Film Editing / Best Picture / Best Sound
Date of Release
1967
Producer
Walter Mirisch
Setting and Context
Small Mississippi town, 1967
Narrator and Point of View
POV is that of Virgil Tibbs and Gillespie
Tone and Mood
Serious, Dramatic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist is Virgil. Antagonists are Gillespie, Endicott.
Major Conflict
Virgil has been called in to work with Gillespie, a Sheriff in Mississippi in order to solve the murder of a Mr. Colbert. Virgil is a black man in a deeply racist town seeking to find the truth.
Climax
Virgil is able to solve the murder but must overcome the racism of the members of the small Southern community in order to do so, even nearly being killed by them in the process.
Foreshadowing
Gillespie and Virgil's first meeting foreshadows the racism that Virgil will endure during the course of the story.
Understatement
It is understated that Ralph is the killer.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
N/A
Allusions
The film is an allusion to how the South in 1967 was still very much segregated by race even after the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Paradox
Virgil Tibbs is in Mississippi to help solve the crime of Colbert, paradoxically he becomes the target for some in the town who want to murder him just for being black.
Parallelism
Gillespie's interrogation of Virgil parallels Virgil's questioning of Purdy.
