Best Picture of the Day: In the Heat of the Night

Check out Bundler's guide on where to watch.

Why Watch It Now?

As a Best Picture winner, Norman Jewison's 1967 cop drama might best be remembered for beating The Graduate or spawning a successful TV series starring Caroll O'Connor as a different type of racist. At the time, the film was viewed as groundbreaking for its depiction of an interracial professional friendship and tackling Deep South racism in the midst of the civil rights movement. Every film that tackles a pertinent issue inevitably risks feeling dated to future generations. How does this film play in the era of Black Lives Matter and a renewed interest in civil rights? Is it wishy-washy Hollywood liberal fantasy, or do the story, setting and performances mark it as a precursor for something like True Detective (especially this season)?

Don't Take Our Word For It? Or the Academy's?

https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/poitier-steiger-excel-heat-night-1967-article-1.2054830

https://slate.com/culture/2008/02/revisiting-in-the-heat-of-the-night.html

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/17/in-the-heat-of-the-night-review

On the Other Hand...

https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/in-the-heat-of-the-night/Film?oid=1069383