Oscar Week: In the Heat of the Night

"They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!"

When I first heard about In the Heat of the Night, I thought it sounded like a great film. A black homicide detective is taken in as a homicide suspect purely because of his skin color. Then, he ends up being one of the detectives on the case. A very interesting idea indeed. And it definitely helped that the marvelous Sidney Poitier played the black detective.

As I watched the film, I realized that it was beautifully done. The town is incredibly racist. Instead of breaking under pressure or giving into it, Vigil Tibbs proves that he is brilliant and outstanding at what he does. He begins to make some people question their prejudices because of how he holds himself.

I did a little reading about Sidney Poitier. He was born in the Bahamas and moved to Miami when he was fifteen. Because he had grown up in a country where he was in the majority, moving to Miami showed him what an outstanding problem racism was. He then decided to dedicate his career to social justice by working to eliminate racism. I have to say, he did quite a good job, both in the roles he chose and in the fact that he was the first black actor to win the Academy Award. Thank you, Sidney Poitier, for being awesome.