In The Heat of the Night (1967)

Thursday, January 18, 2018 @ 7:00 PM
The Plaza Theatre - 1133 Kensington Road NW, Calgary, AB
$12 General | $10 Members/Seniors/Students | $40 5-Pack Punch Pass | $99 Season Pass

Critical Cinema: WEXLER & WILLIS

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT | Dir. Norman Jewison | 1967 | 109 min

THE END OF IT ALL IS NOT CONCLUSIVE. IT DOES NOT IMPLY THAT THE STATE OF PREJUDICE AND ANTAGONISM IN THE COMMUNITY IS ANY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IT WAS AT THE START.

The hot surge of racial hate and prejudice that is so evident and critical now in so many places in this country, not alone in the traditional area of the Deep South, is fictionally isolated in an ugly little Mississippi town in the new film, In the Heat of the Night, which opened at the Capitol and the 86th Street East yesterday.

Here the corrosiveness of prejudice is manifested by a clutch of town police and a few weaseling nabobs and red-necks toward a Negro detective from the North who happens to be picked up as a suspect in a white man's murder while he is passing through town. But the surge of this evil feeling is also manifested by the Negro himself after he has been cleared of suspicion and ruefully recruited to help solve the crime. And in this juxtaposition of resentments between whites and blacks is vividly and forcefully illustrated one of the awful dilemmas of our times.

But here Norman Jewison has taken a hard, outspoken script, prepared by Stirling Silliphant from an undistinguished novel by John Ball, and, with stinging performances contributed by Rod Steiger as the chief of police and Sidney Poitier as the detective, he has turned it into a film that has the look and sound of actuality and the pounding pulse of truth. READ MORE, via NY Times, originally published Aug 3, 1967.

Awards
Academy Awards, USA 1968 - Won (Oscar, Best Picture | Walter Mirisch, Best Actor in a Leading Role | Rod Steiger, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium | Stirling Silliphant, Best Sound, Best Film Editing | Hal Ashby), Nominated (Oscar, Best Director | Norman Jewison, Best Effects, Sound Effects | James Richard)
Golden Globes, USA 1968 - Won (Golden Globe, Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Actor - Drama | Rod Steiger, Best Screenplay | Stirling Silliphant), Nominated (Golden Globe, Best Director | Norman Jewison, Best Actor - Drama | Sidney Poitier, Best Supporting Actress | Lee Grant, Best Supporting Actress | Quentin Dean)
BAFTA Awards 1968 - Won (BAFTA Film Award, Best Foreign Actor | Rod Steiger), Won
(UN Award | Norman Jewison), Nominated (BAFTA Film Award, Best Film from any Source | Norman Jewison, Best Foreign Actor | Sidney Poitier)
American Cinema Editors, USA 1968 - Nominated (Eddie, Best Edited Feature Film | Hal Ashby)
Directors Guild of America, USA 1968 - Nominated (DGA Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures | Norman Jewison)
Edgar Allan Poe Awards 1968 - Won (Edgar, Best Motion Picture | Stirling Silliphant)
Grammy Awards 1968 - Nominated (Grammy, Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show | Quincy Jones)
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1967 - Won (KCFCC Award, Best Actor | Rod Steiger) Tied with Paul Scofield for A Man for All Seasons (1966).
Laurel Awards 1968 - Won (Golden Laurel | Drama, Male Dramatic Performance | Rod Steiger), Nominated (Golden Laurel, Male Dramatic Performance | Sidney Poitier)
National Film Preservation Board, USA 2002 - Won (National Film Registry)
National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA 1968 - Won (NSFC Award, Best Actor
Rod Steiger. Best Cinematography | Haskell Wexler)
New York Film Critics Circle Awards 1967 - Won (NYFCC Award | Best Film, Best Actor | Rod Steiger), Nominated (NYFCC Award, Best Director | Norman Jewison). Tied with Arthur Penn for Bonnie and Clyde (1967).
Online Film & Television Association 2016 - Won (OFTA Film Hall of Fame, Motion Picture)
Sant Jordi Awards 1969 - Won (Sant Jordi, Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera) | Norman Jewison, Best Performance in a Foreign Film (Mejor Interpretación en Película Extranjera) | Rod Steiger, For The Loved One and No Way to Treat a Lady)
Writers Guild of America, USA 1968 - Nominated (WGA Award (Screen), Best Written American Drama | Stirling Silliphant)

In the Heat of the Night is the second title in our SPOTLIGHT: WILLIS AND WEXLER series. 

SPOTLIGHT: WEXLER & WILLIS

In a new direction for CCS, we're shining a spotlight on cinematographers, choosing two Americans, Gordon Willis and Haskell Wexler, and their politically charged films of the 1960s and 1970s.

Calgary Showtimes: In The Heat of the Night >

CC: Spotlight: Wexler & Willis Whitepaper >

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