In the Heat of the Night is an important movie in movie history. It was made in 1967 and was one of the first movies in which the main part was played by a black actor who had the role of a character that was smarter than the other white characters.

Sidney Poitier (as Virgil Tibbs), who had won an Oscar 3 years earlier for his role in Lillies in the field, plays a police officer who, because he happens to have change trains in a small town in the south of America, ends up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Reason for this is that a murder has been committed that evening and he is arrested as suspect. Continue reading →