In the Heat of the Night

Before the Sidney Poitier era, it was standard practice in Hollywood to produce two versions of a film—scenes featuring Black actors were cut from the version intended for screening in the South. Poitier could not be cut out. He was the first Black actor whose name appeared in the opening credits before the title, in the spot reserved for the biggest star. The first Black actor to kiss a white woman on screen. The first Black actor nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor—for The Defiant Ones (1958, dir. Stanley Kramer); and the first to win that award—for Lilies of the Field (1963, dir. Ralph Nelson).

In Jewison’s crime thriller In the Heat of the Night, he played Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia police officer who solves a murder case somewhere in Mississippi. In the first draft of the screenplay, Tibbs receives a slap from the heir to a slaveholding fortune—and does not react. Poitier insisted that his character had to strike back. Although the film won the Oscar for Best Picture, it was not shown in the South. There were fears it could spark riots.

Maciej Jarkowiec

Norman Jewison (1926–2024) – Canadian film director and producer. His films often addressed social and political issues, presenting them in an accessible and spectacular form. A hallmark of Jewison’s work is its diversity: his filmography includes the political satire The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, the dystopian Rollerball, and the romantic comedy Moonstruck.