Sunday 6 February 2022

In the Heat of the Night (1967 Norman Jewison)

Broadcast by the BBC as a tribute - quite right. Good though Steiger is though, the Oscar should have gone to Poitier. Though as it turns out, he wasn't even nominated! (BAFTA did so.) That is scandalous. Film also won Best Picture, Screenplay, Editing and Sound.

Jewison's blocking is noticeable, Hal Ashby's editing is incisive, Haskell Wexler's photography is subtle but exceptional (very long shot zoom in on bridge is perfectly in focus). Well acted by all: Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Larry Gates, James Patterson, William Schallert, Beah Richards (also Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?), Peter Whitney, Ms. Quentin Dean, and the creepily good Anthony James (also in High Plains Drifter). Plus a young Harry Dean Stanton. Scott Wilson, as the suspect, was in In Cold Blood because Poitier recommended him.

A Mirisch Corporation film released through United Artists. Music by Quincy Jones. Written by Stirling Silliphant, based on a novel by John Ball.




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