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As we continue our look back at the Best Picture Oscar winners while we were in high school, you can see by 1967 (parts of our sophomore and junior years) how the themes of the winning motion pictures changed from previous years when the winners were either historical epics (A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS,1966) or a musical with a historical theme (THE SOUND OF MUSIC, 1965).

The 1967 Best Picture Oscar was given to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, a movie whose story line could have been ripped right out the headlines of the 1960s, especially with the ongoing civil rights movement still going strong across the country.

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT is based on a novel by John Ball. It tells the story of an African-American police detective, Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) from Philadelphia who becomes involved in a murder investigation in a small, racist town in Mississippi.

The town's police chief, Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger), is the other major star of the movie. In fact, Rod Steiger won the BEST ACTOR Oscar for this role. Ironically however, it was Sidney Poitier (who had already become the first African-American to win a BEST ACTOR Oscar for LILLIES OF THE FIELD a few years earlier) who uttered the most enduring line of the film when he said: "They call me Mister Tibbs!"

Courtesy of YouTube, here's one of many powerful scences from the movie. By today's standards, it would seem almost routine, but the standards of the late 1960s this was groundbreaking subject matter for a motion picture...




IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT won 5 Oscars in 1967. In addition to BEST PICTURE and BEST ACTOR, it also won for FILM EDIITING, SOUND and WRITING FOR AN ADAPTED SCREENPLAY.

The success of the movie led to two sequels: THEY CALL ME, MR.TIBBS (1970) and THE ORGANIZATION (1971). There was also a long-running TV series based on the main characters in the movie. IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT ran for 8 seasons on both NBC and CBS from March 6, 1988 to May 16, 1995.

Carroll O'Connor (of the ALL IN THE FAMILY TV show and Archie Bunker fame) played Police Chief Gillespie and Howard Rollins played Mr. Tibbs.