In the Heat of the Night

This is surely Sidney Poitier's most famous role: Virgil Tibbs, the black police detective from Philadelphia who reluctantly teams up with a racist police chief (Rod Steiger) to solve a murder in the Deep South. The 1967 Oscar winner for Best Picture is famous for foregrounding racial tensions, an element that hasn't dated too well. But it's still a compelling murder mystery, and Poitier and Steiger are a formidable match, even through Steiger's drawling excess (which won him the Oscar for Best Actor). Also won Oscars for editing, sound, and Stirling Silliphant's adapted screenplay. Norman Jewison directs, and Warren Oates and Lee Grant co-star in memorable roles. Features commentary by cinematographer Haskell Wexler, Jewison, Steiger and Grant (recorded years ago), along with three new featurettes: "Turning Up the Heat: Movie Making in the Turbulent '60s," "The Slap Heard Around the World," and "Quincy Jones: In the Heat of the Music."