When Sidney Poitier’s United Artists film, "In Heat of the Night," was released in 1967, it was, of course, a sensation, and has become one of the seminal films of the 1960’s.
The film, which deals with a Philadelphia detective, Virgil Tibbs, who is reluctantly forced to investigate a baffling murder in a backwoods southern town, while facing racism at every turn, was a massive hit, and won several Academy Awards the following year, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Rod Steiger, and Best Screenplay.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that UA wanted more films with Poitier as Tibbs, and, a few years later made two of them – "They Call Me Mister…
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