This week’s blog challenge prompt is to review a movie I watched recently. Well, the most recent movie I have watched was the 1967 movie “In the Heat of the Night”.

This movie stars Sidney Poitier, who is fantastic as always. He was a delight to watch, as his timing and delivery were wonderful. His portrayal of Detective Virgil Tibbs in this movie was spot-on, and I can’t imagine a better person to play the role. Rod Steiger also does a great job of playing Police Chief Bill Gillespie, but I can see why Carroll O’Connor was cast to play the role in the television version. All of the actors played their parts well.

That being said, it was a hard movie to watch for me. I cringed constantly at the blatant racism that blanketed the entire movie. I am appalled when I see racism in real life, and watching it on screen was no easier. I had to keep reminding myself that it was a very different time back then and what was being shown was quite accurate; in fact, there were places where I am pretty sure they toned it down. There is no way in real life that Mr. Tibbs would have made it out of that garage fight scene unscathed in the slightest. I also was not raised in the Deep South, so I have never witnessed firsthand the depth of mistreatment that occurred. I also was born in 1968, on the cusp of most of the Civil Rights protections being written and ever so slightly being enforced, so by the time I was truly aware of my surroundings, in Kansas I didn’t see much bigotry out in the open. But I had to remind myself constantly throughout the movie that these were actors playing roles, and they played them very well. I was grateful for the comedic moments Poitier brought to the movie, and I appreciated his slight smile as he looked at the scenes unfolding from the perspective of a free man from the North.

Great movie–I definitely recommend that people watch it. Just be prepared for what you are about to witness, because it was a very different time back then.