炎热的夜晚

Philip Colbert, a wealthy man from Chicago who was planning to build a factory in the rural town of Sparta, Mississippi, is found murdered. Police Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) comes under pressure to quickly find Colbert's killer. African-American northerner Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), passing through, is picked up at the train station by a police officer (Rod Steiger) who finds Tibbs with a substantial amount of cash in his wallet. Officer Gillespie, heavily prejudiced against blacks, jumps to the conclusion that he has his culprit, but is embarrassed to learn that Tibbs is a respected Philadelphia homicide detective who had been visiting his mother. After the bigoted treatment he received, Tibbs wants nothing more than to leave Sparta as quickly as possible, but his captain recommends he stay and help the investigation. The victim's widow, already frustrated by the ineptitude of the local police, is impressed by Tibbs' expert ability when he clears another wrongly-accused suspect Gillespie has arrested on flimsy evidence. She threatens to stop construction on the much-needed factory unless Tibbs leads the investigation. Unwilling to accept help but under orders from the town's mayor, Gillespie talks Tibbs into lending his services. Despite the rocky start to their relationship, the two police come to respect each other as they are compelled to work together to solve the crime. Tibbs initially suspects wealthy plantation owner Eric Endicott, who opposed the new factory. When he attempts to interrogate Endicott about Colbert, Endicott slaps him in the face. Tibbs slaps him back, which leads to Endicott sending a gang of redneck hooligans after Tibbs. Gillespie rescues Tibbs from the fight and orders him to leave town for his own safety. Tibbs refuses to leave until he has solved the case. Tibbs asks Sam Wood, the officer who discovered the body, to retrace his steps the night of the murder. He and Gillespie accompany Sam on his patrol route, stopping at a diner where the counterman, Ralph Henshaw, refuses to serve Tibbs because he is black. When Tibbs notices that Sam has deliberately changed his route, Gillespie begins to suspect Sam of the crime. When he discovers that Sam made a sizable deposit into his bank account the day after the murder (which Sam claims was gambling winnings) and Lloyd Purdy, a local, files charges against Sam for getting Purdy's 16-year-old sister, Delores, pregnant, Gillespie arrests Sam for the murder over Tibbs' protests. Purdy is insulted that Tibbs, a black man, was present for his sister's interrogation about her sexual encounter with Sam, and he gathers a lynch mob to get his revenge on Tibbs. Tibbs is able to clear Sam by finding the original murder scene and pointing out that Sam would not have been able to drive two cars at the same time to dump the body and the victim's car while continuing on his patrol. Acting on a hunch, Tibbs tracks down the local back-room abortionist, who reveals that someone paid for Delores Purdy to have an abortion. When Delores arrives, Tibbs pursues her outside, where he is confronted by the murderer: the diner counterman Ralph Henshaw. Purdy's mob tracks down Tibbs at this moment, and he is being held at gunpoint when he proves to Purdy that it was Ralph, not Sam, who got Delores pregnant. Purdy attacks Ralph, who kills Purdy in self-defense. Ralph is arrested and confesses to the murder of Colbert. He had attempted to rob Colbert to gain money to pay for Delores' abortion but accidentally killed him. His job done, Tibbs finally boards the Gulf, Mobile, & Ohio train out of town, seen off by a more respectful Gillespie.

In the Heat of the Night is a film about racial discrimination. This film begins with a blame of a black male and this male helped many people to uphold justice after the effort. It also commences in a dark night, the environment cause a stressful and mysterious atmosphere. In order to highlight the topic of this film, it used many characters to express its opinion. There are some funny and rhythmical music run through the whole movie. Police use gum to enrich this character. The big red "EAT" advertising board looked stick out, in my opinion, it reveals the darkness of the society and the attitude of people. why the detective did not explain anything and keep silence when that police blame him? Will this story be different if the detective is a black?

本片黑人警察维吉尔和白人警长都有人物弧光设计。

黑人警察因为被冤枉、被侮辱所以认定种植园园主是凶手，但被警长“原来你和我们剩下的人都一样”一语点破，知道自己犯了主观认定先行的错误，后来根据新的证据查出真相。

白人警长一开始只将维吉尔作为黑人看待时也歧视侮辱维吉尔，但随着当得知他的警察身份，并了解到他很有刑侦能力，维吉尔指出自己对小偷的判断失误，给出尸检信息的过程中，逐渐将他作为一个警察同行来看待，所以当维吉尔得罪种植园园主时，警长并没有惩治维吉尔，而是为他的安全考虑让他离开，并前去救他。最后，当维吉尔找到真凶送他离开时，一句再次强调的“保重”对他流露出赞赏和关心之情。

本片将受害人的身份设置得比较重要，将这件案子显得比较重要。并设置了维吉尔、小偷、种植园园主、巡警山姆等四次误导，最终才找到真凶。过程波澜起伏，并通过破案的过程展现出小镇的种族歧视、警察办公状态等社会状况。

主线是破案的过程，副线是黑人警察与白人警长的关系变化。

本片的音乐很有特色，例如在开头警察巡视时慵懒的爵士乐反映了小镇的宁静和警察的慵懒。在维吉尔被追杀时采用了非常紧迫感和节奏感的音乐，对于带动观众紧张感很有帮助。本片节奏张弛有度，将案件调查与人物情感交流与变化恰到好处地交织在一起。

另外，本片在表现追逃场面时，使用了大量斯坦尼康主观镜头与跟随镜头，剪辑节奏和景别的变化也表现出了形势的紧迫程度。如，警察们在抓捕小偷时，先使用了快速剪辑的主观镜头和近景跟随镜头，当警长开着车慢悠悠等待小偷体力耗尽时，镜头长度变长，并且景别变成了远景。

但是最终的真相过于幼稚简单。