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On the podcast this time, Steven and Sean are slapping old, white racists in the face because they deserve nothing less with the 1967 film from Norman Jewison, In the Heat of the Night.

Let\u2019s get this out of the way first. Racism is bad and racists are terribly under-educated, fearful people who could use a good dose of empathy and love in their lives. Sure, there\u2019s nothing groundbreaking there, but it needs to be said, sadly. Many things have gotten better since the \u201860s, but there\u2019s still a lot to be done.

This is a cracking good mystery, with a wrinkle for the ages. The small town of Sparta, Mississippi just lost one of its greatest future benefactors: the wealthy and industrious Philip Colbert. In an act of senseless violence, he\u2019s left dead in the middle of an alleyway, stripped of all his money.

Detective Virgil Tibbs, who happens to be passing through at the time of the murder, is found in the train station and picked up for the crime of being black in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Good thing he\u2019s an educated police officer. I shudder to think what would have happened to him were he anyone else.

His expertise helps bring new and powerful information about this murder to light. The local police chief, Bill Gillespie, in an unusually progressive fashion, comes to respect Tibbs. The pair work the case, which has more twists and turns than anyone could have guessed.

Maybe the institutional racism of the town isn\u2019t broken down, but I\u2019d bet you that Gillespie becomes a marginally better person. Small victories are still victories, right?

(Recorded on March 11, 2022)

Links to Stuff We Mentioned:

In the Heat of the Night - IMDb

In the Heat of the Night trailer - YouTube

Norman Jewison - IMDb

Sidney Poitier - IMDb

Rod Steiger - IMDb

Warren Oates - IMDb

Lee Grant - IMDb

Larry Gates - IMDb

The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - IMDb

Castle (TV Series 2009\u20132016) - IMDb

Dexter (TV Series 2006\u20132013) - IMDb

Crash (2004) - IMDb

Sidney Poitier Dead: \u2018In the Heat of the Night\u2019 Star Dies at 94 - The Hollywood Reporter

They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) - IMDb

The Organization (1971) - IMDb

Jaws 2 (1978) - IMDb

Roy Scheider - IMDb

Angela Lansbury - IMDb

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