This undisputed masterpiece from director Norman Jewison (The Thomas Crown Affair) is one of the most radical and acclaimed movies of its generation. Rod Steiger (A Fistful of Dynamite) gives an Oscar-winning performance as a sheriff from small-town Mississippi who finds himself in an uneasy alliance with a black homicide detective from Philadelphia—strikingly portrayed by Sidney Poitier (Lilies of the Field). In the course of investigating the crime, the two strong-willed men must reconcile their inherent prejudice towards each other. The final result is justice—and an unlikely but touching mutual respect. Supporting performances by Warren Oates (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia) and Lee Grant (The Landlord), an evocative score by Quincy Jones (The Getaway) and vivid cinematography by Haskell Wexler (The Conversation) all add to the film’s authentic aura of a hot summer evening in the Deep South. Winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture for Walter Mirisch (The Great Escape), Best Adapted Screenplay for Stirling Silliphant (Charly) and Best Editing for Hal Ashby (The Cincinnati Kid), In the Heat of the Night is a blistering commentary on race relations and a landmark in entertainment. This 4KUHD special edition also includes the In the Heat of the Night sequels They Call Me Mister Tibbs! and The Organization on the second Blu-ray disc.
As embodied by Alan Bates, Butley falls back on the surgically precise wit and savage eloquence that helped put him in his current circumstances in the first place. The blitzkrieg of vitriolic commentary with which Butley engages lovers, students, rivals, and allies, all with equal ferocity, becomes a glass bottom boat illuminating the churning depths of his bankrupted soul. Acclaimed playwright Harold Pinter, in what Time Magazine hailed as “a quite superior directorial debut,” turns author Simon Gray’s single-set, dialogue driven stage play into an irresistible dynamic visual experience that tracks Bates’ hilarious and fearless performance with cunning precision.
Bates and an expert supporting cast, including Oscar® winner Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy), joust with a sly, self-referencing wit and an unselfconscious exuberance that is breathtaking. With every verbal parry and valedictory flourish of wordplay, Butley’s life becomes more of an inescapable bear trap of thwarted ambition, clandestine affection, and squandered brilliance.
