Mighty List, Screen time

I stayed up far too late last night watching ‘In the Heat of the Night’

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My step-grandfather used to watch the TV version of “In the Heat of the Night,” so that’s what we watched when we were at their house when I was a kid. Well, that or NASCAR or the Grand Ol’ Opry. All three of them bored me to tears. This could explain my aversion to racing and country music as well as why I was never interested in watching the feature film “In the Heat of the Night.” It won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1967, though, which obligated me to watch it, as pursuant to the terms set forth in my Mighty List. So when Rockford had a long, late-night conference call and I discovered “In the Heat of the Night” was available “On Demand,” I figured it was meant to be.

Potentially spoilerish thoughts on the film and also tangential thoughts had whilst watching the film:

  • Is it just me, or do all the best movies start out with a pie-hoarding diner creep, a pervy patrol officer and some naked cola drinking? Or maybe that’s just this movie and all of David Lynch’s movies.
  • Off topic, I overheard an old-timer talking about drinking some dope today. And then they talked about how “that’s what people around here used to call Co-Cola, but now you can get in trouble for saying you’re going to buy some dope.” Every bit of which is true.
  • Rod Steiger may actually be the valedictorian of gum-chewing. Nobody chews gum like Steiger. Steiger won Best Actor for this movie. His gum should’ve won Supporting Actor.
  • “Shag Bag, Hounds & Harvey” — aka The Guy Running for the Arkansas State Line song — would totally be on my running playlist if I were a runner. The whole soundtrack is pretty great. “Foul Owl” would be right at home in a Quentin Tarantino movie.
  • Virgil Tibbs. All business, all the time. The greenhouse scene is 110 percent boss.
  • I never knew where “They call me Mr. Tibbs” came from. Now I do.
  • I’d probably be supercrabby, too, if I had to work with Shagbag and the rest of the doofus corps.
  • I think I grew up in a wormhole. Except for the train station, my hometown looked pretty much just like Sparta, right down to the glass bottle Coke machines.

    • In conclusion, that was a good movie. I’m glad I stayed up to watch it.

    One thought on “I stayed up far too late last night watching ‘In the Heat of the Night’”

    1. Oh my gosh, we have a lot in common. I did know about a dope being a coke. I read it in a book, but never really heard anyone say it in real life unless they were telling a story about the “old days”.

      I love old movies and have seen In the Heat of the Night a few times. I LOVE the “They call me Mister Tibbs!” line. Also when Mr. Tibbs slaps the guy in the greenhouse.

      Poitier wasn’t originally supposed to slap the other actor back, but he talked the director into it, and I think it suits they character so much better than Tibbs getting slapped and taking it.

      What’s your next Oscar movie? There’s a #TCMParty group on twitter that watch old movies together as they are broadcast on Turner Classic Movies. It’s fun!

      Thanks for sending me this link. I really enjoyed reading your blog.

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