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CRITERION SESSIONS: In The Heat of the Night w/Jen Johans (Watch With Jen)
June 05, 2025 · 20 min

Hang onto your slipcases because Blake Howard & Jen Johans of One Heat Minute Productions & Watch With Jen, will discuss the special CRITERION COLLECTION 4K release of IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT.

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

Passing through the backwoods town of Sparta, Mississippi, Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) becomes embroiled in a murder case. He forms an uneasy alliance with the bigoted police chief (Rod Steiger), who faces mounting pressure from Sparta’s hostile citizens to catch the killer and run the African American interloper out of town. Director Norman Jewison splices incisive social commentary into this thrilling police procedural with the help of Haskell Wexler’s vivid cinematography, Quincy Jones’s eclectic score, and two indelible lead performances—a career-defining display of seething indignation and moral authority from Poitier and an Oscar-winning masterclass in Method acting from Steiger. Winner of five Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, In the Heat of the Night is one of the most enduring Hollywood films of the civil rights era.

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrackAlternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrackOne 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special featuresInterviews with director Norman Jewison and actor Lee GrantSegment from a 2006 American Film Institute interview with actor Sidney PoitierInterview with Aram Goudsouzian, author of Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, IconAudio commentary featuring Jewison, Grant, actor Rod Steiger, and cinematographer Haskell WexlerTurning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the ’60s, a program about the production of the film and its legacy, featuring Jewison, Wexler, producer Walter Mirisch, and filmmakers John Singleton and Reginald HudlinQuincy Jones: Breaking New Sound, a program about Jones’s innovative soundtrack, including the title song sung by Ray Charles, featuring interviews with Jones, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and musician Herbie HancockTrailerEnglish subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearingPLUS: An essay by critic K. Austin CollinsCover by Sean Phillips

Jen Johans

3-time national award-winning writer & full-time walking movie encyclopedia Jen Johans of FilmIntuition.com delivers a steady stream of great movie recommendations, thoughtful career deep dives, & first-rate conversations with critics, authors, actors, journalists, filmmakers, and more on Watch With Jen.™️

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