Episode 38: IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

1967 was a volatile year, and its Best Picture winner, Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night was a volatile picture in many ways. Rod Steiger plays a small-town Mississippi police chief who reluctantly accepts the help of a Philadelphia detective played by Sidney Poitier to solve the murder of a local VIP.

The detectives clash with each other, but more significantly, clash with the town's deep-seated racism. It dealt with hot-button issues in its day. Join us as we discuss how relevant it still is today.

It ranks at number 32 on our Best Picture Countdown.*

Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.

*What is this list?

We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.