African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.

• DirectorNorman Jewison
• Release2 August 1967
• Genre
  Crime / Drama
• Duration1h 49m
• Budget$2,000,000
• Revenue$27,379,978
• Rate
  

  7.643
  1138 reviews
• Productions

  United Artists, The Mirisch Company