'They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!' Sidney Poitier Demands Respect

By | October 5, 2019

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When Sidney Poitier stepped onscreen as Virgil Tibbs in In The Heat of the Night (1967) he presented an arresting figure the audience to connect to, but the pinnacle of his time onscreen happens when he faces down a crew of racist policemen who are making fun of his name. When he’s asked what he’s called in Philadelphia, he tells them, “They call me Mr. Tibbs.” Aside from being one of the most recognizable quotes from film history, the line speaks to the experience of minorities who have to put up with racist attitudes in rural America. The quote isn’t just good, it’s important and powerful.

The film directly references America’s racial unrest

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Source: (United Artists)

In the Heat of the Night was released in 1967, the height of the civil rights movement, and its story of a black detective from Philadelphia wrangling with the racist attitudes of a small southern town are unfortunately just as prescient as they are today. The tension between Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger as they investigate a murder in small-town Mississippi is the peak of potboiler drama. Directed by Norman Jewison in the mid-1960s, the film directly deals with the racial tensions of the era which makes Poitier’s delivery of the famous “Mr. Tibbs” quote so nuanced.