On this day in movie history - In the Heat of the Night (1967)

In the Heat of the Night

directed by Norman Jewison,

written by Stirling Silliphant, and based on the novel by John Ball,

was released in the United States on August 2, 1967.

Music by Quincy Jones.

Theme song In the Heat of the Night written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.

Sung by Ray Charles.

Cast:

Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Larry Gates, James Patterson, William Schallert, Beah Richards, Peter Whitney, Kermit Murdock, Larry D. Mann, Matt Clark, Arthur Malet, Fred Stewart, Quentin Dean, Scott Wilson, Timothy Scott, William C. Watson, Eldon Quick, Stuart Nisbet, Khalil Bezaleel, Peter Masterson, Jester Hairston, Phil Adams, Nikita Knatz, Sam Reese, Anthony James, Clegg Hoyt, Alan Oppenheimer, Buzz Barton.

Recommended reading:

In the Heat of the Night

by John Ball.

Foreword by John Ridley.

Published by Penguin Classics.

First published 1965.

ISBN-10: 0143107747

ISBN-13: 978-0143107743

Description:

“They call me Mr. Tibbs” was the line immortalized by Sidney Poitier in the 1967 Oscar-winning movie adaptation of In the Heat of the Night, which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award and was named one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Now fans of classic crime can rediscover this suspense-filled novel whose hero paved the way for James Patterson’s Alex Cross, George Pelecanos’s Derek Strange, and other African American detectives.

A small southern town in the 1960s. A musician found dead on the highway. It’s no surprise when white detectives arrest a black man for the murder. What is a surprise is that the black man – Virgil Tibbs – is not the killer but a skilled homicide detective, passing through racially tense Wells, South Carolina, on his way back to California. Even more surprising, Wells’s new police chief recruits Tibbs to help with the investigation. But Tibbs’s presence in town rubs some of the locals the wrong way, and it won’t be long before the martial arts–trained detective has to fight not just for justice, but also for his own safety.

Born on this day – Warren Oates:

 

Warren Oates

Actor

July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982

Credits:

12 O'Clock High (1965); 1941 (1979); 77 Sunset Strip (1960–1962); 92 in the Shade (1975); A Man Called Shenandoah (1965); America at the Movies (1976); American Masters (2008); And Baby Makes Six (1979); Baby Comes Home (1980); Badlands (1973); Barquero (1970); Bat Masterson (1959–1961); Beat the Clock (1950–1961); Behind-the-Scenes: 'Blue Thunder' (1983); Bicentennial Minutes (1975); Black Beauty (1979); Black Saddle (1959); Blue Thunder (1983); Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1965); Bonanza (1962); Branded (1965); Brave New Cowboy (1979); Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974); Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown (1986); Bronco (1960); Buckskin (1959); Chandler (1971); China 9, Liberty 37 (1978); Cimarron Strip (1967); Cockfighter (1974); Combat! (1964); Dillinger (1973); Dixie Dynamite (1976); Dream in the Making: The Making of Sleeping Dogs (2018); Drum (1976); Dundee and the Culhane (1967); East of Eden (1981); Film Night (1973); Gunsmoke (1958–1967); Have Gun - Will Travel (1958–1960); Hawaiian Eye (1960); Hero's Island (1962); Hollywood Mavericks (1990); Hotel de Paree (1960); Iguana (1988); In the Heat of the Night (1967); Insight (1979); Iron Horse (1967); Johnny Ringo (1960); Kid Blue (1973); Kraft Theatre (1956–1957); Kraft Theatre / The United States Steel Hour (1956); Lamp Unto My Feet (1955); Lancer (1969–1970); Lanton Mills (1969); Laramie (1961); Lawman (1960); Lost in Space (1965); Mail Order Bride (1964); Major Dundee (1965); Michael Shayne (1961); My Old Man (1979); On location with There Was a Crooked Man (1970); Outlaws (1960); Playhouse 90 (1958); Police Story (1978); Prime Time (1977); Private Property (1960); Race with the Devil (1975); Rancho Deluxe (1975); Rawhide (1960–1965); Rescue 8 (1958); Return of the Seven (1966); Ride the High Country (1962); Ride with the Angels: Making 'Blue Thunder' (2006); Run for Your Life (1968); Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004); Shane (1966); Shenandoah (1965); Shotgun Slade (1960); Slattery's People (1965); Sleeping Dogs (1977); Smith! (1969); Something for a Lonely Man (1968); Sophie's Place (1969); Stagecoach West (1961); Stoney Burke (1962–1963); Stripes (1981); Studio One (1956–1958); Tales of the Unexpected (1985); Tales of Wells Fargo (1961); Target: The Corruptors (1961–1962); Tate (1960); The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1958); The African Queen (1977); The Big Story (1956); The Big Valley (1965–1966); The Blue and the Gray (1982); The Border (1982); The Brink's Job (1978); The Case of the Dangerous Robin (1961); The Dick Powell Theatre (1961); The F.B.I. (1971); The Fugitive (1964); The Hired Hand (1971); The Larry Solway Show (1976); The Lawless Years (1961); The Magical World of Disney (1968); The Making of 'Sleeping Dogs' (2004); The Monroes (1966); The Movie Murderer (1970); The Name of the Game (1971); The Old Man & the Gun (2018); The Outer Limits (1964); The Rebel (1959); The Reluctant Heroes (1971); The Reporter (1964); The Rifleman (1958–1962); The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960); The Rough Riders (1959); The Rounders (1965); The Shooting (1966); The Split (1968); The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973); The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963); The Twilight Zone (1960–1963); The Untouchables (1962); The Virginia Graham Show (1970); The Virginian (1963–1966); The Westerner (1960); The White Dawn (1974); The Wild Bunch (1969); There Was a Crooked Man... (1970); Thriller (1960–1962); Tom Sawyer (1973); Tombstone Territory (1958–1960); Tough Enough (1983); Trackdown (1959); True Grit: A Further Adventure (1978); Two-Lane Blacktop (1971); Up Periscope (1959); Wagon Train (1959); Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958–1961); Warren Oates: Across the Border (1993); Welcome to Hard Times (1967); Welcome to the Basement (2015–2018); Wrangler (1960); Yellowstone Kelly (1959).

On this day in movie history - Dillinger (1973)

Dillinger

directed and written by John Milius,

was released in the United States on June 19, 1973.

Song on opening credits: We’re in the Money, from Golddiggers of 1933.

Music by Barry De Vorzon.

Cast:

Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips, Cloris Leachman, Harry Dean Stanton, Geoffrey Lewis, John Ryan, Richard Dreyfuss, Steve Kanaly, John Martino, Roy Jenson, Read Morgan, Frank McRae, Ann Ault, David Dorr, Roland Bob Harris, George O. Heath, Tina Gae Johnson, Terry Leonard, Melvin Ray McGee, Phil Segura, Jerry Summers, Catherine Tambini.

On this day in movie history - The Wild Bunch (1969)

The Wild Bunch

directed by Sam Peckinpah,

written by Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah,

based on a story by Walon Green and Roy N. Sickner,

was released in the United States on June 18, 1969.

Music by Jerry Fielding.

Cast:

William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O’Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sánchez, Ben Johnson, Emilio Fernández, Strother Martin, L. Q. Jones, Albert Dekker, Bo Hopkins, Jorge Russek, Alfonso Arau, Dub Taylor, Chano Urueta, Elsa Cárdenas, Fernando Wagner, Paul Harper, Bill Hart, Rayford Barnes, Stephen Ferry, Sonia Amelio, Aurora Clavel, Elizabeth Dupeyrón.

On this day in movie history - Blue Thunder (1983)

Blue Thunder

directed by John Badham,

written by Dan O’Bannon and Don Jakoby,

was released in the United States on May 13, 1983.

Music by Arthur B. Rubinstein.

Cast:

Roy Scheider, Malcolm McDowell, Daniel Stern, Candy Clark, Warren Oates, Joe Santos, Paul Roebling, David Sheiner, Anthony James, Ed Bernard, Jason Bernard, Mario Machado, James Murtaugh, Pat McNamara, Jack Murdock, Clifford A. Pellow, Robin Braxton, Anna Forrest, Paul Lambert, Phil Feldman, John Garber, Ricky Slyter, Reid Cruickshanks, Billy Ray Sharkey, Fred Slyter, John Gladstein, Ross Reynolds, Karl A. Wickman, James W. Gavin, Thomas H. Friedkin, James Read, Mickey Gilbert, William T. Lane, Lolly Boroff, Patti Clifton, Ernest Harada, Frances E. Nealy, Jose Pepe R. Gonzales, Jerry Ziesmer, Tom Lawrence, John Ashby, Tony Brubaker, Norman Alexander Gibbs, Bill M. Ryusaki, Gary Davis, Thomas Rosales Jr., Larry Randles, Peter Miller, Mike H. McGaughy, Lucinda Crosby, John Badham, Bob Bowen, Calvin Bronx, Shaaron Claridge, Eurlyne Epper, Fritz Ford, Dorothy Hack, Bob Harks, Lars Hensen, Clay Hodges, Ted King, Terry Leonard, Frank Morriss, Ve Neill, Danny Nero, Bernadette Pelletier, Hank Robinson, Walter Smith, Steve Wagner.