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In The Heat Of The Night Analysis

Decent Essays

The movie I was assigned was, In the Heat of the Night starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. This film took place during the late 1960’s in Mississippi where Virgil Tibbs, a black Philadelphia homicide detective, is traveling. Upon his travel, he unintentionally gets involved with a murder investigation of a business man. He was first accused of committing this murder when a police officer was suspicious of him. After they determined his innocence’s, he was then asked to help solve the case because of his vast knowledge and experience dealing with homicide crimes. The process for only finding the killer was determined to be difficult, but even more so when Tibbs’s efforts are obstructed by the sheriff of the town, Gillespie. However, both …show more content…

The initial concept deals with the Fourth Amendment of search and seizure without probable cause. This first correlation is during the beginning of the movie, after the murder has already been committed with the body found, where Police Officer Sam Wood notices Tibbs waiting for the train to come. Officer Wood automatically becomes suspicious of Tibbs and begins to think he is the killer, since he is a black man in the south, so he ventures into the train station. The officer does not question Tibbs at all or even ask who he is, but orders him to stand with his hands and feet apart. Tibbs tries reaching for his jacket with his badge in it, but is denied when Officer Wood pulls his gun out. Then with gun in hand he begins to search Tibbs removing anything in his pockets. This type of activity definitely violates the fourth amendment, since there was no actual probable cause or evidence believing Tibbs was the one who committed the murder. The officer had no probable cause other than that it was a black man sitting alone in the train station in the middle of the night. The race of an individual does not qualify for a reason to arrest them despite what people think. Tibbs shortly after being brought in was declared innocent and was confirmed an experienced detective. Officer Wood then comprehended his mistakes with his actions, and …show more content…

With the way people reacted towards a black man being a cop, you knew not everyone was keen of them having the same jobs as a white man yet. One scene where you knew people didn’t want Tibbs around was when he was being chased by four or five white men. They didn’t want him to be involved with the murder case in their town and wanted to beat him up to make him leave. At one point in the movie those men had cornered Tibbs into a barn up against a wall. The men picked up various tools and chains from inside the barn and were getting ready to beat him since he was trapped. Tibbs began fighting back and protecting himself with the metal bar he picked up. Then Officer Gillespie calmly walks inside the barn, watches what is happening and tells the men to stop what they are doing since they have had their fun and to get out of there now. Of course, the men don’t just leave without saying a few things and warning the officer that he has to get rid of the black man or they will. Officer Gillespie, as one would guess, didn’t like the comments they made and being the kind of man he is, he stood up for Tibbs and told the men off and gave them a few punches. This shows the viewers, that people were still not okay with black men being treated like white men, and didn’t want them to get equal opportunities. It also shows the side where

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