They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!

"Mr. Tibbs" redirects here. For the fictional butler, see the article on The BFG.

They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Gordon Douglas
Produced by	Herbert Hirschman
Written by	Alan Trustman James R. Webb
Starring	Sidney Poitier Martin Landau Barbara McNair
Music by	Quincy Jones
Cinematography	Gerald Perry Finnerman
Editing by	Bud Molin
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	July 8, 1970
Running time	108 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! is a 1970 film; a sequel to In the Heat of the Night (1967). Sidney Poitier reprised his role of police detective Virgil Tibbs, though in this sequel, Tibbs is working for the San Francisco Police rather than the Philadelphia Police (as in the original film) or the Pasadena Police (as in the novels).

Plot

The plot involves Tibbs' investigation of the murder of a prostitute, of which a liberal street preacher and political organizer, played by Martin Landau, is accused. The film has a blaxploitation style, unlike its predecessor. It can also be viewed as a forerunner to other 1970s cop films, such as Dirty Harry (1971) and The French Connection (1971). Like Dirty Harry, the action was set in San Francisco.

Cast

• Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs
• Martin Landau as Logan Sharpe
• Barbara McNair as Valerie Tibbs
• Anthony Zerbe as Rice Weedon
• Edward Asner as Woody Garfield
• Jeff Corey as Captain Marden
• Norma Crane as Marge Garfield
• Juano Hernandez as Mealie Williamson
• David Sheiner as Lieutenant Kenner
• Beverly Todd as Puff
• Ted Gehring as Sergeant Deutsch
• Linda Towne as Joy Sturges
• Garry Walberg as Medical Examiner
• George Spell as Andy Tibbs
• Wanda Spell as Ginger Tibbs

Production

Quincy Jones wrote the score, as he did with In the Heat of the Night, although the tone of the music in both is markedly different. The previous film, owing to its setting, had a country and bluesy sound, whereas his work for this film was in the funk milieu that would become Jones' trademark in the early 1970s.

The film's title was taken from Virgil's line in In the Heat of the Night.

It was followed by a third film called The Organization (1971).

The film was the last appearance of veteran actor Juano Hernández, who died in July 1970, a few days after the film premiered.

Reception

Released in 1970, the film did not attract the same response as In the Heat of the Night.

The film has a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of June 2009.^[1]

Release on DVD & HD

• In 2001 it was released on DVD.
• In 2010 it was digitized in High Definition (1080i) and broadcasted on MGM HD.

References

1. ^ They Call Me Mister Tibbs! Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes

External links

• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! at the Internet Movie Database
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! at AllRovi
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! at the TCM Movie Database