In the Heat of the Night

In this conversation, two people discuss the Oscar nominees for Best Picture of the Year from 1967. They mention movies such as "In the Heat of the Night," "Dr. Doolittle," "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," "The Graduate," and "Bonnie and Clyde." They provide some background information and opinions on each film. The conversation covers various topics, including the changing landscape of Hollywood, the portrayal of race in films, and the cultural impact of these movies. Hi, welcome to Subway Cinema. I'm Dennis. I'm Bonnie. And we are here counting down the Oscar winners for Best Picture of the Year from worst to best. Exactly what we're doing. Yeah. And we are all the way up to number 32. Wow. Can you believe that? Yes. I mean, it's right in front of me. Yeah. And if you're curious about how the ranking came about, you should just listen to our trailer episode. I get sick of explaining it all the time. Don't do it. It's an aggregate. Just have fun with it. But anyways, what's number 32? What movie are we talking about today? We're talking about In the Heat of the Night from the great year of 1967. So what's your history with In the Heat of the Night? This is my first time seeing it. You've never seen it? I know. Just why didn't you think about it? I thought you'd seen it. Did you watch the TV show? No, I didn't know there was a TV show. Yeah, there was a TV show based on... It was written for like 67 seasons in the late 80s, early 90s. Carol O'Connor. No. I think it was Harold Rotland. Carol O'Connor played the sheriff. No, I did not know that, but that makes sense because when I was searching for the movie, the TV show came up. Okay. So I didn't know it was that far back. Yeah, I've seen it a few times. Yeah, you didn't see it when it came out? Maybe in 67? Well, you might have. I might have. I doubt my parents would have seen it. We'll have to defer that question to our parents. Where were they stationed then? Well, I was born in Virginia. Oh, so the movie didn't play below the nice of the sky. Oh. Can you believe that? Is that right? Yeah. Are you joking? No, I'm serious. Really? Yeah. Wow. And we'll get into why when we talk about the movie. Wow. Isn't that crazy? That is so crazy. Yeah. I had no idea. Yeah, well, we were below the Mason-Dixon line, at least in the beginning there, but then we moved to, I don't know if you see it. I don't know. It was before you were born. Anyways. It was in New York, actually. It was a very eventful year in America and also in movies as the old Hollywood system fades away and is replaced by a rebellious young generation. There's a great book called, by Mark Harris wrote a book called The Picture Set of Revolution, which looks at the year 1967 in film and goes through, actually uses the five best picture nominees to kind of tell the story of all the Hollywood past. Really? Yeah. That's very interesting. You should read it, actually. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You're supposed to watch 12 Years of Space, or read 12 Years of Space. That wasn't nominated, though. No. No. But, yeah, it goes through all the- But I have to hurry up and read that book, because you think we're coming up to it. We're running out of time. Yes, that's true. Yeah, so let's look at these five nominees and start off with the movie that's emblematic of the old Hollywood system on its last legs. Are you familiar with Dr. Doolittle? I mean, I know the movie. I don't know this version, because that's the My Fair Lady guy. Yeah. Yeah, it's based on the famous children's book series about a bedromerian or a doctor who talks to the- who talks to the animals. Yeah, there's a song that goes with that. Yeah, from this movie. Oh, from this one? Yeah, won the Best Song Oscar, beating out The Bare Necessities for some reason. Is that movie from this year, too? Yeah. Jungle Book? Yeah. Oh, great movie. Yeah, Dr. Doolittle is this very loaded, big-budget musical that went way over her budget. And, as I said, it's kind of emblematic of the old Hollywood studio system dying at its best. These big studios would have a bank full of stars, and they'd have a music department and a costuming department and a sound department. And you'd think of things like Singing in the Rain or Casablanca or Wizard of Oz are just these examples of all these elements coming together and everything working right. And this is kind of the opposite example. And kind of why it died is when your studio kind of becomes disparate, you have to kind of hire these things out rather than having them in-house and the budget go up. And you have executives who aren't trying to make the best movie ever made, but are trying to make the most successful movie ever made. So you're just kind of copying. This movie is clearly seeing, okay, My Fair Lady made a lot of money, and The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, and let's just try to create that. And the movie's just a disaster. But it got nominated for Best Picture. It did, which is, you know, one of the critics at the time said, I haven't told the exact quote, but he said, like, how could the Academy allow a do-little to happen? The movie just kept going over budget. Fox, it's a 20th century Fox movie. They had nothing else on their plate. And through their entire Oscar budget at promoting this movie, they had, I think for a month straight, they had free screenings for Academy members with lavish dinners. They're not allowed to do that anymore. But even, I mean, this movie is hard to sit through. I mean, the movie kind of flopped when it came out. And that was, like, the last gasp was to try to squeeze some more money out with the Oscar nomination. But I just, I really don't get it. Like, even if you are giving out free dinners, it's like, well, it's a secret ballot. You can get the free dinner and just, you know, vote for one of these other good movies. It's really one of the worst Best Picture nominees of all time. Is it worse than Cimarron? Oh, yeah. Really? It's hard. It came out, like, a year after Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. You've seen that, right? Yes. So just think, like I was saying, like, when you're growing up and I'm growing up, you know, we're actually still watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But you've never heard of this version. No, I've never heard of it. Like, just, like, use that as a vantage point. I don't like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Although I've seen it probably eight times as a child. I mean, it was always not. Right. But not this, so. No, I've never heard of this. Well, I mean, I guess I know the... Talk to the Animals. Talk to you... Yeah, I'll bring this up. This is a better song. Oh, great. Yeah. Okay, so that's Dr. Doolittle. Don't see it. Oh, another Sidney Poitier. Yeah, another Sidney Poitier. I would really like to see this. You've never seen Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Really? Okay, I thought you had. First of all, Sidney Poitier had a really impressive year this year. He has Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in the Heat of the Night and To Serve with Love, which is not one of the nominees, but it was a big hit. He plays a kind of an inspirational feature movie. Okay. How long had he been around at this point? Oh, he came up in the 50s. Okay. So, like, I think... Had he had any Best Picture... He had already... He's not had any other Best Picture winners, but... Or nominees of any sort. Yeah. So, in 1958, the Defiant Ones was the Best Picture nominee, and Sidney Poitier was nominated. He did win in 1963 for Willis at the Fields. Oh, I love that movie. I know you do. Yeah. Yeah, that was the Best Picture nominee, too. That's 1963. Yeah, it was their last two Tom Jones. All right, so Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Yeah, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Which one's delightful? Yeah, well, it's Hepburn and Tracy. Yeah. Their last pairing. Their daughter is engaged to Sidney Poitier. Yeah. So, that is the situation. Do they know that when he comes to dinner? Or do they find out? They know that when they meet. Yeah, they meet, and then the dinner is ensuing with his parents. Oh, okay. Yeah, so, yeah, I think you'd enjoy it. I mean, it's very dated in terms of its take on race. I mean, Sidney Poitier's character is so watered down. He's just, like, you know, in order to sell the movie, he has to be, like, the perfect guy. He's like a rocket scientist. Yeah. Like, why is he even interested in this, like, e-girl? And, you know, they're like older liberal parents from San Francisco, but they still are confronting their own kind of progressive values. Yes. Because this is very controversial. At this time, this is actually the same year as Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court case regarding interracial marriage. So, it's a hot-button issue. Meaning, was it illegal? I mean, not in California where this was set, but it was Loving v. Virginia said that the laws were unconstitutional. I don't think so. Certainly in Virginia, there were no interracial marriages, and then most of the South, I think, was like that. Yeah. I don't know about states outside of the South, but California, it was not illegal, but it was much less common at the time. I remember when we moved to Philadelphia when I was going into my senior year of high school. So, I was the new girl, come from California, and meeting people during lunch the first day, and it was at least, I think it was the first day, but it was at least in that first week of school, people were talking about, you know, things that had happened over the summer, all these people that I didn't know about. Yeah. I remember how shocked I was that they were talking about so-and-so had dated a black guy over the summer, and it was just coming, you know, this was the 80s, mid-80s. Yeah. I was like, how is that still a thing? You know, that people are talking. That they're surprised about it? Yeah, that this was a topic of conversation. Right. And that coming from here, our Sarah, nobody would have, you just wouldn't have thought anything about that. Right. But that was a thing in Philadelphia in the 80s, so you shouldn't be shocked that in the 60s, in California, it was... The movie does, it's entirely from the, I mean, it's mostly from the parent's point of view, and so it doesn't really age that well, just in terms of the central conflict is, you know, how can we cope with the fact that our idiot daughter is marrying a black guy? But the real value in it is just having these two stars. You know, the, I think, second movie pairing between Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, they have such great chemistry that, like, starting with Woman of the Year, like this relationship between two young professionals, sparring and then falling in love, and then something like Adam's Rib where they're several years into marriage and an established career, and now here at the end of their lives, it's really kind of special. And this movie, Spencer Tracy was very ill. They had to, I think, have a filming schedule where he could only be on set two hours a day or something, and he ended up passing just weeks after the movie. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. But, like, they couldn't get him insured, so Hepburn and the director, Stanley Kramer, put their own money into an escrow account in order to get the film financed. Oh. Like, as a flop gift in case they had to re-film it with somebody else. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's interesting. I like the concept of a liberal San Francisco couple who have, you know, especially I'm thinking of them as just the older version of Adam's Rib. Very much so. She, of course, is the more progressive in that movie by a long shot. But, anyway, this older… Such a good movie, by the way. Such a great movie. 1949. Yeah. So, I haven't seen this, but I'm just imagining them. You know, he learned a lot in that movie and then 20, 30 years later. And, anyway, and now it's like, okay, we believe all these things, but now we have to live out what we believe? Because a lot of times you see that with, you know, I've had some liberal friends or relatives who have, like, oh, yes, we believe this, but then they're, like, confronted with it personally. Yeah. And they struggle with it. And it's like, oh, that's cool. Yeah, that's true. So, I like that. Yeah, it's an interesting movie to watch. Yeah. You know, again, there are parts that are dated. And so, this kind of is, you see the transition in Hollywood because you have these old, a very tried and true formula and have this big star power, but also very contemporary issues cropping up. And who's the idiot daughter? Catherine Houghton. She's had a terrific career. She's Catherine Hepburn's niece. This was really her first role. She does look like her, though. And it didn't do a whole lot for her career just to be kind of within with such, I mean, they're incredible. Ever heard of a graduate? I was supposed to graduate, yes. Yeah. So, yeah, now we're really getting into baby boomers, the fakenovers, just kind of a movie of their generation, really. Have you seen it? Yes. Yeah. Obviously, very famous movie about a kid, Dustin Hoffman, comes home from college, doesn't know what he wants to do with his life. Is this his first big movie? Yeah. The role was originally like Robert Redford wanted it. It's such a different look of a character. I know. That's why, yeah, he came from the New York stage, and the studio fought the director, Mike Nichols, on using him because Nichols didn't want to use Robert Redford. The famous story is you talk to Robert Redford, and you're saying, yeah, this is kind of the type of guy who doesn't get the girl. And Robert Redford says, what do you mean? And you said, exactly. Yeah, very different from Robert Redford. But, you know, he has an affair with his parent's neighbor, an older woman, Mrs. Robinson, played by Anne Bancroft, and then hijinks ensue from there. I mean, the Garfunkel soundtrack. Yeah, plastics. Plastics, yeah. I like the tagline, this is Benjamin. He's a little worried about his future. Yeah. Yeah, I had some issues the last time I saw it. It's been a while. I've got very annoyed with Benjamin. I was actually more interested in Mrs. Robinson and, like, what's going on with her. But the movie just kind of takes her for granted, at least that was my perspective. But just as a cultural landmark, I think it is always worth reading. Well, it's one of those, I think we've talked about this before with Dustin Hoffman, is that he's great, and he doesn't mind playing a character that people don't like. Right. No, he doesn't. Yeah. I think we said that about Tom Cruise, too. Oh, yeah, in Rain Man, yeah. Yeah, we talked about both of them, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, which is, when you talk about somebody like Robert Redford, Oh, Robert Redford, yeah. I would not have known this before we started doing our re-watch, but he's probably one who doesn't want to play a character that's not likable. Oh, well, that was, if you recall, one of my issues with the thing. Yes. Yeah, eventually, certainly at this point in his career. Robert Redford has had a very rich and historic career, and he's a great actor. I'm glad he wasn't in The Graduate. Yeah, okay, so The Graduate. Then, finally, Bonnie and Clyde. Oh! I should definitely watch this movie. You haven't seen it yet. You've heard of it. Oh, my gosh, yeah, because everybody's like, Oh, Bonnie, where's Clyde? I'll wait. I'll wait. Yeah. This was a gangster movie set in the 30s, and this was another movie that's kind of iconic of the generation, just very, the violence is so different from what audiences were accustomed to, this take on youthful rebellion, young people rebelling against an adult community that doesn't get them. Who's the, is that Hackman? Yeah, Gene Hackman plays the supporting role. Oh. I know, this is one of his earliest roles. Of course, we have Worm Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Oh, Worm Beatty and Faye Dunaway, I did not know that. And the leads, yes. They are very important to Best Picture history because they announced the award to La La Land. Wow, that was the two of them? Yeah. Oh, okay. But, no, they're great, and that wasn't their father. Oh, yeah. Embarrassing stuff. But yeah, you've never seen Bonnie and Clyde? No. How do you explain movie? It was a movie that's just very kind of cutting edge in its day. It's a great movie. I don't think you'd watch it and think of it as groundbreaking, but it was at the time. When did it come out, do you know? The fall of 1967. Oh, okay. It was not connecting at all with audiences, and then once it got a bunch of Oscar nominations, it became one of the biggest hits of the year. Yeah, it did end up being one of the biggest hits of the year. The Graduate was just a phenomenon. But The Jungle Book. Yeah, The Jungle Book was the second biggest hit of the year. And almost as much. Walt Disney's last movie. It was one, two, and then a big gap. Yeah, I mean, The Jungle Book's a big hit. Yeah. And the third is a re-release of The Count and the Lynch. Wow. That was the third biggest hit of the year. Oh, okay. Also, you know, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Bonnie and Clyde are also there. The Dirty Dozen. The other Sidney Poitier movie was also in the top ten, so incredibly. I've heard of Cool Hand Luke. Cool Hand Luke is great. Is that Paul Newton? Yeah. That's the best picture right now. It's a Dr. Doodle. Oh, which isn't even on here. No. Also, who's in Divorce, American Style? I actually don't know anything about that movie. Sorry to say. Oh, Casino Royale. Robert Redford. Casino Royale is the one that I'm familiar with. Isn't it? Yeah. I think this is a James Bond spoof. Oh, isn't Casino Royale a... But it's a James Bond... It was the first, you know, Craig Bond movie later. I think they're both based on a Sunning novel. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so it's fascinating. I can definitely see the new guard coming in. Yeah. Yeah. And some of the others, like the producers, who's one of Mel Brooks' most famous movies, Cool Hand Luke and Cold Blood, really both hold up very well today, and that apparently at the time were not as good as Dr. Doolittle, for some odd reason. Have you seen Wait Until Dark? No. The Audrey Hepburn movie. It's that thriller where she plays the blind lady. She's being... Alan Arkin. Alan Arkin, who recently passed away. We saw him in Argo. The producers, I saw a remake of the producers. Yeah, this is definitely better. This is definitely better than the musical. No. The player? Yeah. Yeah, that's not related at all to the producers. The producers of the comedy about the... See, Wilder is an accountant who determines that you can make more money with a flop than a hit, by defrauding investors, because nobody seeks their cut if the film loses money. So they try to make a big flop show, and make Springtime for Hitler a musical. Oh, gosh. Yeah, you should watch it. There's a musical version. The movie isn't that great, but it was a huge hit on Broadway with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. So, I read the remake. In the Heat of the Night. Yeah, ever heard of it? I have heard of it. Yeah, what's it about? It's about... First of all, it's an awesome movie. I loved this movie. Oh, good, okay. So bad, I loved it. It was so bad? I loved this movie so bad. Okay. So this is a story about a small southern town, a small racist, right? Yeah. This is a story about a small racist southern town where a big deal guy gets murdered. Yes. And so it's the first person they haul in is the first black guy they found. Right. And anyway, who ends up being also a cop, a homicide expert from Philadelphia, who's just passing, just seeing there for, to see his mother. Right. So he ends up helping the local police in solving the mystery of the crime, you know, of really who done it. But that's the very, that's like the simple plot, but there's a lot of nuance and stuff. So Sidney Poitier plays the cop from Philly. What's his name? Sidney Poitier. No, the character. Oh. Oh, Virgil Tibbs. Yes. Virgil Tibbs. Well, they call him in Philadelphia. Mr. Tibbs. They call him Mr. Tibbs. And then the guy who looks like Bunker, Archie Bunker? Yeah. That's not who it is. Yeah, in the TV series version, it's played by Carol O'Connor. Yeah, and who's this? Rod Steiger. Rod Steiger. Yes. So Rod Steiger, is there another Archie Bunker that's not in the TV version? No, I was just saying that Archie Bunker was played by Carol O'Connor, who played this character in the TV show, In the Heat of the Night. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay, that's a good character because he looks like him. Yes, this is Rod Steiger. This is, the movie version comes before the TV version. Oh, okay. Yeah, by a couple of decades. So Rod Steiger, who I don't think I've seen him in any films. You have. You'll see again, he's the brother in On the Waterfront. Oh. Much younger. Okay. So Rod Steiger plays the chief of police. And this was so surprising to me, that he makes that character endearing by the end of the movie. Yeah. Remarkable. He's amazing. It's remarkable. This is his all-timer performance. Like I would have sworn in the first ten minutes, like I can't take two more seconds of this guy. Yeah. And he very slowly and very subtly. Very subtly, he doesn't sell the change at all. No, no, it's just like all of a sudden at the end, you realize he's endearing. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, remarkable. And Sidney Poirier is, I mean. He's terrific. Yeah. And there were so many, there were some things, you know, besides the Tibbs, what did we say? There was something similar in 101 Dalmatians, which came out before this movie. Yeah. Well, no, I mean, that line was parodied in The Lion King. Right, but just the Tibbs. Well, no, I mean, it was just the cat was named Sergeant Tibbs. Sergeant Tibbs. Yeah. Which is like this, right? And then that guy, Sam, is it Sam? No, not Sam. The one that works at the counter. Yeah. He looks just like the bad guy from 101 Dalmatians. Oh, Jasper? Jasper. He looks exactly like Jasper. Okay, I hadn't noticed that. So this is kind of a ripoff of 101 Dalmatians. That's what I'm wondering. Yeah. Yeah, anyway. I would have thought that 101 Dalmatians came out a year later and it was like, let's just change. I was 61. Yeah, amazing. So two years before. Like, well, what is, we'll take a, make a Sergeant Tibbs. Because he probably, they didn't, never said what his police rank was, but that sounds about right. Yeah. He wasn't the chief, but he probably wasn't. They called him Mr. Tibbs. They called him Mr. Tibbs. Yeah. That's true, which is maybe. That line is probably the most famous line in the movie, of course, where Rod Steiger's character, Gillespie, is making fun of his name, Virgil. Yeah. What did they call you up in Philadelphia, Virgil? They called him Mr. Tibbs. Yeah, but he said it. Like, asserting his own dignity, really. Yes. He's actually seen as a human being in Philadelphia. Right, yeah. And his character is, like, simmering, seething. The entire movie, yeah. You know, just like, but so restrained. Oh, my gosh. I'm obsessed with this movie. Oh, great. It's a really strong movie. It might be my favorite one so far. Really? Yeah, I'm glad you liked it. I like so many things about it. It doesn't talk down to you. It holds up so well. So many movies, particularly about race, made by white people, are, like, addressing where society was at the particular time it's made. And they're not aging well, but, I mean, this is very, yeah. I mean, we still have stories of this. It's like, police are out. Something bad happened. You see a black man out in the middle of the night. Let's haul him in. But the movie doesn't oversell it as just, like, knuckle-dragging racism. Right. Kind of like it had been, you know, they see, well, they're suspicious because he has a lot of cash on him, and they don't ask questions. Right. And also the way they would inherently recoil around him. Oh, that's all. I love the scene where the widow. Yes. The widow who very quickly ends up as a proponent of his. Right. But her initial, she's just. Well, the person who's not from this house, too. Yeah. But she also recoils, you know. She doesn't. Yeah. He's the one who tells her her husband was just killed. She's breaking down. He goes to, you know, console her, and she just, like, did so well of just, like, you can't touch me. Yeah. Maybe it was because he's a man, but, like, everybody else was recoiling. Right. Well, she's in a vulnerable spot. She's in a vulnerable spot. But he's, like, dressed in a suit and all these things. But the initial recoil, but, like, the same thing with the Gillespie character. Yeah. It's like they're initially, there's this initial recoil for them, but it doesn't run deep for them. Whereas for other people in the movie, there's an initial recoil, and you can just see it run straight through them, you know. So one is not used to it and then are able to get beyond their prejudices fairly quickly, some more quickly than others. Others just are not able to. Yeah. Well, I think it's also telling that the character of Endicott is almost, in contrast, he doesn't so much recoil. He's smooth as silk. Yes. And his racism is just so part of the fabric of who he is. I mean, it compares Virgil to a ruse. His garden is just, like, second nature. Yeah. And it brings up the other most famous moment of the movie, the slap. Yeah. Which was just shocking at the time. Yeah, I mean, they definitely portrayed it as, you know, it seemed we see this all the time, you know. You slap them, they slap you. You know, that kind of back and forth. But, you know, what a powerful scene. And then what was really remarkable was I didn't even realize it until they said later to the Gillespie. Yeah. I think you should have shot him. Yeah. Just say it was self-defense. Yeah. You should have shot him. And anyway. That's what the last sheriff was on. Yeah. The mayor of Tarleton. You should have shot him. Whereas you see Gillespie with him watching it like we're watching it. It's less like, yeah, like you slap him. Tiger is so good in that moment. Oh, he's so good, yeah. Did you see that, Gillespie? Yeah, I saw that. What are you going to do about it? I don't know. I mean, he's just like trying to, like, he's shocked and just trying to contain himself. And, like, you can tell, like, he knows that he's put himself in a lot of danger. Yeah. And he's just kind of torn between how he deals with it. Yeah. You know, he doesn't like the guy, but he also doesn't want him killed. Right. And, yeah, I think those characters are really fascinating. And they're both annoyed with each other. They are. Yeah. I mean, this isn't a racism solved movie. It's not like he has, like, this epiphany that changes his life. He just realizes that he respects this person. One guy. Yeah. That's one guy. I mean, there's a good chance that he gets fired right after the action ends in the movie. Yeah. I mean, he does end up solving the case, so that might help. But, I mean, he really puts himself... And as the movie goes along, we see how much of an outsider he is as well. Yeah. Because he's the new sheriff. Right. Yep. And we see, like, his staff doesn't respect him. That they're, you know, kind of... One guy doesn't fix the air conditioner, and then he's lying about it and lying about it to the other guy. He ends up arresting. And so it's like he has this incompetent crew that doesn't respect him. And the higher-ups in the town just, you know, they insult him even though he didn't know how to... You know, he's not a detective. And, you know, nor would you expect him to be in a small town that probably doesn't get a lot of murders. And I thought it was... I like also how they... First of all, I didn't know who it was. There's several people. Like, I mean, it's not totally shocking who it is, because they do kind of do a lot of foreshadowing on that. Right. That's who we opened on, actually. Yeah, that's who we opened on. Seeing him kill a fly. Yeah. That was the very first shot. Yep. Anyway, and we see him just being deceitful and all this kind of stuff, you know, with the pie and all these things. But they still do a good job of just, like, you're not exactly sure how it's going to go. But I love how Virgil is so smart, but he also gets tripped up by his own prejudice. Yeah. I thought that was so beautifully nuanced. Right. You know, rather than just, like, Koda in your face. Well, no. I don't like that. But anyway, it's just brilliant. I wouldn't say prejudice, but, like, I mean, in this context, I don't want to get the... Not racist prejudice. I don't want to get the impression that, like, okay, well, it's kind of both sides. No, no, no. No, I don't mean that. No, I know you didn't, but I just want to make sure. Prejudice is actually what the word means. Right. He had prejudged. He had prejudged. And it was this prejudgment had kind of clouded his own better judgment, as he's describing it. Yeah. He's like, I should have seen this. I let him... Yeah, it's cool. I let him get in my head. The actual murder story is not the strongest element of the movie. But that's not really what it's about. It doesn't really kind of... Like, I still... I said it, you know, twice again this week, and I still don't really get why he had Sam would retrace his steps, like what he was going for and how he comes to the conclusion that he does. But I mean, that's really not important. That's really just what keeps the plot moving as we get the story of bigotry. But just this... I mean, one of the things I really appreciate is how the town of Sparta itself is almost... It sounds like a cliche, but it's also... It's another character. Yeah. Because you see all these different parts of the town as the story unfolds. And I love that at the end, we get this crane shot or probably a helicopter shot where we finally see the town in its entirety. And we kind of see how everything fits together. Oh, that's where the factory was and the main square and these kind of pieces that we've all seen. We see them kind of pieced together. But the movie starts with the theme song by Ray Charles. Yeah. But then we're kind of just seeing the town on its own. It's kind of through Sam Wood's patrols, kind of going through the town. And really, even before racism is brought up at all, we do see that the town is not... Things aren't quite right. There's something rotten in the town of Sparta. Because we get a lot of... Well, we get... Something's off with the diner guy. And we have the whole thing where he's lying about the cake. And then the cop is going and spying on a girl who's on drugs. So there's just a lot of vice and a lot of... For a sleepy town, there's just a lot of things that aren't quite right. And then from there, he finds the body and then we go from there. Even the patrol guy, Sam, who was pretty blatantly racist, also comes around a little bit. Some of them don't come around at all. But he does come around a little bit and cooperates with him and lets this guy be in charge. Anyway, I thought that was interesting. And then they have that scene that's so much like Forrest Gump. That scene where he's being chased by the rednecks in the confederate flag. Really interesting. Very scary scene. Very scary. No, but I was wondering if Forrest Gump was recreating that scene. Oh, I don't know if it was intentionally, but that's a good point. I was kind of struck by how... We see him being chased and then we get a shot of the confederate flag on the license plate. And then we see the chase. And I just was really kind of struck by... Oh, this was... Even back then, that is filmmaking language to say that these guys are racist. Yeah. I mean, you know, I know that... They knew in 1967. They did. It took me off guard just because 10 years after this was the Dukes of Hazzard, right? Where you'd have a lot of things where the confederate flag is used in very benign ways for people that are kind of heroic. I think the car, right? The General Lee... The car was the General Lee, right? Oh, the car was the General Lee. And it had a big Confederate flag on it. I mean, I haven't seen it since high school, but... Yeah. Wow, you're right. But here, I think, clearly, Norman Jewison's the director, Canadian guy, but he kind of knew that that shot's going to tell people that these guys are racist. Wow. Interesting. That is interesting. Yeah. Again, Norman Jewison is Canadian. You might know him best for Moonstruck. Okay. Yeah. He directed a lot of very good movies. That scene... Yeah, he got himself killed there. With the shot? No, with the... Oh, yeah. Oh, right. When he was getting chased. You know, that chief, there were all these young men. There were, like, at least four of them. Yeah. Stripping young men, but, boy, they paid attention to the chief. Chief ran them off, and it was like, that chief could be... Yeah, well, he did have a gun. He did have a gun. They were a little bit... I mean, they called him a dirty name. Right. Anyway, that was... Yeah, good movie, but you're right. It's not about the crime-solving. It's not about the crime-solving. That's just the backdrop. Yeah, and the thought... It's surprisingly subtle about the race... Oh, I'm just joking. It's not... He didn't... He doesn't even oversell his racism in the beginning or oversell his cure at the end. He's expecting his officers to bring in a criminal, and he treats them like a criminal, and he's brought in, and that's how he questions people. It doesn't go kind of over the top with racist language or anything. I mean, he clearly has a lot of racist sentiments. Yeah. Sure, but you really see a lot of humanity in this character as he... It's just a tremendous performance, very subtle. Love that scene in his living room. Oh, yeah. And interestingly, maybe... I wonder if he had never really thought of himself as a racist, just as a justice guy or something. Yeah. Yeah, compared to Tibbs, he had never had to confront a black man as an equal. As an equal, right. Yeah. I mean, the movie doesn't make a lot of it, but there is definitely a black section of the town that he brings Virgil to. Yeah. He definitely knows the mechanic guy that he sets him up with. Yeah. The mechanic, I remember when he says to him, I'm going to stay here, and he's like, I'll get a motel in town. He just laughs. Yeah. He's like, oh, okay, you try that. Yeah. It's like, oh, I'm going to be able to... The movie was filmed in Illinois, because Susie Ponio wouldn't go to the motels. Really? He had gone there on a tour with Harry Belafonte. Okay. And they got harassed the whole time by rednecks. Did they? Racists, yeah, so he won't go back. Wow. The scenes were showing the cotton plantations. They had to film that in Tennessee. Okay. There was only one hotel in the area where they could stay at. That's so crazy. Yeah, a big movie star, too. Oh, my goodness. It's wild. It's so wild. And then you said that they couldn't play this south of the Mason-Dixon line, which is... Yeah. Crazy. It's Maryland. Is it? I think Maryland is south of the Mason-Dixon line. So, but you said it couldn't be played in the south. I don't know that there were laws against it. It didn't play in the south. So, it could be that theaters were just afraid of violence. So, it wasn't played in the south. It was not. Wow. Probably just as badly. From my research. They didn't look very good. I'm sure it has since then, but... South doesn't look very good in this. No, I mean, it's a great movie. I think people should go see it. It's a good movie, yeah. Yeah. Anyway. But, and, you know, that kind of see a town also in decline, because the reason this murder is important is because this guy was going to open a factory. Right, yeah. And, like, they needed the input. Right. So, what I think we see with kind of the empty factories, that there's a lot of jobs have left this area. Yeah. Just a lot of people kind of... It's so interesting. It's relevant today. Fair enough, though, yeah. And it's so, I mean, this is 56 years old. Yeah. I think exactly how old it is. And it's still relevant, you know, for... I think it's a very good movie, yeah. Yeah. So, did these guys get any Oscar nominations? Let's do a limerick first. Oh, a limerick. And then we'll do awards. Okay. So, you want to do the limerick? Yeah. In the heat of the night, a delight, a crime-solving tale shining bright. Virgil Tibbs, a detective might, through prejudice he'd fight, a southern town's justice set right. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds like they've seen it. Yeah. I don't think they've seen it. In the heat of the night, a delight, a crime-solving tale shining bright. Virgil Tibbs, a detective might, through prejudice he'd fight, a southern town's justice set right. That's not a perfect limerick. Yeah. It's fine. They clearly saw it. Yeah. We're good with that. Let's see if Oscar's there. Yeah. Well, I would give it. So, the movie gets seven Oscar nominations. Okay, so that's average. Yeah, average. It got one acting nomination. I don't know. Between the two guys, they were both fantastic. They were both fantastic. Did it go to Cindy Poirier? No. Went to Rod Steiger? Went to Rod Steiger. I mean, I think this is one of the best performances of all time. Yeah, he was just so great. So great. Yeah. Yeah, and Cindy Poirier was in three big movies, didn't make the best actor lineup. Oh, really? Yeah, I mean, it's a fact here. Yeah. Rod Steiger, I mean, you saw Dustin Hoffman for The Graduate, Warren Beatty for Bonnie and Clyde, Spencer Tracy in his last movie ever for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and Paul Newman in Cold Hand Luke. Rod Steiger won. Oh, okay. He was great. He was fantastic. Yeah, and it's the same for Cindy Poirier. It's hard to really, I mean, I do kind of think he's better than Cindy Poirier. Rod Steiger? No, no, no. I think Rod Steiger deserved to win. I would put Poirier ahead of Spencer Tracy, but him, it's like, I mean, you could say he gave his life for that role. I mean, he's a legend in his last movie, and he is great in it, so I'm like, who's going to begrudge that? Best director? Yeah, well, it was best director to Mike Nichols for The Graduate. Okay. But it won five of its seven nominations, so best picture, obviously, Rod Steiger won, and then the screenplay, film editing, and the sound won. So, yeah, Rod Steiger and Katherine Hepburn won the lead acting awards, George Kennedy for Horthy & Luke, and Estelle Parsons for Bonnie & Clyde won the supporting awards. Great. Yeah. Awesome. So, that's it. I think we're done. All right. Let's see it. It's really good. Yeah. All right, what's coming up next? Yeah, let's see what's coming up next. What are your picks? My picks are Amadeus Parasite, Your Country for Old Men, Moonlight, and The Best Years of Our Lives. Okay. We'll see if it's going to be one of those. I think it would be The French Connection. Okay. Or The Departed. I also have 12 Years of Slave on my list, All Quiet on the list in front, and I have In the Heat of the Night, although I think I could have gone a bit further. I'm going to add, and we're getting into the nitty-gritty here. I'm going to go back to out. Okay. From 1940. Okay. All right. Let's see what it is. Yes. Oh. The French Connection. You were right. Yeah. Okay. What year is that? 1971. Okay. Oh, not much later. Yeah. So, we're going to watch. I've never seen it. We're going to guess what The French Connection is about. It's about a World War II spy thing. Okay. Well, we'll see. Okay. So, we're going to watch. I've never seen it. We're going to guess what The French Connection is about. It's about a World War II spy thing. Okay.