1 Year…100 Films, #75: IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967)

“They call me Mr. Tibbs.” – Virgil Tibbs

Basic Premise of the Film: Mistaken identity in the racially charged South lead to the paring of a Homicide Detective and the local Police Chief in order to solve a the murder of a local citizen. Based on the book of the same name.

Okay, this was my first Sidney Poitier movie. All I knew about the man was that he was a phenomenal actor and a trailblazer at the time. This film was nothing short of one of the best suspense films I have ever seen. Yes, it was even better than my favorite suspense thus far on this  – “All the Presidents Men.” The pacing was great, I never felt once that it was dragging. Let me point out real quick that, with the exception of “Modern Times” and “Sunrise” most of the movies I’ve been watching on this list have running times of two hours or more. There’s already been a few that have three hour run times – “Spartacus,” “Titanic” and “Ben-Hur” are the ones that I can recall right now. But, back to the movie. The story definitely encompassed things that were going on in the South. Racial tensions were high so no one cared to listed to Virgil about how to go about solving the case, even if he is the best Homicide Detective out where he’s from. He really only had the sheriff on his side – who also had his prejudices. Everyone else was telling to tread carefully lest he get himself killed — but let me stop there before I spoil something. Rod Steiger as the police chief was great as well. You can see him battling himself with having to work with a black man but at the end they come to an understanding and that’s what I really liked about the film overall. That respect they both had for each other. I guess you could say it was a happy ending. The director did a great job at keeping us guessing who the guilty party was so I was somewhat surprised at the climax. What I did notice is that there weren’t any bright colors, the film has dark coloring so I think that helped to keep me in the correct mood for the film. That mood being alert and on the edge of my seat. I will NEVER get over this one scene that involves slapping — Virgil was having none of it. That scene I would say was the only exception to the “dark” coloring I’m talking about because it was bright AF and I laughed so hard that I rewound that scene three times to watch it. Fun fact about that scene: it was a big deal at the time because the 1960’s was the time of the Civil Rights Movement and the fact a black man was reacting to being hit by a white man FOR NO REASON was very powerful stuff indeed.

Upon release, this film was a bit hit. I think that’s probably because of how real it portrayed how things were in the South. It didn’t try to sugarcoat it which is one of the reasons this film did so well awards wise. It won several Golden Globes and a couple of BAFTAs. Oscars wise it was honored with Best Picture, Screenplay and Best Actor for Steiger. I told my husband that the real travesty of the film had been the fact that Sidney didn’t even get nominated. I think he deserved a nomination. I usually look up a films accolades after I watch it so I had figured that Sidney would have been nominated for Best Actor and Steiger for Best Supporting Acting. Boy, was I wrong but okay, he did do pretty darn good in this film so good for him. The reason for this film’s longevity is because at a time where it didn’t seem possible or a good idea to do so, a black man was the strong protagonist of the film. At the time, that was just unheard of so it’s good that people not only got some life lessons thrown there they got a really good movie out of it.

When the list first came it wasn’t even ranked! Ooookay, but when it did make the list it debuted at 75. I think that’s a pretty solid debut. I think it might be some spots higher (I’d like to hope) but as long as it’s still floating in the 70’s, I’d totally be okay with that.

I viewed this film on a hosted site, CLICK HERE to watch. Didn’t even bother to see if it was streaming anywhere. Sorry guys, I’ll get back on that for those of you who are interested.

For fun today, here’s that scene with the slaps!

1 Year…100 Films, #76: FORREST GUMP (1994)

“Momma always said life was like a box of chocolates…” – Forrest Gump.

Basic Premise of the Film: Trials and tribulations of the aforementioned Forrest Gump and run-in’s with significant points of American History. Based on a novel of the same name.

This is the second film in this group of ten that I am able to just skip through because I’ve seen this movie so much. This is one of the films that, if I had one, it’d be in my personal Top 10 — Top 5 even! I just absolutely love this movie so much. I don’t know what it is about it, but there’s just something so innocent and beautiful about Forrest — played by the amazing Tom Hanks — that you can’t just help but be enthralled by his life’s story. Tom Hanks just gives such an amazing performance that you wonder if anyone else could have pulled it off. Let me not forget to mention the equally amazing Sally Field as Forrest’s mother, Mrs. Gump. She was simply amazing and she has this one particular scene that always leaves me a sobbing mess every single time. This movie is just that good. The plot moves at a pretty good pace. You never feel like it’s dragging which is good because it has a running time of just over two hours. The movie, I believe, is aided greatly in part by its perfectly curated soundtrack. The music included touches up on the iconic sounds of the many decades in which the film takes place. Also, featured in the film are Gary Sinise, Robin Wright and, in his film debut, mini-nugget Haley Joel Osment. Remember him? From “The Sixth Sense?” Repeat offenders man – although his role is very minor in this movie; a blip if you will so he’s a minor repeat appearance. The cinematography is beautiful as well. It captures the simple beauty in which the world looks like to Forrest and so it definitely help to put us all in the perfect mood. Shout out to the film editors/special effects crew of this movie. The way they were able to drop him into footage of historical events and make it seem like the was actually there was simply amazing. When I was younger, before I understood the ways of the world, I actually thought I was watching raw footage of this guy. I thought this was real life. Don’t worry guys, I figured it out …eventually.  I cannot forget to mention the director of this film, Robert Zemeckis. He did such a great job in ensuring that we got the whole story but also leaving us feeling as if we lived the story with him.

No surprise that when this film was released people loved it. It really is a good movie — unlike “Easy Rider” (yes, I’m still salty about that one). Nominated for a whopping 13 Oscars, it took home 6 of them in categories such as Best Picture, Director and Actor to name a few. Interest tidbit for ya: Also nominated for best picture the same year as this one – Pulp Fiction. Knowing that now, I completely agree with the list in that this one is a better movie than Forrest Gump. Not that Pulp Fiction isn’t good, this one is just a tad bit better. Although it’s like comparing apples and oranges because they’re not even in the same genre. I think this film has had such a great legacy in it’s TWENTY YEARS (can you believe that?!) because, well, its hard not to like. I mean I have hear some people say that this movie is not their cup of tea so I just look at them like, “HOW?!” Also, there’s nothing wrong with a film that encompasses several aspects of history — even if it makes some of the serious events a little bit more lighthearted.

When the list first came out this film was ranked at #71, ten years later it saw a five spot decline to be where it currently is now. Not gonna lie, I think that’s fair. The movies that came and took over those five spots I would say are better films than this one so I’m not bothered.

Another film that I already own so I didn’t look to see where it is being hosted/streamed.

For fun, I thought we can all watch Tom Hanks accepting the Oscar for this role. His speech is very touching — see if you don’t catch a case of the feels. Not only that, but also watch him in historical moment of becoming one the very few individuals who have won a Best Actor/Actress Oscar in consecutive years.