Rating of
3.5/4
They call me Mr. Tibbs!
Gabe - wrote on 05/17/13
Some might call this the first "buddy cop" film, but it's more about race relations in 1960's Mississippi and the country as a whole than a cop movie. The acting is great, Poitier is his usual graceful self, and Steiger is good as the white cop who has a change of heart. Nothing is sugar coated here, when Poitier confronts the local sharecropper, he ends up being slapped and then hitting him back. The film reminded me a lot of Django Unchained. I don't know if Tarantino has ever said this, but I can see a lot of this films influence on his film.
My only complaint has nothing to do with the film, but the reaction to it. As great as it is, it still is not better than, or more poignant that The Graduate, which it beat out for Best Picture.
