In the Heat of the Night

Continuity mistake: In the wide angle shot of Chief Gillespie approaching Virgil Tibbs at the train station, there is a dog on the platform, in between Gillepsie and Tibbs. In the next shot, a closer view of Gillespie approaching Tibbs, the dog is gone.

Factual error: In the scene where the escaped prisoner climbs onto the bridge, he's still in Mississippi. The road sign reads "Arkansas 49."

obiwan2112

Continuity mistake: Gillespie does a fairly lengthy audible rewind of the killer's taped confession, but only his last two sentences ("That's all. I didn't mean to kill him") are heard when the tape is immediately played back.

More mistakes in In the Heat of the Night

Trivia: Norman Jewison asked Rod Steiger to chew gum when playing the role of Gillespie. Steiger resisted at first but then grew to love the idea, and went through 263 packs of gum during the shooting of the film.

Question: If Ralph has robbed the victim, how come Harvey can also steal his money?

Answer: He didn't. After Ralph killed Mr. Colbert, he stole his wallet. He took the money and threw it away. Harvey found the empty wallet, and that's why the police charged him with murder.

Answer: Not that I recall. He was usually seen in his squad car.

Cubs Fan Premium member

Question: One of the film's posters features a photo of Virgil Tibbs and Chief Gillespie examining Colbert's dead body in the scene of the crime. However, this did not appear in the film. Was a scene like that ever filmed? If it was, where can I see it? If not, why was the picture put on the poster anyway? If it was for commercial business, why couldn't they put a scene from the movie?

Answer: The main purpose was to show a black cop working together with a white cop in the deep south. Movie posters don't always have scenes from the movies in them.

Rlvlk

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