COME and join the celebration of the life of Sidney Poitier, who died earlier this year, by watching In the Heat of the Night (1967) - one of the great classic films dealing with racial tension in the US deep south. It’s being screened at Otley Courthouse on Thursday, July 7 at 2pm. The film is set just after the passing of The Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. But the impact of those laws was only just beginning to be felt.
In the film, a black Philadelphia police detective (Poitier) is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief (Rod Steiger) to investigate the case. Both leads have to work through their prejudices of each other to solve the mystery before we can learn the truth of what happened.
Interestingly, Sidney Poitier insisted that the movie be filmed in the North because of an incident in which he and Harry Belafonte were almost killed by the Ku Klux Klansmen during a visit to Mississippi.
Tickets are £6 (includes tea/coffee and biscuits from 1.30pm) available from Otley Courthouse on 01943 467466 (10am to 2.30pm) or online at otleycourthouse.org.uk
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