Poiter was one of the greats and makes the film worth watching all on his lonesome. His searing, uncompromising Mr. Tibbs in a town smothering in its hatred of him is mesmerizing. The things the man can do with his eyes, taking everything in and a million thoughts he’s thought a million times amongst people like these racing in them. And the slapping scene is still a hell of a moment even today with how instant, how instinctual it is. It’s a given and given all the more weight for it.

The rest of the film doesn’t quite live up to Poiter’s work. It gets a little too enamored with Gilliespie. He’s a test run for characters like Rockwell’s in 3 Billboards, the fact his actor won an Oscar for it while Poiter wasn’t nominated a testament to that. The racism is less something to be condemned or commented on so much as a vehicle for dramatic tension, there’s an odd implication that Tibbs is being too harsh on this town and prejudiced in his own way, and the ending is a saccharine note to end things on. But with Poiter giving his all, the film still manages to hold a weight and heat to it that endures.