They Call Me Mister Tibbs!

R

1970

1h 48m

Crime

Drama

List

50%

6 Reviews

Tomatometer

36%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In this sequel to "In The Heat of the Night," Detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) must solve the murder of a prostitute. The last person witnessed with the victim is Tibbs' friend, Logan Sharpe (Martin Landau), a preacher and activist. Despite his loyalty, Tibbs must investigate when Sharpe admits having visited the prostitute. In addition to his police work, Tibbs must also ease tension with his wife (Barbara McNair), who wants him to spend more time with her and their children.

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Terry M

Inferior sequel to In the Heat of the Night. Riddled with '60s American urban cliches- pimps, hookers, crusading clergyman, cops with work/life balance issues.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A mildly entertaining detective movie that is drained further by extended scenes of Tibbs with his family that are irrelevant to the film and distracting from the crime. There are no underlying racist tones, as in the original, to spice up the story. A very bland, and unnecessary, sequel.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie was surprisingly bad. Not even comparing it to the first - - which was a masterpiece on so many levels. It was just bad in and of itself. Sidney seemed lost playing this character this time out. Seemed like he was trying to hard to portray the stereotypical, tough as nails, in the inner city, detective replete w/obligatory angst-filled family backstory. That's not his vibe and it didn't work for me. I agree w/another reviewer who praised Martin Landau's performance. He did a decent job for what the movie was. I read that this movie was the 2nd of a trilogy, which I never knew before. Im curious about the third, "The Organization" to see if it is am improvement over this one. It does have a different Director so it may be a better film. We'll see...

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I'm sure it must have seemed like a good idea to concoct a sequel to the Oscar winning police drama "In the Heat of the Night". Too bad it is a sequel that totally ignores the earlier film. The first film was a dramatic exploration of racism in a small town in the South. Here we meet up with Mister Tibbs again, this time as a detective with his wife and kids in San Francisco where he has worked for twelve years (Wait! I thought he wasn't married and was single, and from Philadelphia!!!) This time all attempt and being relevant or even topical, or accurate is thrown out the window. Instead "Tibbs" is strictly a routine police thriller with car chases and an uninteresting whodunnit, where the real killer is easy to guess from the beginning. Sadly this is a waste.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

steve d

Sadly forgettable followup that has none of the original's power. Still worth a watch.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

With only the thinnest of lines connecting this quasi-blaxploitation detective story to its far superior predecessor—literally just the titular quote, losing the racial commentary and country funk that made the original so electric, even changing Tibbs' hometown department—the movie feels like it might have been another, rather unremarkable script altogether, with a new title slapped on (like Tibbs slaps his son—yikes!) for the sake of marketing.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Gordon Douglas

Director

Sidney Poitier

Virgil Tibbs

Martin Landau

Logan Sharpe

Barbara McNair

Valerie Tibbs

David Sheiner

Lieutenant Kenner

Anthony Zerbe

Rice Weedon

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Tibbs is stripped of most of his personality and turned into -- yawn -- yet another workaholic cop with a troubled personal life.

Rated: 2/4

Apr 30, 2022

Full Review

Susan Granger

www.susangranger.com

Rated: 4/5

Aug 4, 2007

Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Rated: 4/5

Oct 27, 2005

Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Rated: 3/5

Aug 12, 2005

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Jul 3, 2005

Full Review

Brian Webster

Apollo Guide

Rated: 70/100

Aug 28, 2001

Full Review

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Synopsis

In this sequel to "In The Heat of the Night," Detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) must solve the murder of a prostitute. The last person witnessed with the victim is Tibbs' friend, Logan Sharpe (Martin Landau), a preacher and activist. Despite his loyalty, Tibbs must investigate when Sharpe admits having visited the prostitute. In addition to his police work, Tibbs must also ease tension with his wife (Barbara McNair), who wants him to spend more time with her and their children.

Director: Gordon Douglas
Producer: Walter Mirisch
Screenwriter: Alan R. Trustman, James R. Webb
Production Co: Mirisch Corporation
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 15, 2016
Runtime: 1h 48m

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