They Call Me Mister Tibbs!

They Call Me Mister Tibbs!
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGordon Douglas
Screenplay byAlan Trustman
James R. Webb
Story byAlan Trustman
Produced byHerbert Hirschman
StarringSidney Poitier
Martin Landau
Barbara McNair
Anthony Zerbe
CinematographyGerald Perry Finnerman
Edited byBud Molin
Irving Rosenblum (assistant editor)
Music byQuincy Jones
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • July 8, 1970 (1970-07-08)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2,350,000 (US/Canada rentals)[1]

They Call Me Mister Tibbs! is a 1970 American DeLuxe Color crime drama film directed by Gordon Douglas. The second installment in a trilogy, the release was preceded by In the Heat of the Night (1967) and followed by The Organization (1971). The film's title was taken from a line in the first film.[2][3]

Sidney Poitier reprised his role of police detective Virgil Tibbs, though in this sequel, Tibbs is working for the San Francisco Police rather than the Philadelphia Police (as in the original film) or the Pasadena Police (as in the novels).

  1. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1970", Variety, 6 January 1971 p 11
  2. ^ Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and ... Abbe A. Debolt, James S. Baugess - 2011 Page 311 "Tibbs and Gillespie have moved from the racially charged scene in which Poitier utters the film's iconic line "They call me Mister Tibbs ... the role of "Mister Tibbs" in They Call Me MISTER Tibbs (1970) and The Organization (1971), was not nominated."
  3. ^ I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History 2008 -- Page 313 "We had done reasonably well with They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! and we still had another option for a Virgil Tibbs picture with Sidney Poitier."