Se7en

Although I have seen the movie Se7en several times before, I have never really thought of comparing it to Lethal Weapon. However, it is clear that there are in fact many similarities between the main characters of the two films, as well as some key differences.

One of the first things I noticed was how in both films, there is some reluctance by the two cops to become partners. In Lethal Weapon, Murtaugh blows up on Riggs when he jumps off the building, and there is a clear sense of tension between the two when they are first partnered together. In Se7en, Mills seems genuinely excited about working with a hardened veteran detective, but Somerset clearly doesn't feel the same way. He is very cold towards Mills at first, and it is not for a long time until he becomes comfortable with having a partner (or trainee) for his last days on the force.

Another similarity is the role of the black man in each of the films. Both Murtaugh and Somerset are the old veterans who are very professional. Somerset is immediately shown as a careful, meticulous detective when he is shown picking off a tiny spec of something off of his jacket which is lying on the bed before going to work. However, Murtaugh is married with a family while Somerset is all alone. This is a big difference because in Lethal Weapon, Murtaugh seems like he is only on the job to support his family, but Somerset has no family to support.

Although each of the white men in the two films are the new younger officers, they have different personalities. Riggs is basically insane, while Mills seems smart, although he is very enthusiastic about his job. In Se7en, Mills is the one with the wife and in Lethal Weapon, Riggs is the loner.

Finally, I thought that the ending to Se7en is fairly unique because it is one of the only cop movies I can think of where the cops really lose. Although the murderer is killed, he gets Mills to kill him too, which was his big plan to complete all 7 deadly sins.

Typical Se7en

Several of the (not seven) but other deadly sins apparent in Se7en have been noted by Neal King and are comparable to the other biracial buddy cop films we've watched in class. To begin, while the topic of race is notably ignored, how the two cops are depicted falls right into the mold. The black cop, Detective Somersette, is notably more intelligent and experienced than his white counterpart, Detective Mills. This standard is evident by Tibbs' homicide expertise and knowledge of his craft in In the Heat of the Night, Murtaugh's obvious experience in his precinct and intelligence built up from 50 years of age in Lethal Weapon, and Foley's quick mind which sets the pace for his intelligence in solving the crime and his experience in the work force which has added more to his knowledge than the naive Beverly Hills cops in Beverly Hills Cop. Justifiably, the conclusion can be drawn that to legitimize a black man as a respectable cop, detective, officer, etc. in a movie, he must undoubtedly have been the best candidate (black or white) for the job.
Another characteristic which sets the tone in Se7en compared to other movies is the Elder and Younger mentality. Somersette embodies additional characteristics attributed to him by being the obviously older of the two and vice versa. The older cop at various points, especially in the beginning, attempts to assert his superiority over the younger one. Somersette tells Mills to "leave the scene" several times and Chief was always trying to aprehend the killer without Tibbs amongst other things. The younger cop typically holds a strong disregard for being a cop by the books. Mills is mouthy to his boss, tries to dismiss the killer as a lunatic, hits the photographer out of anger, takes off running and shooting after their suspect, and murders John Doe in the end. Every young cop in all the movies we've watched ends up enticing their older partner into partaking in some aspect of their rambunctiousness.

Se7en: 3/4 of a Good Story

I always find it disappointing to read a novel that captures me from the first moment but falls short in the finale; movies work the same way. As in books, films have a definite climax, which often occurs very close to the final credits, and in the case of "Se7en," Walker fails as a writer (in my humble opinion) because the ending does not live up to the rest of the film. Yes, the acting is good--after all, with a roster that includes Pitt, Freeman, and Paltrow shouldn't we expect something worthwhile?--but the characters are too predictable. I think I would have been delightfully surprised if Mills had NOT shot Doe at the end. But Mills is known to act out and lose his temper, but it would have been nice to see him muster some character strength and refuse to succumb to Doe's plan. After all, in the end Mills is no better than Doe or any other murderer. Now perhaps you disagree because the crime against Mills was heinous, but this isn't "An Eye For an Eye," it's "Se7en" and although the seventh murder was necessary to complete the taxing list of deadly sins, wouldn't it be more interesting if Mills had turned Doe's twisted fantasy-turned-reality upside down?

Don't get me wrong, I love the film. The first time I saw Se7en, I was fascinated by the decisions made by the director and editor. I thought the story was brilliant; more impressive,though, it was new. Being Christian, I have always been fascinated by the idea of the seven deadly sins, and being Catholic, I was happy to see that "Se7en" does not include ONE priest. So regarding originality, the film scores well. Race, as mentioned by others, is a non-issue in the film; Mills and Somerset are just two cops trying to do their job. I find the way they work together refreshing after seeing "In the Heat of the Night."

Back to my issue with the ending: If anyone owns, or has rented, the DVD and watched the original ending for the test screen. In the test ending, Somerset begs Mills, "If you shoot him, David, he wins. If you kill him he beat us." In the final ending, though, Somerset only says the first sentence. I wonder why Fincher left out the "us" but....at least for our course, it seems like it could have been useful had it been left in. Also, as far as the actual scenes are concerned, the final ending contains countless close-ups of Mills' face in the final moments before he shoots Doe, but the test ending does not; similarly, the test ending does not contain the flash of Tracy's (Gwyneth's) face the instant before Mills shoots Doe. Most significantly, in the test ending, Mills shoots Doe once, only once. As we saw, the true ending shows Mills empthy six rounds into Doe although the first shot undeniably would have sufficed. The test ending ends at Doe's death; there is no glimpse of Mills leaving in the back of a cop car, nor does Freeman recite the Hemingway quote.So what were the motivations for all the changes? The answers are endless, but the changes are nice to note.

SE7EN

Besides the comedic aspect, I saw a lot of comparisons between the cop characters in “Se7en” and “Lethal Weapon.” Like Murtaugh, Somerset was the eldest and getting ready to retire. He was also the black character, the hero, and the one who had more experience. Unlike Murtaugh, he did not have a family. Riggs and Mills were similar because they were both young and spontaneous. However, it seemed like Riggs had a lot more experience and was more comfortable with his work than Mills. Mills has a wife and is happy, while Riggs is suicidal and lonely.

Like many action/suspense movies, the cop pair chosen to work together does not get along at first in “Se7en.” Somerset thinks that Mills is not ready for the difficult case. Eventually, the two become partners that work well together and friends. Race is not an issue in this movie.

Somerset and Mills both teach each other and learn from each other. Somerset has a lot of experience and advice to give to the rookie, while Mills helps Somerset to become a little more adventurous.

The cinematography in this movie directly related to the subject matter. Most of the time, the lighting was dark and the sky was cloudy. I think the way the movie was filmed was important to the plot, because the film focused on a lot more than the two main characters. It was the opposite of “In the Heat of the Night,” which focused mainly on dialogue and did not include a lot of editing, transitions, or unique camera angles. I enjoyed the plot of “Se7en” even though it was very graphic and bloody.

Relating Se7en to "Heroes in Hard Times" and "Framing Blackness"

Although I was not originally a big fan of “Heroes in hard times” (and I still the think the writing style was pretty awful) I do see examples of some of the points discussed in Se7en. First of all, there is the girlfriend issue. The author of Heroes in hard times likes to point out all the problems caused by cops who either neglect their significant others, or ignore their needs, or end up widowers. Se7en clearly epitomizes this problem. Mills never knows of his wife’s fears, or pregnancy, and in the end, the bad guy gets to her and kills her. I also began to understand the author’s discussion of the sodomy element of cop movies. Mills and Somerset (especially Mills) says the ef word a lot, and even demonstrates at one point. Leaning over he says, “he’s f***ing with us, see this, this is us”. This is undeniably a “sodomy” reference. Later, when the “Lust” killing takes place, the male involved recounts how he was told to “f***” the girl, while the killer stuck a gun into the male’s throat. Although it may be a stretch, this action seems to signify that the killer was getting some sort of sexual gratification himself, as if the male was not only “F***ing” the girl, but being f***ed by the killer as well. After reading the Heroes in Hard times book I became acutely aware of the double meaning of many common swear words, and actions (the gun down the throat being one of them). Another example was the “live for the job” attitude of Somerset. He seems to be a very one dimensional character: he has no family, no home life, nothing besides being a cop. He defines his life by being able to solve cases, and does not even have a first name until a third of the way into the film. Just like Riggs at the beginning of “Lethal Weapon”, Somerset lives for the job; it is what he is good at. He even convinced his past girlfriend not to have his baby because he was afraid of bringing the child up. He is alone in the world with only his badge and his job, he postpones his retirement to solve this last case. And Mills wonders if Somerset’s views of the world are not what makes him want to retire, but his retirement that creates his views. His occupation (or future lack thereof) defines his opinions.

Somerset also fits into many of the unsavory stereotypes discussed in “Framing Blackness”. While Mills is at home with a woman at his side, Somerset spends his nights alone with a metronome and a dart board. He is black man isolated in a white world. The only other black character the viewer really sees is the woman Mills pays to give a statement justifying their entrance to the killer’s apartment. Guerrero would argue that this situation is not natural. Somerset is, essentially, a white man, he interacts with white men and women; he is securely middle class, well dressed and financially safe. Race is ignored in this movie.

I enjoyed this movie; the cinematography was amazing: very grim, sharp and disturbing. Unfortunately, I found the subject matter a little off-putting, and am in no rush to see it again. I do feel that it backed up a lot of points made by the authors of our two books, which added credibility to the texts.

Se7en

The movie Se7en is the story of two detectives solving homicide cases all caused by one man who bases the murders upon the seven deadly sins. One of the detectives solving the case, Lieutenant Somerset, can be compared to Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night. Like Tibbs, Somerset is shown as being a very straight forward, goal oriented man. He places all of his focus and all of his time into his work and solving the case. Somerset takes his job of being the more experienced, and almost a mentor figure between him and his partner, Detective Mills, very seriously. He always seems to give the orders and offers points of advice to Mills. At first, Somerset seems skeptical about working with Mills, thinking he will mess up the case because of his inexperience. After seeing what kind of work Mills does, and getting to know him as a person Somerset looses his doubts. Obviously unlike Tibbs compared to his co-workers, Somerset holds more of an authority position over Mills, whereas Tibbs held absolutely no authority over anyone until he could prove to the Chief that he was an intelligent human being. One thing that both Tibbs and Somerset have in common is that they both do not seem to have a family or a big support system to go to. Tibbs has his mother to go to, but it doesn’t seen as if he has anyone else to go to. This may be one of the reasons why all of their energy and focus goes into their work.
Overall, I found this movie to be entertaining, yet a bit disturbing at some points.
The scene when they are driving in the middle of nowhere and John Doe is talking to Mills and Somerset from the backseat was very intense. Nonetheless, this movie showed a good example of how homicide murder cases are carried out.

As many people have already noted in their blogs, there isn't any blatant racial issues that are found in the film Se7en. However, I agree with some of the ideas that were mentioned in class today, that since the film was produced in a different decade, race was not as prominent an issue in that time period. Meaning it didn't have to be one of the main issues like it was in In the Heat of the Night. However, i think that there were a lot of similar characteristics that could be found between the character Mills of Se7en and Riggs of Lethal Weapon, and between Somerset and Murtaugh. These similarities i attribute to the precedents films such as Lethal Weapon present. Lethal Weapon was such a success that it makes sense to have the similar cop buddy characteristics for Mills and Somerset. Somerset again is the older, wiser, more respectable cop. He is more rash and thorough, which is depicted since he's never had to fire his gun (which i thought a little skeptical with the kind of town that was presented and since he was so hardened) and also he looks a lot deeper into the crime scenes. Mills, like Riggs, is the new guy coming onto Somerset's turf, with youth, off the cuff rules, impatience and eagerness. I liked how they didnt immediately rub off on each other, and that it took until the end of the movie to be understanding of each other.

I have seen this film many times before, and i love it even more than the last. Each time, i find some extra that makes the cinematagraphy even better, such as today i noticed how much he mentioned his wife in the latter part of the film. This movie definitely fits into the King's analysis of the way cops treat their wives, for she is obviously neglected (he doesnt even return her phone call before he goes on a dangerous mission with this crazy freak) and later she is murdered. The ending though is the only way that i could imagine the film, however horrific and gruesome is. Because it was so climatic, the only way to have a good ending would be this kind of twisted shocker. I like how it also showed that the cops can be the same as the criminal, which is something King brings up as well. This was brilliantly forshadowed in the car ride when John Doe tells Mills that he is the same as him, and then how in the end they are both sinners in the sick seven killings.

7

I thought that this was a good movie, but with one exception. The ending. I'll give the killer the benefit of the doubt and say that he could be relatively sure that the cop would kill him when he found out that his wife was dead, but then what did he expect to happen to Mills? Everyone who was accused by the killer of committing one of the seven deadly sins was killed, with the exception of Sloth. Though it could be argued that he won't ever be able to truly function as a human being ever again. Mills living just doesn't seem to fit.

Anyways, on to the inclusion or exclusion of racism in SE7EN. I didn't really note any particular amount of racism. In fact I would go so far as to say that its possible that whoever made the movie purposefully avoided it. Mogan Freeman's character, Det. Somerset was accepted without a second thought by both Mills and Mills' wife. Even though she, Mill's wife, barely knows Det. Somerset she still tells him things that she hasn't even told her husband.

As far as cop stereotypes go, I would say that they were definately prevalent in the film. The older, smarter, slightly jaded hero with the young hotshot (and hot headed) sidekick/partner. The sidekick/partner looks to Somerset for acceptance and recognition and early in the movie finds neither. Later on in the movie as Mills earns some respect from Somerset (albeit by cheating and reading Cliff's Notes) he is finally able to gain at least some respect. How much of that respect he loses when he executes the killer is unknown.

Finally, I like how the killer "wins". There are too many archetypal movies where the hero gets a flesh wound and the vilain dies in some sort of large explosion. This movie dared to be different, though the ending left me wanting to know what happened with Mills. My vote would be that a jury lets him off the hook completely ala "A Time to Kill" but then that would still fulfill the archetype... maybe thats why the viewer gets to draw his own conclusions.
-Gordon Kirsch

Se7en

In this movie, you can clearly see the differences between the black cop (Somerset) and the white cop ( Mills) in the way that they dress. Somerset, played by Morgan Freeman, is very clean, sharp, and is clearly a perfectionist. While, Mills, played by Bradd Pitt, is a little more messy. In Se7en I did not see any signs of racism. These partners acted together for the same goal, where in yesterday's film, In the Heat of the Night, the two main characters acted for the same goal, but not together. Another main point between these two films is the smarter partner. Both Somerset and Tibbs are the more experienced person, they grew up in the areas of this movie. In Se7en, the chief and Mills, are relativly new to the area and they are not as respected quit as much. They are also the professional of the two by both following by the books. You can clearly see that there was time between when these two films were made, in yesterday's film there was clear evidence of racism, and in today's there was no sign of it. That may also have been due to the fact of the locations. In the Heat of the Night, it was in the deep south of Sparta, Mississippi, while Se7en was in a more diverse big city. Where as in the more racial movie, Virgil was only attached to the crimes because he was accused of it early on, Se7en actually had the victims related to the cop. I liked today's film because it was so intense throughout the whole movie. I did however think that the ending was not as good as it could have been, even though with the death of the wife, you could almost see it happening. And the hints that the killer said on the ride out there were almost leading up to this.

SE7EN

Of all the movies that we have studied so far Seven is the only one that does not have any racism. Not one racist remark/reference or any acts of discrimination was directed towards Morgan Freeman's character William Somerset. If you compare In the Heat of the Night to Seven, it's shocking that in only 40 years how politically correct filmmakers have become. Even in 48 Hours & Beverly Hills Cop, both of which were made in the mid-1980's, touched upon the racism issue. For example, in 48 Hours there were very racist remarks made by Nick Nolte's character. Nolte, at different points in the movie, calls Eddie Murphy's character racially charged names such as watermellon, spear chucker, and even nigger. Seven was made about 10 years later, and when you analyze it, you won't even find subtle racism.
Despite the topic of racism, I did notice a connection between Sidney Portier's character Virgil Tibbs and Freeman's Will Somerset. Both characters are portrayed as intelligent, arrogant, stubborn, homicide detectives who are the best in their department. Though Virgil Tibbs character is a bit more subdued, both character's inputs constantly conflict with the view of their white side kicks. In In the Heat of the Night, Bill Gillespie constantly looks for the easy answer by throwing a whole bunch of innocent people in jail despite the amount of evidence that Tibbs continually uncovers. Similarily, Somerset's intellectual analisys of the serial killer actions are constantly conflicting with Mills' simple reasoning that the actions of the serial killer were just psychotic. In both movies, the intellectual approach turn out to be correct in comparison to their white sidekicks.

Similarities between Lethal Weapon & Seven

Brad Pitt and Riggs have lost their wives. As King noted several heroes have been widowered, typically ( and in these 2 cases) by the action of the criminals with whom they have fought. Also as King noted cops bring danger to their families by provoking criminals. Riggs & Sommerset ( Morgan Freeman) both were so committed to the job that they pay very little attention to their home lives. Another similarity i found was that both Morgan freeman and Danny Glover both act as mentors to their white counterparts, as if they need to some them they way.

Seven (uhm Deadly) comparisons...

Seven (uhm deadly) comparisons...

1-The importance of pride in the way one dresses has once again been brought to my attention in Seven. Although both Sommerset and Mills are reasonably well-dressed, I think Somerset looked a little more put together with his hat and suspenders than Pitt. Once again the award for best-dressed goes to the black man in the movie.

2- Once again we find no evidence of real lust between the black actor and any sort of romantic partner. Although we do find Somerset comforting and giving advice to the pure white woman which brings to mind the scene in which Mr. Tibbs comforts the white widow in In the Heat of the Night.

3- The white cops in Seven and Lethal Weapon seem to be gluttons for punishment in a way. Although more evident with Riggs, I found the scene in which Mills chases John Doe an example of someone chasing trouble. He also knows he'll get reprimanded for breaking Doe's door open but he does it anyway...luckily he's a smoother talker than the other white guys in the cop movies we've seen and he gets himself out of it.

4- It seems that Mills was getting a little lazy in the "listening to your wife" department. Although she is killed by John Doe a la John the Baptist, I agree with Neal King when he wrote that the relationship was "probably doomed anyway by the cop's disinterest in his wife's aspirations and complaints." And like several of the other cop movies discussed, it wasn't shocking to find Mills romantic life fail. No character we have seen this past week hashad a succesful family life apart from Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, who stills endangers his family.

5- It would be (almost) understandable to find out that the white cops in the Lethal Weapon, In the Heat of the Night, and Seven feel envious of the black cops. In these three movies we find thre black cops that are well-respected by their police department peers (Tibbs home based department anyways). In the Heat of the Night had the easiest to identify form of envy in the chiefs sarcastic comments towards Mr. Tibbs.

6- Back to the issue of family... I find that the cops who try to both do their job well and have a family life are slightly greedy. They need to have it all. Sommerset and the chief rom In the Heat of the Night seemed to understand that to try and have everything just wouldn't work out. Unfortunately for Mills, his wif'e's death drives the point home.

7- It was intersting seeing the way Sommerset was not really influenced by Mills rage at the end to go crazy himself where as Glover was influenced overall by Gibson's recklessness. It seems the white guys did influence their black partners overall, since Glover goes a little haywire and Sommerset decides not to go live far, far away in a cabin but decides instead to stay around.


favourite line in the movie: "Could the freak be anymore vague?" thank you Mills.

Evident change... but eh...

The plot of Se7en is extremely different from the other movies that we have watched thus far in that race does not enter into the movie at all. When watching Beverly Hills Cop one cannot help thinking about the fact that Eddie Murphy is the lone (truly important) black character in the entire movie. The same goes for Lethal Weapon; Danny Glover is all alone, and his pairing with the white Aussie, Mel Gibson, is quite blatant. And it is obvious that race is the main theme of In the Heat of the Night.

With Se7en, however, the changes that occur in the characters are not race-driven at all. Instead you have a sort of teacher and mentor situation. Somerset is the experienced veteran of the world of the homicide detective, while Mills, though he claims to be experienced, is far less mature in his detective actions. Throughout the movie Somerset is constantly reprimanding Mills for his seemingly over-enthusiastic tendencies. Mills passion (i.e. breaking into John Doe’s apartment) eventually leads to his undoing, the murder of John Doe in the field. Even in this instance, Somerset tries to hold Mills back, but, in the end, the pain of knowing of his wife’s murder is too much for the younger man.

Somerset also changes slightly. He is so ready to retire, even a few days into the series of murders. Later on, though, he decides to stay on to see the thing through. He enjoys being involved in crime solving more than he thought. His voice-over at the very end was a bit out of the blue. The whole ending was anticlimactic in general. Such horrific crimes build up a lot of tension, and for it to just end so suddenly, for there to be no real dénouement, was disappointing. For there to be a voice-over at the end when there is none anywhere else in the movie is sketchy in a narrative sense. Even the closing line is sketchy: “Ernest Hemingway once wrote, ‘The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.’ I agree with the second part.” Not a very good ending.

Seven

This movie had obvious similarites and differences when compared with In the Heat of the Night. The movies are not only in very different time periods, but the settings differ drasticaly as well. In the Heat of the Night takes place in a remote town in Mississippi, whereas Seven takes place in a major, modern city. in Seven the two officers are always working together and have a strong relationship together. In In the Heat of the Night the two officers are working towards the same goal, but it is very questionable whether they are working together or not.
One similarity that I saw was the role of the black officer. In both movies he seemed to be the more intelligent of the two. With In the Heat of the Night it was very obvious that Virgil was much smarter than the other officers at the station. In Seven, Morgan Freeman appears to be better equiped and more experienced with the job. He is calmer than officer Mills and seems more level headed. Officer Mills was relatively new to the job and the city and didn't seem to take the job as seriously as his partner.
In the Heat of the Night was more of a mystery than Seven was. With In the Heat of the Night there were a number of characters who could have been guilty of the murder, and you were given clues as to who it could be. With Seven, you didn't know who the killer was, but the suspense wasn't in finding that out, it was more with what the next sin would be.
The relationship between interracial cops has never been brought to my attention before. Now that I look for it I think its interesting that our first two movies show the black cop as the more intelligent or more experienced one. I would have thought it would have been the other way around.

Heat of The Night Review

I thought that In the Heat of the Night had some very interesting aspects as a cop movie. One thing that immediately struck me was how Virgil was dressed as a wealthy business man, but was just a cop. I understand that a police officer in Philly might make more money than one in Sparta, Mississippi, but I don't think that it would put them in a completely different social class. I believe this was done to show that even though Virgil was a superior police officer to any of the local officers, they still mistreated him simply because he was black.
One other thing I noticed about the film was that with the exception of the wife of the man who was murdered, basically every other white person was portrayed in a way that made them appear unintelligent. I realize that there is a difference between being racist and stupid, but the movie rarely differentiated between the 2. The only man who did seem somewhat smart was Endicott because he was a wealthy farm-owner.
I also found it somewhat funny that Virgil did not identify himself as a police officer until he was in the middle of being interrogated by Gillespie. It might have saved him a trip to jail if he showed his badge once he was approached by officer Wood.

Dani's Blog: In the Heat of the Night

“In the Heat of the Night” I felt was a very slow moving movie, but then again look at the time that it was made. Movies such as this one give me a new perspective of what times were like back then. I felt that in this movie Virgil was kept back in this town against his would and all he wanted to do was go home. He also would provide important information but because of his color he was considered to be not be as reliable as he was. He seemed to be the most intelligent out of all of the characters, not jumping to conclusions, and using his intuition wisely. While the other characters such as Chief Bill Gillespie was a white, middle-aged man whom I felt would watch people physically abuse Virgil and wait till the last second to say something to stop the act from happening. He was “not racist” in the way that he would defend verbally Virgil but in scenes where Virgil was fighting with three men it seemed that the Chief waited for the last second to go in and say, “Ok, Stop”. What the Chief did have was an obedient staff which showed that although I didn’t think he was very intelligent, the people who worked under him did. They listened to everything that he said to do. His men would run on a cliffy rock side next to water to catch the wrong guy, while the Chief would be lazy and sit in his car and wait. This could have been their plan to lure the guy towards the car but I thought it looked more like a lazier, easier way out. When they had discovered the dead body, he immediately told the officer to do something, the officer listened as if it was his father yelling at him, and obeyed his wishes. I felt that the movie was highly racist, and also showed that white people were stupid while the black person was the smart one.

THIS IS KIMBERLY

"In the Heat of the Night" was a very interesting film on the topic of race. I felt it well portrayed a relationship between an intelligent black man and a reluctant white man. The white cop, Chief Bill Gillespie, is initially discriminatory and hateful towards black people, especially those that threaten his territory of police work. However, the movie well portrays the growing trust and relationship between the two men and the moral values change for Gillespie. For example, in the middle of the movie the black man, Det. Virgil Tibbs, is chased by racist townfolk and the Gillespie saves him. This is a big step for Gillespie because in the beginning of the movie his actions would have been different. This scene is also important because it is the only scene where Tibbs is dependent and in need of Gillespie, whereas throughout the entire movie it is reversed. Overall, I enjoyed the plot and themes of the movie, but due to differentiating cinematographic qualities of movies of today, it was a struggle to pay attention. Films today are made with short, fast paced shots, music and action. Therefore, compared to movies of today's times, it would seem very dull and slow. "In the Heat of the Night" needs to be enjoyed for its intriguing plot and not its production.