THEY CALL ME MR TIBBS

US, 1970, 107 minutes, Colour.
Sidney Poitier, Martin Landau, Barbara Mc Nair, Anthony Zerbe, Beverley Todd, Jeff Corey.
Directed by Gordon Douglas.

They Call Me Mr. Tibbs is a commercial sequel to the successful Oscar-winning In The Heat of the Night. Sidney Poitier repeats his role of upright detective, Virgil Tibbs. This film is an ordinary, quite interesting murder mystery. It has been criticised as not being crusadingly pro-Negro, as if St. Sidney Poitier, now in a white heaven, had forgotten his earthly cause. On the other hand, the film shows an integrated American society, the type of society hoped for, and in some more peaceful and wealthy areas, a reality. The criticism that the film is not race conscious seems unnecessary. on the other hand, the film is socially conscious along the lines of Peter Yates' Bullitt and Gordon Douglas' The Detective; that is, police work shown against a sordid background of crime and urban injustice. While not as good as the films just mentioned (it has a car chase and a garage shoot-out), it raises a number of questions.

1. What impact did the immediate sordid murder make on you? Did you see that there was reason for showing it when you discovered who did the murder?

2. Do you think there are many types like the owner of the flats in today's big cities? Did you realise why he was so eager to implicate Logan Sharpe in the murder? What did Sharpe's political campaign have to do with it?

3. What impression did Logan Sharpe make on you - his sermon, sincerity, politics? Did he seem a potential murderer? After his confession of his relationship, did he seem to you a potential murderer?

4. Did the film present an interesting view of the way a police force works?

5. How did Virgil Tibbs' friendship with Logan Sharpe affect his investigation of the crime? Should Tibbs have been put on the case?

6. The Tibbs family - did you like these scenes, were they real - e.g. son at T.V. and the noise, Tibbs helping his daughter with gymnastics?

7. Were the scenes of confrontation of Tibbs and his son well done - the smoking. the refusal to pick up things. what did they reveal of Tibbs' character?

8. Comment on the character of the owner of the flats - his luxury,' negro girlfriend. drug-peddling.

9. Comment on the car-chase and the shooting in the garage after the foot-chase. Why were these exciting?

10. What social comment about San Francisco and its housing was the film making? Did you understand the purpose of Sharpe's campaign?

11. Were you surprised to find out who the real murderer was? Why did he do it? What should Tibbs have done when Sharpe put the problem of his arrest in the context of the campaign?

12. Why did Sharpe commit suicide? To make a martyr of himself? Was it merely an easy way to end the film?