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Movies that feel like In the Heat of the Night (1967)

If you loved In the Heat of the Night, the closest films we have are Charley Varrick (1973), Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959). All three share In the Heat of the Night's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video and others, checked against today's data.

African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.

πŸ… 96% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.9 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Norman Jewisongrittycontemplativetwistytense
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If In the Heat of the Night hit the spot, these will too

Charley Varrick poster
Charley Varrick
1973 Β· dir. Don Siegel
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.5crime Β· thriller Β· drama

Both are working the same pair: small town life, stolen money

The difference: None of the twists In the Heat of the Night is built on

Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.

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Murder on the Orient Express poster
Murder on the Orient Express
1974 Β· dir. Sidney Lumet
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.2drama Β· thriller Β· mystery

Both are built on the same subject: whodunit

In 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.

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Anatomy of a Murder poster
Anatomy of a Murder
1959 Β· dir. Otto Preminger
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Gritty where it counts, contemplative underneath

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

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Drishyam poster
Drishyam
2015 Β· dir. Nishikant Kamat
πŸ… 75%β˜… 8.2mystery Β· thriller Β· drama

The same preoccupation in both: murder

The difference: 48 years apart, and the 2010s show

When his family stares down the barrel of criminal charges, a commoner channels his street smarts and knowledge of action films to tie the long arm of the law into an investigative Gordian knot.

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And Then There Were None poster
And Then There Were None
1945 Β· dir. RenΓ© Clair
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.3crime Β· drama Β· mystery

One thread runs through both: whodunit

Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island and while they are waiting for the mysterious host to appear, a recording levels serious accusations at each of the guests. Soon they start being murdered, one by one. As the survivors try to keep their wits, they reach a disturbing conclusion: one of them must be the killer.

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Gaslight poster
Gaslight
1944 Β· dir. George Cukor
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.8thriller Β· drama Β· mystery

Both keep coming back to the same thing: murder

A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.

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High Plains Drifter poster
High Plains Drifter
1973 Β· dir. Clint Eastwood
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.4western Β· drama Β· mystery

Twisty drama, and it commits to that

The difference: Leans harder into western than In the Heat of the Night does

A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo poster
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2009 Β· dir. Niels Arden Oplev
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.8drama Β· thriller Β· crime

Crime with a pulse of tension, in both cases

Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson's novel about a male journalist and a young female hacker. In the opening of the movie, Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged publisher for the magazine Millennium, loses a libel case brought by corrupt Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik WennerstrΓΆm. Nevertheless, he is hired by Henrik Vanger in order to solve a cold case, the disappearance of Vanger's niece

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Brick poster
Brick
2006 Β· dir. Rian Johnson
πŸ… 79%β˜… 7.1drama Β· mystery Β· crime

Mystery built on grit, twice over

A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

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High and Low poster
High and Low
1963 Β· dir. Akira Kurosawa
πŸ… 97%β˜… 8.4drama Β· crime Β· thriller

Both lean on stillness more than on thriller

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

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12 poster
12
2007 Β· dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
πŸ… 76%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Common ground: racism

A loose remake of β€œ12 Angry Men”, β€œ12” is set in contemporary Moscow where 12 very different men must unanimously decide the fate of a young Chechen accused of murdering his step-father, a Russian army officer. Consigned to a makeshift jury room in a school gymnasium, one by one each man takes center stage to confront, connect, and confess while the accused awaits a verdict and revisits his heartbreaking journey through war in flashbacks.

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The Big Sleep poster
The Big Sleep
1946 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9mystery Β· crime Β· thriller

Twisty crime in both cases

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

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The best-reviewed films that share In the Heat of the Night’s defining feeling.