The film opens with the theme song In the Heat of the Night, performed by the legendary Ray Charles. The placement of this blues/gospel song in the beginning of the film helps to establish the time period and setting as does the sign on the side of the road that reads "Welcome to Mississippi". The song also helps to create an eerie mood in the opening scene my repeating the words "in the heat of the night", obviously because the opening scene takes place at night. It lea

ves the audience wondering, "What happens in the heat of the night?"

After the audience discovers what happens in the heat of the night, a mysterious murder, it is now time for Virgil Tibbs, a black homicide detective and Sheriff Gillespe, the white sheriff to go to work and uncover the truth about the murder. In their search they decide to go question the wealthiest man in the town, Endicott. Endicott still lives the life of the slave owner, owning a large plantation as well as "employing" many black people to pick the cotton in his fields. As Tibbs and Gillespe drive down the dirt road, the theme song starts to play once again. It now becomes clearer that this song not only represents discrimination but slavery as well. This is established by the camera shots of the poor black people working along side the dirt road picking cotton for Mr. Endicottt. The tone and lyrics

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 596
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)