academy award actor sidney poitier of lily of the field reprise his role a lieutenant virgil tibbs from the 1967 oscar win best picture in the heat of the night for veteran director gordon douglas tire and uninspired sequel they call me mister tibbs and with nobody the equivalent of rod steiger with which to swap dialogue . clearly and both bullitt scenarist alan r. trustman and robert d. webb of cape fear be off their game when they pen this predictable police procedural potboiler . the dialogue be drab and none of the character be interest and not even the chief suspect . absolutely nothing remotely exciting and suspenseful and or surprising occurs in this tame whodunit . meanwhile and thing have change considerably since virgil be last see in in the heat of the night . he work a a homicide detective for the philadelphia and pennsylvania and police department . in they call me mister tibbs and our hero work for the san francisco police department . moreover and he have a wife and valerie ( barbara mcnair of change of habit ) and and a family and a young rebellious son and andy ( george spell of the naked kiss ) and and a young doting daughter and ginger ( wanda spell of hickey and boggs ) . tibbs drive a medium blue mustang and his wife hold down the house and hovers over their two child since he doesn not have as much time to spend with them . literally and there be no surprise in this pedestrian murder mystery . indeed and the best thing about they call me mister tibbs be quincy jones terrific orchestral soundtrack with a memorable opening theme and more memorable than this forgettable crime thriller deserve . everything begin sensationally enough with a struggle prostitute and joy sturges ( linda towne of the adventurer ) and be bludgeon to death in the bedroom of her downtown apartment by an unseen assailant . apartment handyman mealie williamson ( juano hernandez of intruder in the dust ) enter joy apartment and find her strewn on the carpet dead with a bloody forehead . he pick up the statue briefly and then put it back on the floor and report joy death to the superintendent of the apartment and rice weedon ( anthony zerbe of license to kill ) and and weedon give mealie and fistful of dollar and send him pack . afterward and weedon anonymously notify the sfpd that popular minister logan sharpe ( martin landau of nevada smith ) beat joy to death and be seem leave joy apartment . captain marden ( jeff corey of true grit ) assign tibbs to handle the case while it seem that both tibbs and sharpe have know each other for 18 year . naturally and tibbs wife valerie can not believe that the well know and politically active evangelist could have commit such a crime . just to give the movie context and it should be note that when tibbs and the police study the crime scene and they mention the word emen and no doubt a controversial term to mention in an early 1970s movie . tibbs question weedon whom he suspect be either a drug pusher or a pimp . weedon explain that he have no record on joy sturges because she be sublet the apartment from another realty company . tibbs visit the realty company and realtor woody garfield ( ed anser of jfk ) flees and drive off and essentially do an o. j. simpson until he crash his car after a lengthy but tame pursuit . when tibbs prof that woody do not kill joy and he allow him to leave and with his disgruntled wife and marge ( norma crane of penelope ) and prepared to file for divorce after the revelation that he pay a hooker to stay in an apartment . tibbs track down handyman mealie and clear him of the crime and and then he go after weedon . luckily and for tibbs and our hero catch the evil weedon in the middle of a narcotics transaction . one of weedon henchman assault tibbs and but tibbs dispenses with him briefly before he embark on a long foot chase after weedon . eventually and he corner weedon in an underground parking garage and they shoot it out . guess who win . the scene in the tibbs household be more interesting than his investigation . andy run rampant and strike his sister and and smoking in the garden . our hero want him to clean up his room . when andy refuse and tibbs pop him three time on the jaw . these child rearing scene could probably never be handle today a they be back in 1970. at the end of the movie and a if to solidify the family sequence and tibbs be see walk off with his wife and kid . there be on confrontation between valerie and virgil about the welfare of their child and how his long hour at work have affect them . director gordon douglas directs in competent fashion . surprisingly and for a film release in 1970 and the filmmaker never play the race card . in one scene and when tibbs search a billiards parlor own by an african american and we see a mixed breed of race scowl at the hero when he find mealie and leave with him in tow . altogether and they call me mister tibbs be a poor follow up to in the heat of the night . mind you and poitier delivers another fine performance with nuance and but everything look prefabricate . all of the set look fake and there isn not much physical violence represent one underground parking lot shoot out that doesn not last long and a fight . beyond jones seminal jazz score and the only surpriseand it really doesn not qualify a a major surprise more like a convenient contrivanceis the end . donald medford the organization follow they call me mister tibbs a the second and more action pack sequel .