In 1997, Steiger played Tony Vago, the mob boss of Vincent Gallo's character in Kiefer Sutherland's Truth or Consequences, N.M., a gritty noir about a drug heist gone wrong. Steiger played judges in Antonio Banderas's comedy-drama Crazy in Alabama and in the prison drama, The Hurricane, both in 1999, the latter of which tells the story of former middleweight boxer Rubin Carter, who was wrongly convicted of a triple homicide in a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. The Hurricane reunited Steiger with Norman Jewison, who had directed him in In the Heat of the Night. Steiger portrayed H. Lee Sarokin, the judge responsible for freeing Carter. Sarokin thought it was a "marvellous film" that was Oscar-worthy, but found Steiger's portrayal as overacted and a "little arrogant and pompous".
In 1997 Steiger played Tony Vago the mob boss of Vincent Gallo's character in Kiefer Sutherland's Truth or Consequences NM a gritty noir about a drug heist gone wrong Steiger played judges in Antonio Banderas's comedy-drama Crazy in Alabama and in the prison drama The Hurricane both in 1999 the latter of which tells the story of former middleweight boxer Rubin Carter who was wrongly convicted of a triple homicide in a bar in Paterson New Jersey The Hurricane reunited Steiger with Norman Jewison who had directed him in In the Heat of the Night Steiger portrayed H Lee Sarokin the judge responsible for freeing Carter Sarokin thought it was a "marvellous film" that was Oscar-worthy but found Steiger's portrayal as overacted and a "little arrogant and pompous"