In the Heat of the Night
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
Phillip Colbert, a wealthy industrialist from Chicago, is constructing a factory in Sparta, Mississippi. One night in September 1966, when driving back into town after a meeting at the plantation home of one of Sparta's leading citizens, Eric Endicott, he is murdered. His body is found on the pavement at the front of an alley's entrance onto Main Street by Police Officer Sam Wood at about 3:30 a.m.
Police Chief Bill Gillespie arrives on the scene where the body has been discovered and takes direct charge of the investigation. A local undertaker and a freelance photographer have been summoned to the scene to assist the police with their investigation. The undertaker tells Gillespie that it is his immediate guess that the death occurred no more than a couple of hours earlier than the time of Wood’s discovery of the body, around 1:30 a.m. Gillespie is also told by Wood that his patrol was quiet, without incident, and with no one seen.
Gillespie, speculating that the crime may have been committed by a transient, orders Wood to verify that the pool hall is closed (its hours had it open until 12:30 a.m.), the streets and alleyways are clear, and that the train and bus depots are clear as well.
At the town train depot, Wood finds a black man, Virgil Tibbs, sitting quietly with his luggage in a business suit after 3:00 a.m., waiting for what seems to be no specified train. Officer Wood immediately arrests him (at gunpoint), cursorily searches him, and finds more than $200 in cash in his wallet.
Wood takes him into the Sparta police station, where he presents him to Gillespie. Prejudiced against blacks, Gillespie jumps to the conclusion that he has his culprit and attempts to get Tibbs to confess. But he is embarrassed to learn that Tibbs is a police officer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who happens to make more money in a week than Gillespie does in a month.
Gillespie phones Tibbs' chief to confirm the story. The chief informs Gillespie that Tibbs is his top homicide investigator and recommends that Tibbs stay and assist the investigation. Tibbs wants nothing more than to leave as quickly as possible, and Gillespie politely tells the chief that Tibbs' assistance won't be necessary. But as Tibbs prepares to head back to the train station, Gillespie swallows his pride and asks for help. Tibbs relents.
Leslie Colbert, the victim's widow, already frustrated by the ineptitude of the local police, is impressed by Tibbs' expertise when he clears another wrongly accused suspect whom Gillespie has arrested on circumstantial evidence. She threatens to stop construction on the much needed factory unless Tibbs leads the investigation. Unwilling to accept help, but under orders from the town's mayor, Gillespie talks a reluctant Tibbs into working on the case.
Despite the rocky start to their relationship, the two policemen are compelled to respect each other as they are forced to work together to solve the crime. Tibbs initially suspects wealthy plantation owner Eric Endicott, a racist who publicly opposes the new factory, as its workforce will consist primarily of black people. When Tibbs attempts to interrogate Endicott about Colbert, Endicott slaps him in the face, but Tibbs slaps him back, which leads to Endicott sending a gang of hooligans after Tibbs. Gillespie rescues him from the fight and orders him to leave town for his own safety, but Tibbs is convinced he is on the trail of the murderer, and refuses to leave until he has solved the case.
Tibbs' examination of Colbert's body has already placed the murder much earlier in the night than either Gillespie or the Sparta police had initially thought. He examines Colbert's car, and deduces that it was used to drive the dead man's body back from an as yet unknown location where Colbert was actually killed. Tibbs asks Wood to retrace his steps from his patrol on the night of the murder. Tibbs knows that an earlier time of death for Colbert means that Colbert's body was driven around Sparta and dumped into an alley while Wood was on patrol.
Tibbs and Gillespie accompany Wood on his patrol route, stopping at a diner where the counterman, Ralph Henshaw, refuses to serve Tibbs. When Tibbs notices that Wood has deliberately changed his route, Gillespie starts suspecting Wood of the crime. Tibbs indicates that he knows why Sam has changed his route but will not disclose the reason to Gillespie.
When Gillespie discovers that Wood made a sizable deposit into his bank account the day after the murder (which Wood claims is gambling winnings) and Lloyd Purdy, a local, files charges against Wood for getting his 16-year-old sister Delores pregnant, Gillespie arrests Wood for the murder, despite Tibbs' protests. Purdy is offended that Tibbs, a black man, was present for his sister's interrogation about her sexual encounter with Wood, and he gathers a mob to get his revenge on Tibbs.
Tibbs is able to clear Wood by finding the original murder scene, the site where Colbert's factory will be built, and pointing out that Sam would not have been able to drive his police patrol car and the victim's car at the same time. Tibbs also admits that he knew immediately that Wood changed his route not to hide being a murderer, but to hide being a peeping Tom (peeping on Delores Purdy, who herself is an exhibitionist), and declined to publicly reveal this in order to spare Wood embarrassment.
Acting on a hunch, Tibbs tracks down the local back-room abortionist, who reveals that someone had paid for Delores to have an abortion. When Delores arrives, Tibbs pursues her outside, where he is confronted by the murderer, Henshaw. Purdy's mob has tracked down Tibbs and is holding him at gunpoint when he proves to Purdy that it was Henshaw, not Wood, who got Delores pregnant.
Henshaw shoots Purdy dead before being disarmed by Tibbs. Henshaw is arrested and confesses to the murder of Colbert. He had robbed Colbert to gain money to pay for Delores's abortion but had accidentally killed him in the process.
His job done, Tibbs finally boards the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio train out of town, after being bid farewell by a now respectful Gillespie, "Virgil, . . you take care, . . you hear."

Review: 21 years after Rod Steiger won an Academy Award as gum chewing police chief Bill Gillespie of Sparta Mississippi and Sidney Poitier told the world that in his city, THEY CALL ME MISTER TIBBS, the film was adapted into a successful television series about the new American South.
If you remember in the film Rod Steiger has the murder of a rich northern industrialist on his hands and reluctantly uses the expertise of visiting homicide detective Sidney Poitier to solve the murder.
Now years later, Virgil Tibbs formerly of the Philadelphia PD Homicide Squad and now played by Howard E.
Gillespie is now Carroll O'Connor and has made a place for Tibbs on the Sparta, PD as a newly made detective.
Rollins IS the Detective Division of the Sparta, PD.Because this show clicked so well these characters were fully developed over the seven year run of the series.
We got to know everybody in the small town of Sparta, Mississippi and even the most minute characters were three dimensional, the writing on this show was so good.
O'Connor alluded to his racist past and we saw a man in Chief Gillespie who was a work in progress.
Rollins had to adjust too, things don't quite work the same way in Sparta, Mississippi as they do in Philadelphia.
Alan Autry played Bubba Skinner and he was something of a protégé of O'Connor's and he thought he ought to have been the detective.
He and Rollins gradually developed a working relationship over the course of the show.Gunsmoke was the first show to put the main characters within the context of the town they lived in.
Watching In The Heat Of The Night was like taking residence in that town for an hour each week.In The Heat Of The Night was television series at its best, sad that it came to an end because of the health and other problems of its two lead cast members.
It takes a look at the so-called New South and shows the many ways it has gotten better and how in some ways it is still the same.
In fact, I still prefer the television series over the movie any time.
The late Howard Rollins was superb as Virgil Tibbs and the late Caroll O'Connor made the perfect Bill Gillespie.
This might sound a bit silly, but the show meant a lot to me, because it was one of the last shows that was true to what it was, and one of the best series that has ever been produced in my mind.The one thing that I would really like to know, if someone somewhere is trying to come up with a DVD collection of the series.
It is a show that I enjoyed, and miss watching a great deal..
Opening music is sensual and delicious, and sets the stage for some good old southern intrigue, mystery and once in awhile romance.Most pleasant is the way they throw you off the track, always keep you guessing as to ..who done it..
This was without a doubt one of the best TV shows to ever depict the South the way it needed to be shown during the latter part of late 80's and continue into the mid-90's.
It has an originality of its own--and it is sometimes quirky(since this set in the fictional Southern town of Sparta,and sometimes it can be downright eccentric)in the way that ordinary people act under circumstances in extraordinary situations.
But in point,it taught us about the racial prejudices and as well as real life situations courtesy of its teacher and executive producer of the series....CARROLL O'CONNOR.
It shows how racial problems can be solved,and also shows us that for one how drugs and drinking as well as abuse can tear a family apart and how to deal with those issues(several episodes consisted of the subject dealt with this brilliantly,including one scene where suicide was a major factor).
It shows how a police force was very concerned with the community and what made it so good was that they were were not so caring but they knew what the community and its people were going through in a time of crisis.
Also,to make this statement....Carroll O'Connor is the ONLY actor in Hollywood who spoke out about the abuse of drugs in the community(he stepped out of character in one episode to speak about that which brought me to tears),and his show dealt with that exceptionally well.
At its best it showed the all out emotions of the human condition,but its still is a beautifully produced show.
Kudos to the late Howard Rollins,and Carroll O'Connor.
ITHOTN is my second favorite hour long TV series( right behind the Rockford files 1974-80.) The first season,while well acted and produced isn't as good as season two and three.
The episodes filmed in Hammond Louisiana recapture the atmosphere of the motion picture with its run down buildings and the racist behavior of " Bill Gillespie".
The stories just don't measure up, with the exception of " Road Kill" One of the entire series best episodes!.The four Joe Don Baker episodes (while Carroll O' Connor was recuperating from heart surgery) are among my favorites.
"Lady bug,lady bug"is dark and brutal."Vengeance" and "Sparta Gold" are two of Alan Autrys best.
Scott Brian Higgs is hilarious as the eccentric "Randy Calhoun", a recurring character on the show.Lois Nettleton is very good as Bill Gillespies love interest and her shady past is revealed in the excellent "Aka Kelly Kay".
I was so impressed with the series that we traveled through Covington Georgia on our way to Florida a few years ago.
Carroll O' Connor was totally believable as "Bill Gillespie", Howard Rollins upstaged the entire cast, bringing more depth to the "Virgil Tibbs" character than Sidney Poitier did in the '67 film.
Hugh O' Connor who obviously wasn't a trained actor,actually grew into his "Jameson" role and was good enough to carry several episodes by himself!
The last season was wearing pretty thin but had a very good run with some truly memorable stories.
Carroll O'Conner's last series was a good one!.
Though most will forever remember O'Conner for his Emmy-winning turn as "Archie Bunker" in the classic "All in the Family," his last television role on the long-running "In the Heat of the Night" was still equally as memorable.
Inspired by the Oscar-winning film, starring Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier, the show dealt with the police force of the mythical town of Sparta, Missisippi, headed by Chief Bill Gillespie with transplanted Philedelphian Virgil Tibbs, new and black to a force that was unprepared for such a high-ranking black.
Though the first couple of episodes dealt with the adjustments that had to made with the new man on the force, the racial tension in the department was soon eliminated as both The Chief and Tibbs, along with other policemen (the superb Alan Artry as "Bubba," David Hart as the down-home, tea-drinking "Parker," Geoffrey Horne" and Hugh O'Conner as the young cops, "Sweet" and "Lonnie Jameson," respectively) came to respect and trust each other.Many of the shows dealt with timely topics as A.I.D.S., spousal abuse, rape, and corrupt politicians.
One of the series' most powerful episodes is "A Trip Upstate," wherein Chief Gillespie is asked to attend the execution of a criminal (guest star Paul Benjamin) that he caught years before.
A worthy successor to a great film.
It's extremely rare these days to find a film-to-tv spin-off that actually works (anybody remember 'Working Girl'?) but this 'Heat' is a worthy exception.
And as the years go on it becomes increasingly  difficult  -- due to a series of well-publicized internal troubles -- to find ALL the stars together in the same episode.
But at its best, the show has some powerful things to say about the human condition...and at its worst, it's still a beautifully produced hour spent with some very likable characters..
As I watched every episode on TNT, I realized how genuine and true the characters were.
Howard Rollins died the very Sunday night I returned to N.C. Over the years going back to Covington, I made friends with Dan Biggers (Doc Rob) and Dee Shaw (Officer/Sgt Dee) Dan and I became such good friends he was the "Best Man" in my 2004 wedding.
Mickey Jones (Willie Baylor) and I even became friends from one the "Heat" reunions and my wife and I were invited to his "Movie Screening" of "Simple Things" in Asheville,N.C. back in October 2006.
The show still provided a means of escape and comfort even seeing each episode 100 times fold.
Now, like a lot of good folks, it is gone, and no one can seem to tell us "Where are those DVD'S"!!!!
I was hoping years ago before Carroll died there was a chance for a "Reunion Movie".
A few months back I caught an episode on Good Old WGN 9 out of Chicago ( I grew up in Chicago and remembered WGN and have always loved to watch them)I have been hooked ever since, I love the show, I like all of the cast, and I love the writing, their well written for a one hour show and it works great, I really like Carroll O'Connor's character and Howard Rollins character as Virgil Tibbs, The two actors work great together and you can feel the mutual respect that they have for each other and it really makes for a good crime show, the last couple of weeks WGN has been playing an episode on Sunday mornings, last Sunday it was a 2 hr show that I believe was part of season 8, after Carroll O'Connor's Character is Sheriff instead of Chief of police it was an OK episode but there was only a hand full of the original characters in that episode, still a great TV show.
too bad that Carroll O'Connor, Hugh O'Connor and Harold Rollins Jr. are not with us anymore, It is nice to see there's allot of fans out there that love the show as much as I do, As some of you have written the show is a sort of "Comfort T.V."..
in the heat of the night will always be my favorite show ever, i loved that show and still catch the syndicated shows, they show on tnt here in nyc, i wish they would come out on DVD already cause id buy the whole set in a second, chicef bill gillespie, was the greatest sheriff i have ever seen and the show as a hole was awesome, i remember waiting all week to see the next weeks episode, great great great show, bubba, virgil, jamieson, and all the rest did a great job on a great show, if anyone knows of DVD release of that TV show, please let me know asap.....
its a shame that virgil, howard rollins had 2 die, to bad he was mixed up w/that junk, and the day carroll o'connor died was a very sad day for me and for all fans, of the heat and all in the family and many other shows he did,.
I remember watching the last season on CBS, then later catching re-runs on TNT.
Many great performances by actors who sadly disappeared or were stuck in guest appearances after this show.Basically, the "In the Heat of the Night" show picks up where the 1967 series ended (with some minor plot changes, and the show was updated to the times).
Chief Gillespie (Carroll O'Connor) is much more comical and light-hearted than the 1967 character.
Virgil Tibbs (Howard Rollins) has settled in Sparta and brings his wife, Althea (Anne-Marie Johnson) along.
There are also many stand-out characters in the police department, including Bubba Skinner (Alan Autry), Parker Williams (David Hart), Lonnie Jamison (Hugh O'Connor), Wilson Sweet (Geoffrey Thorne), and Luanne Corbin (Crystal R.
This show also broke ground by introducing Harriet DeLong (Denise Nicholas), who becomes involved in a relationship with Gillespie.This show presented the south (and the police) very well, and consistently produced shows that kept your attention - even to the very end.
It's a shame that most of the cast couldn't find work after this show.Hugh O'Connor (Carroll's adopted son) committed suicide only months after the show was canceled.Howard Rollins died shortly after the show was taken off the air from cancer.Carroll O'Connor left acting for a few years, making guest appearances once in awhile, and died of a heart attack in 2001.Anne-Marie Johnson has done several voice-overs, and I remember seeing her in a telemovie, 'Asteroid', a few years back.
David Hart, Geoffrey Thorne, Denise Nicholas, and Crystal Fox have also disappeared after this show.In the Heat of the Night was a great show.
I plan to visit Covington again soon, now that I have found more filming locations!.
I have enjoyed all of the shows very much starting from the original movie with Sidney.
The characters and settings all take me back to childhood as they depict life as it was in that time.
Rollins,Autry, young Hugh and all the rest of the cast are by no means far behind.
This show starring Carroll O'Connor is one of the best shows done for TV.
It showed racial problems and how they could be solved; it showed how drugs and drinking can tear a family apart and how to deal with it.
It showed a police force so caring and understanding of what people go through.
Again we have to thank CARROLL O'CONNOR for doing such a great job..
Great characters and stories.
I have followed Carroll O' Connor for years.
He even co-starred in a couple of films with the Original Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Potier) from the original "Heat" Movie(1967).The TV Series featured many famous co-stars from week to week, to include but not limited to, George C.
In The Heat Of The Night TV Series When Is It Going To Be Released On DVD.
I Enjoyed The TV Series In The Heat Of The Night I Would Like To Know When It Is Going To Be Put On DVD For The Public To Buy?
It Was A Very Good TV Show And I Would Like To Be Able To Put It In To My DVD Collection.
The Show Was On For A Long Time But Their Were Other Shows On For Shorter Periods Of Time And Were Not As Good And Are Already On DVD.
Carroll O'Connor Did A Great Acting Job As The Chief And Later On As The Sheriff.
All Of The Roles Were Casted Right To Me The TV Series Was Better Than Movie Was Every Player Fit Their Role Perfectly.
I Really Like The Cast That Was Put Behind O'Connor They Really Made The Show And Each Episode Made One Cast Member Or The Other A Hero Of The Show Than Just Make The Same Person The Hero Every time..
I began watching this series shortly after it first appeared, and was grateful that it continued on in syndication for so long.
I still watch any time I see it appear in a newspaper listing.
Having had some limited law-enforcement experience, I can say that I have a deep appreciation for the character portrayed by Carrol O'Connor, not only for the quality of his performance as an actor, but for bringing us the very human side of law-enforcement officers everywhere, especially those in supervisory positions.
I would be grateful to be notified at any time of any opportunity to purchase this series on VHF or DVD.
While it is true, that I have enjoyed much of it in syndication ("re-runs") I am also aware that there are many episodes I have not seen, as I was traveling a great deal, and working odd hours during its "prime-time showings.
How often have you seen them take a movie and try and turn it into a TV series?
Moreover how many times has that series been just about the worse thing you've ever watched?
This show was the best movie to TV developed series as I can remember.
The movie took place in the 60's and it was groundbreaking in the sense of being the first film to ever have a black man in a position of authority.
Sidney Poitier was the most influential black actor then and Rod Steiger had the biggest role of his career.The series was more sanitized.
You couldn't really have characters that looked like hillbillies on an 80's show.
Therefore, most of the actors were rather good looking and were always impeccably dressed.
The transformation was necessary for people to digest the show more easily for 80's audiences and it didn't affect the story lines which were for the most part exciting.Over the years, Carroll O'Connor's character developed into a grandfatherly figure and Howard Rollins', though arrogant at times, had a sense of humor I think the Sidney Poitier character lacked.
The supporting actors were all fine, although I think Hugh O'Connor was too wooden (a shame about his premature death though).
It gave the producers a chance to have Virgil spar with someone other than Bill and especially Bubba, who developed into an enlightened man too.Every time you saw this show you felt that you were in the presence of a family unit who cared about each other and that was very comforting and it too helped to digest the rather nasty cases they would be involved in.
It dealt with just about every kind of issue that a community may have to deal with over the course of time.
The Sparta police force was able to deal with the problems with professionalism and a determination to do things right.
Especially with the departure of Anne-Marie Johnson and Howard Rollins from the show.
I think that the show had its moments during the final season, and remained a good show throughout the entire run, but the final season and the movies didn't measure up to the seasons that came before.