Quotes

In the Heat of the Night

Gillespie: Virgil? That's a funny name for a nigger boy that comes from Philadelphia. What do they call you up there?
Virgil Tibbs: They call me MISTER TIBBS!

Chief Gillespie: Just once in my life, I'm gonna own my temper. I'm telling you that you're gonna stay here. You're gonna stay here if I have to go inside and call your chief of police and have him remind you of what he told you to do. But I don't think I have to do that, you see? No, because you're so damn smart. You're smarter than any white man. You're just gonna stay here and show us all. You've got such a big head that you could never live with yourself unless you could put us all to shame. You wanna know something, Virgil? I don't think that you could let an opportunity like that pass by.

[upon the suggestion that he may have murdered Colbert, Endicott slaps Tibbs across the face. Tibbs promptly slaps him back. Endicott is positively shocked]
Eric Endicott: Gillespie?
Chief Gillespie: Yeah.
Eric Endicott: You saw it.
Chief Gillespie: I saw it.
Eric Endicott: Well, what are you gonna do about it?
Chief Gillespie: I don't know.
Eric Endicott: I'll remember that.
[to Tibbs]
Eric Endicott: There was a time when I could've had you shot.

Mayor Webb Schubert: Bill... what's made you change your mind about Tibbs?
Gillespie: Who says I have?
Mayor Webb Schubert: [referring to Tibbs slapping Endicott] Last Chief we had... he'd have shot Tibbs one second after he slapped Endicott, claim self-defense.

Tibbs: Now listen, hear me good mama. Please. Don't make me have to send you to jail... There's white time in jail and there's colored time in jail. The worst kind of time you can do is colored time.

Gillespie: Now, look. I got no wife. I got no kids. Boy, I got a town that don't want me. And I got an air conditioner that I have to oil myself, and a desk with a busted leg. And on top of that, I got this, uh... place. Now, don't you think that'd drive a man to takin' a few drinks? I'll tell you a secret. Nobody comes here. Never.

Mrs. Leslie Colbert: I came by to make it as clear as I possibly can: that I do not want the Negro officer taken off this case.
Mayor Webb Schubert: Negro officer?
Chief Gillespie: Yeah, well he, uh... he comes from up North, you see, and he was, uh, kinda... passing through...
Mrs. Leslie Colbert: I don't care what he is. If it wasn't for him, your impartial chief of police would still have the wrong man behind bars. I want that officer given a free hand, otherwise I will pack up my husband's engineers... and leave you... to yourselves.

Gillespie: How much they pay you to do their police work?
Tibbs: A hundred and sixty-two dollars, and thirty-nine cents per week.
Gillespie: A hundred and sixty-two dollars and thirty-nine cents a week? Well boy! Sam, you take him outside but treat him nice, because a man that makes a hundred and sixty-two dollars and thirty-nine cents a week, we do not want to ruffle him!

Gillespie: Whatcha hit him with?
Tibbs: Hit whom?
Gillespie: "Whom"? "Whom"? Well, you a northern boy? What's a northern boy like you doing all the way down here?

Chief Gillespie: [regarding Sam Wood's status as a suspect] We have the motive which is money, and the body which is dead!
Tibbs: What makes you so sure?
Chief Gillespie: WHY DO YOU DOUBT IT?
Tibbs: Because Colbert was killed HERE, driven back to town in his own car and dumped on the street. Sam couldn't have driven two cars!

[after Chief Gillespie convinced Virgil Tibbs to stay in town and finish the investigation, they both go to a mechanic's place to get Tibbs a car]
Chief Gillespie: Jess.
[Jess, a black mechanic, appears from under the car he is working on]
Chief Gillespie: Jess, this is, uh... This is Virgil. He's working for me. Give him something that runs. You fix him up, you hear.
Jess: What I fix runs. Who pays.
Chief Gillespie: Police.
[to Tibbs:]
Chief Gillespie: Well, you know where to find me.
[after Gillespie has left, Jess looks Virgil and his suit up and down]
Jess: What you doin' here, man.
Virgil Tibbs: Policeman.
Jess: You're a policeman here in Sparta.
Virgil Tibbs: They've got a murder they don't know what to do with. They need a whipping boy.
Jess: You got a roof.
Virgil Tibbs: No. I'll find a Motel.
[Jess chuckles and picks up Virgil's suitcase]
Jess: Viola... We got company.

Gillespie: You look at bodies all the time in Philadelphia. Why can't you look at this one?
Tibbs: Why can't you look at it for yourself?
Gillespie: Because I'm not an expert. OFFICER!

Gillespie: [on telephone to Tibbs' chief] I do want to thank you for offering such a powerful piece of manpower as Virgil Tibbs.

Chief Gillespie: Mr. Tibbs! Well Mr. Woods take Mr. Tibbs! Take him down to the depot and I mean boy like now!

[after Virgil Tibb's famous "They call me Mister Tibbs," and Chief Gillespie loudly berates him, telling him to take the evidence away. Only for Virgil Tibbs to coldly say that he will personally send the evidence to the FBI labs. Mrs. Colbert has just witnessed all of this and is shocked and appalled by Gillespie's attitude]
Mrs. Leslie Colbert: My God... *What* kind of people are you? What kind of *place* is this?
[louder and firmer]
Mrs. Leslie Colbert: My husband is dead. Someone is this town KILLED HIM!
[looks directly at Gillespie; angrily]
Mrs. Leslie Colbert: I want you to find out *WHO*!

Ofcr. Sam Wood: [to Virgil] Take me ten minutes to get a king size Coke and a wedge of pie. That is if that peckerwood ain't sold out yet.

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Top Gap

What is the Hindi language plot outline for In the Heat of the Night (1967)?