Memorable quotes for
In the Heat of the Night (1967) More at IMDbPro »

Gillespie: Whatcha hit him with?
Tibbs: Hit whom?
Gillespie: "Whom"? Are you a northern boy? What's a northern boy doing down here?

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Chief Gillespie: I got the motive which is money and the body which is dead.

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Virgil Tibbs: They call me MISTER Tibbs!

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

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[first lines]
Ofcr. Sam Wood: Where you keeping the pie tonight?
Ralph Henshaw, diner counterman: I ate the last piece just before you came in.

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[last lines]
Chief Gillespie: You take care, y'hear?
Virgil Tibbs: Yeah.

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Mayor Webb Schubert: What made you change your mind about Tibbs?
Gillespie: Who said I did?
Mayor Webb Schubert: [refering to Tibbs' slapping of a white man] Last Chief we had would've shot Tibbs two seconds after he slapped him and claimed Self Defense !

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

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[describing Chief Gillespie]
Harvey Oberst: Got no more smile than a turnip.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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[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.

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[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.

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