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Posted March 27th, 2013 | by Chad Moore
While the concept of film to television adaptation is far from new, the stark reality is that only a few ever succeed. Based on the widely acclaimed, Oscar-winning 1967 film, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT is one of those rare instances that rightly earned its mark in the success column of Film to Small Screen Adaptations.
In the film, Sidney Poitier portrayed character Virgil Tibbs -- a black, sophisticated homicide detective from Philadelphia -- who came to the small, racially-polarized Mississippi town of Sparta to help a Southern-saltine chief of police, Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger), investigate the murder of a prosperous industrialist who sought to provide equal-opportunity employment to blacks and whites alike. Rod Steiger portrayed Gillespie as Southern police chiefs were in the mid-'60s.
All in the Family star and series executive producer Carroll "Pops" O'Connor assumed Steiger's role as Chief Bill Gillespie, winning an Emmy in 1989 for his relaxed portrayal. By relaxed portrayal, I mean a welcomed departure from the days of fire hoses and police attack dogs. O'Connor would also serve as story editor and, at times, write episodes under his pen name "Matt Harris."
Oscar-nominee Howard Rollins replaced Poitier as the perceptive Chief of Detectives Virgil Tibbs, the black native son who had left Sparta behind to become a top-notch detective on the Philadelphia police force, only to return and go on to make the role of character Tibbs his own. He would become the first black member of the Sparta PD.
The O'Connor/Rollins rendition made only passing reference to the original 1967 film. In the series, Tibbs returns to Sparta for his mother's funeral when he finds himself unceremoniously persuaded to stay by Sparta's politically-savvy mayor, who was astute enough to determine that he could create a civil rights record for himself by integrating his all-white police force.
Without consulting Chief Gillespie, Mayor Jim Findlay (Dennis Lipscomb) summarily gave Virgil Tibbs a firm three-year contract. When Chief Gillespie protested the unwanted addition to his department, Mayor Findlay casually smiled, "Everybody knows you're a good old boy, Gillespie, but times are a changin'." Indeed they are, Mayor Findlay. Indeed they are. Gillespie and Tibbs went from an initially uneasy alliance to an evolved, superb chemistry that brought about a sense of humor to their respective leading roles.
Unlike your garden-variety, cop procedural drama, the O'Connor/Rollins rendition purposely aimed the focus on not the crime per se, but how the crime affected the lives of the characters, the community of Sparta, and how the leading roles worked together despite their contrasting backgrounds and differences. The idea being, if the series captured a modern-day reflection of life in the American South, viewers will either see themselves or those they personally know in the storyline. Distilled to essentials, this sense of realism illustrates why IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT continues to appeal to such a broad range of people in the 21st century.
While racial aspects of the late '80s thru the early-mid '90s were significantly smaller in scope to those of the mid-'60s, a hallow echo of racial tension dwelt within the background of Sparta's rebranded "New South" as a grim reminder from the days of yore. Within the purview of the television series, racial prejudice was to be an element -- not the element.
The series often strayed from the trivial details of petty politics and crimes of passion for an uncharted glimpse at the personal lives of Sparta's finest. By season 5, Chief Gillespie began to leave his prejudices behind for good with a discreet, controversial love affair with black councilwoman Harriet DeLong (Denise Nicholas) that eventually led to holy matrimony. At the time, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT would become the only prime-time series with an interracial couple.
Beyond interracial relationships, the series further explored other hot-button topical issues of the day: domestic abuse, child molestation, AIDS, capital punishment, suicide, incest, rape, creepy cultism, alcoholism, drug abuse et al. Close attention was given to Virgil's personal home-life and how his precarious profession in law enforcement had eventually come full-circle and deeply affected his wife -- a school teacher/counselor -- Althea Tibbs (Anne-Marie Johnson).
In tackling these issues, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT would center on not just Gillespie and Tibbs but rather, the lives of their law enforcement cohorts. Shining a spotlight of scrutiny upon the crack epidemic and its detrimental affect on Sparta's unbelievably stupid, impressionable and (somewhat) disaffected youth, Season 3 lends a remarkable revelation to Willson Sweet's past, when overstepping bounds set by the Chief to save the life of a crack addicted teenager emanates from the past burden of having a loved one enmeshed in the throes of substance abuse.
When the series transitioned to CBS, there was a desire on behalf of the network for more development of romance between supporting roles. From Bubba and his casual array of love interests, to LuAnn's one-episode stand with a recovering drug dealer/addict-turned-reformed nightclub manager, to busybody Parker's better-late-than-never seventh season sweetie, the romantic prospects among Sparta's blue invariably seem to evaporate into the ether when not dead or in jail.
Succeeding him for the final four shows beginning in May will be Joe Don Baker, a veteran screen lawman himself (the first Walking Tall movie and the TV series Eischied). He plays a retired police captain who pinch-hits for Sheriff Gillespie (O'Connor) while away at a
By season 7, a big shake-up in little Sparta develops when the Sparta City Council, spearheaded by Councilman Holley Colmer, ousts Gillespie as chief of police. While the civil service committee never particularly cared for the way Gillespie operated -- see, e.g., the second season opener "Don't Look Back: Parts 1 & 2" when former Gillespie nemesis Ted Marcus pushed to replace Gillespie with Tibbs -- it was (unofficially) his interracial affair with Councilwoman DeLong that sounded the death knell and sealed his fate as chief. But in Sparta's House of Shadows, an expired contract is always a reliable alibi.
In the immortal words of Alexander Graham Bell, "when one door closes, another opens" -- and to the chagrin of Councilman Colmer, a breakthrough of karmic proportions gives way to Gillespie becoming Newman County's acting sheriff. In an apparent and calculating attempt to subdue the slightest accusation of racism from the eye of public perception, the city council summarily brought in Memphis Inspector Hampton Forbes (Carl Weathers) to replace Gillespie and become Sparta's first black chief of police.
Time flies in Sparta... or, at least, that seems to be the nature of timing in TV Land. During the first 7 episodes of the seventh season, the absence of Virgil Tibbs is sensibly explained as away to fulfill his ambition to attend law school -- Rollins was serving a 5-week sentence for parole violation at Rockdale County's Graybar Hotel. Seven weeks into the season, viewers are magically whisked 2.5 years forward to Virgil's return to Sparta with law degree in tote. Virgil and Althea are now separated with Althea moving back to Philly with their twins William and Sarah. Throughout the remainder of the season, Howard Rollins guest stars on and off as Sparta's newest attorney. This marks In the Heat of the Night's last season as a series.
After years of legal and personal issues, Rollins officially left IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT in 1994 after being sentenced to a mandatory minimum sentence of three months in jail, followed by a two-year restriction from the Georgia counties where HEAT filmed. Rollins pleaded guilty to (a) driving under the influence of a narcotic, and (b) driving a vehicle with a suspended license within days to the reinstatement of his driver's license. IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT would continue production through the summer of '94, generating a string of four, two-hour telefilms that would reunite the cast and reprise their respective roles for an eighth and final season.
Some of the guest stars that appeared during the show's 8-season run include: George C. Scott, Mariska Hargitay, James Best, Burgess Meredith, Iman, Ken Curtis, Sonny Shroyer, Robert Goulet, Victoria Jackson, Robert Donner, Joe Don Baker, Marla Gibbs, Ed Ames, Elizabeth Ashley, Steve Kanaly, Willie Gault, Tippi Hedren, Mickey Jones, William Schallert, Stacy Keach, Stella Stevens, O.J. Simpson, Diane Ladd, Walton Goggins, Louise Fletcher, John Saxon, Bobby Short, Karen Black, Lois Chiles, Corbin Bernsen, Peter Fonda, Jean Simmons, Roberts Blossom and many more.
In his personal time, Chad Moore is a free-lance writer and contributor to the Facebook fan favorite In the Heat of the Night Fan Club fan page, an administrator at the Facebook group in the heat of the night: Backstreets of Sparta, author of Backstreets of Sparta -- In the Heat of the Night Filming Locations: The Definitive Guide (In and around Hammond, LA), Backstreets of Sparta -- In the Heat of the Night Filming Locations: The Definitive Guide (In and around Covington, GA), Backstreets of Sparta -- In the Heat of the Night Filming Locations: The Definitive Guide (In and around Covington, GA) Second Edition, and has been an avid follower of In the Heat of the Night since the show's season 1 premiere.