MovieChat Forums > In the Heat of the Night (1967) Discussion > Would any of THIS be possible in today's...

Would any of THIS be possible in today's world, America or otherwise?

posted 7 years ago by TheMan18 (13016)
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That a police officer so openly faces discrimination due to his skin colour or nationality etc from colleagues or people around him in front of his superiors and the superiors at best do nothing about it?

And how would a scene in a green garden between Endicott go is in say today, in 2018, he slapped someone akin to Poitier's character here like that and then had the "decency" to go mad and deliver a "justifiable hate speech" if he hit him back?

I'd love to see a remake of that scene only to have Endicott's character be told off back and be told "Oh, you think that was the right thing to do, hu? You have no empathy and should be ashamed of yourself".

And those men that tried to attack him it would be nice if they could either get arrested or shot in self defense and not be seen as something that is acceptable.

[–] Culburn (3638) 7 years ago

But, "Tibbs" did indeed smack him backFULL STOP "Tibbs" was wrong.

BorW how would you feel being the richest person in your city & have a man, from way out of town come into your home and accuse you of 1st degree murder?

"Tibbs" stipulates to this soon after this scene. He wanted to drag "Endicott" off that hill for purely personal reasons/his own racism.

[–] TheMan18 (13016) 7 years ago

But he hit him first, Mr Tibbs only hit him back, self-defense or "hit" back sort of way.

But the Endicott acted like he had the perfect right to do so just because Tibbs was black and even delivered a hate speech about how back in his days, it would be "justified" if he was shot etc.

Heck, on a different side, even if a white man smacked a white police officer like that, he would at least have to face responsibility for his actions, at least even today, and if a white cop slapped him back like that and he delivered a hate speech, his superiors or colleagues would be on his side and would not accept a speech about him being shot, they would rush off to tell him off AND THEY SHOULD!

[–] Culburn (3638) 7 years ago

But, Man, he came into his home, only because he'd heard about this man's racist bent. He did not go up there with even an inkling of belief that the man had committed this murder. Even "Gillespie" spurned the very idea with the strongest of voice that it was a mistake. He used the murder to enter the front door and accost this man, lure him into a confrontation that he/"Tibbs" knew would enable him to get his vengeance against (upper crust white). In fact the highest white crust in that city.

"Tibbs" would not have heard, first hand that hate speech had he not violated this man's rights. Christ, how many times had he heard that same hate speech during his life? Using the corpse of a white man as an excuse to get a sit with the meanest man in town is wrong on many levels. Later for "Tibbs" just to give grudgingly a back door admittance was embarrassing.

"Endicott"= 1
"Tibbs= 0

[–] Boricanator (1440) 3 years ago

It was more than that. Endicott had a motive to see the other man gone. He was losing money and power because of him. It was the wife’s assistant that explained that to Tibbs.