IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT: HEART OF GOLD (TV)
Summary
One in this series of police dramas set in a Mississippi town. In this episode, Gillespie and Tibbs learn that Bubba is "secretly" spending the weekend with a woman, who turns out to be his high school sweetheart Christine Millings, now a wealthy widow. Christine arrives at the home of her lawyer, Samuel Dortland, just in time to see him angrily dismissing his caretaker, Ramsey Morgan, for complaining about his unfair wages. Christine asks Dortland why her late husband's will is taking a long time to process, and Dortland asks her to come to his house later that night to view an "interesting document," hinting pointedly about their own romantic past. Bubba admits to Gillespie that he is "a tad bit confused" about how to articulate his feelings for Christine, and Gillespie tells him to give her a gift. At home with the twins, Tibbs tells Althea all about Christine and Bubba, and Bubba arrives at Christine's house in the evening and surprises her with a heart-shaped necklace.
Christine then heads to Dortland's, as promised, and he reveals that her late husband actually wrote a second will shortly before his death leaving all of his lands and funds to the church rather than to her, having "found religion in the end." Dortland offers to destroy the secondary will if Christine agrees to rekindle their relationship, and she ends up bludgeoning him to death in anger and fleeing. Tibbs and Bubba arrive at the crime scene sometime later, and Tibbs immediately doubts that a burglar is to blame for the "uppity" man's death, observing that the killer did not bother to steal a large diamond ring that Dortland had left out in the open, presumably for Christine. Christine denies knowing of any enemies or girlfriends of Dortland's when questioned by Tibbs, and she later sneaks into Morgan's cottage at night and then calls the police station with an "anonymous" tip. She then phones Tibbs and explains about Morgan's timely argument with Dortland, thus making Morgan look guilty when Dortland's possessions are found in the house. Morgan is soon arrested, though offers an alibi for the time of the murder, and the detectives wonder why he would have left Dortland's full wallet at home after stealing it.
An excited Christine visits Bubba, wanting to celebrate their "good luck" and reunite for good, though he observes that she is not wearing her new necklace. The coroner, however, reports that the killer was apparently "not a man of strength," and when Tibbs learns that Dortland had regularly sent flowers to Christine, he begins to realize that Morgan was framed and by whom. He talks to Christine again, and she admits that Dortland was "fond" of her but nothing more, and Bubba is outraged to learn that she is being investigated as a suspect. He then receives another key piece of evidence, however, and talks with Althea when he arrives at the home in search of Tibbs. Gillespie finds out about the second will and correctly guesses that Dortland was blackmailing Christine, but they then find that Bubba has taken the file and departed. He visits Christine again and tricks her into confessing to the murder by pretending to find the necklace in Morgan's cottage, and though she protests that she did it "for them" and begs him to run away with her, he sadly tells her that he must arrest her for the crime. Back at the precinct, Bubba apologizes to his friends for not believing them, and Morgan is soon released. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:47:34
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:20603
- GENRE: Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; Drama, police/detective
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1988-1992; CBS - 1992-1994
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Fred Silverman … Executive Producer
- Carroll O'Connor … Executive Producer
- Edward Ledding … Supervising Producer
- Robert Bielak … Producer
- Herb Adelman … Co-Producer
- Walton Dornisch … Co-Producer
- Russ Mayberry … Director
- Mitchell Schneider … Writer
- John Ball … Based on the novel by
- James Lee Barrett … Developed by
- David Bell … Music by
- Quincy Jones … Theme Music by
- Alan Bergman … Theme Music by
- Marilyn Bergman … Theme Music by
- Chris Page … Theme Music by
- Bill Champlin … Theme Music by
- Carroll O'Connor … Cast, Chief Bill Gillespie
- Howard Rollins … Cast, Chief of Detectives Virgil Tibbs
- Alan Autry … Cast, Sgt. Bubba Skinner
- Anne-Marie Johnson … Cast, Althea Tibbs
- David Hart … Cast, Deputy Parker Williams
- Geoffrey Thorne … Cast, Deputy Willson Sweet
- Hugh O'Connor … Cast, Deputy Lonnie Jamison
- Kerrie Keane … Cast, Christine Anderson Millings
- Don Galloway … Cast, Attorney Samuel Dortland
- Crystal Fox … Cast, Officer Luann Corbin
- Dan Biggers … Cast, Dr. Frank Robb
- Gary Williams … Cast, Ramsey Morgan
- Randall Franks … Cast, Officer Randy Goode