Daily Dialogue — November 17, 2014

Gillespie: You know Virgil, you are among the chosen few.
Tibbs: How’s that?
Gillespie: Well, I think that you’re the first human being that’s ever been in here.
Tibbs: You can’t be too careful man.
Gillespie: You know a lot of things don’t you? Well, just what do you know about insomnia?
Tibbs: Bourbon can’t cure it.
Gillespie: Well, that’s for sure. Now look, I got no wife, I got no kids. I got a town …don’t want me. I got an air conditioner that I have to oil myself, I got a desk with a busted leg and on top of that I got this place. Now don’t you think that would drive a man to taking a few drinks? I’ll tell you a secret, nobody comes here. Never. You married?
Tibbs: No
Gillespie: Ever been?
Tibbs: No
Gillespie: Ever been close to it?
Tibbs: Close to it.
Gillespie: Don’t you get just a little lonely?
Tibbs: No lonelier than you, man.
Gillespie: Oh now, don’t get smart, black boy. I don’t need it. No pity thank-you. No thank-you.

— In the Heat of the Night (1967), screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, novel by John Ball

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Friendship. Today’s suggestion by James Schramm.

Trivia: Sidney Poitier insisted that the movie be filmed in the north because an incident in which he and Harry Belafonte were almost killed by Ku Klux Klansman during a visit to Mississippi. Hence the selection of Sparta, Illinois for the location filming. Nevertheless, the filmmakers and actors did venture briefly into Tennessee for the outdoor scenes at the cotton plantation, because there was no similar cotton plantation in Illinois that could be used. Poitier slept with a gun under his pillow during production in Tennessee. Poitier did receive threats from local racist thugs so the shoot was cut short and production returned to Illinois.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by James: “Friendship isn’t always about someone you grew up with or have known for 30 years. Sometimes a friend is the only person who has your back at that time. And, as this movie so fantastically shows, we also go into relationships with our prejudices and beliefs but we can overcome them to do the right thing even when everyone else is trying to stop us.”

If you have a suggestion for this week’s theme, please post in comments.