|
Virgil Tibbs is a fictional character who is one of the two leading male characters in John Ball's 1965 novel ''In the Heat of the Night'', and the protagonist in six sequels to that novel. On screen, he is the protagonist in the Oscar-winning 1967 film '' In the Heat of the Night'' based on the novel, and of the sequel films, ''They Call Me Mister Tibbs!'' (1970) and ''The Organization'' (1971), as well as the subsequent 1988-1995 television series derived from the first film. ==Novels== In the novels, Tibbs works for the police force of Pasadena, California. In the films, portrayed by Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier, he first works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but in later sequels, he is shown to be working for the San Francisco Police. In an unusual step, the Tibbs films are themselves mentioned in the sequel novels: when asked about the movies, Tibbs emphasizes that he's from Pasadena, not Philadelphia. He also comments positively on Poitier's looks and acting ability. In a short story (see below), Ball wrote of a meeting that his counterpart in Tibbs' universe had with Tibbs. In the novels, Tibbs returns to Pasadena as a police officer. In the films, Tibbs also returns to his law enforcement career, in Philadelphia and subsequently in San Francisco. In the television series, set a few years after the first film, Tibbs returns to Sparta where he becomes the Chief of Detectives under Gillespie. Tibbs has a black belt in karate and a brown belt in aikido, is highly observant, and like many fictional detectives is something of a polymath: he has an extensive depth and breadth of knowledge in many fields of the arts, sciences, and modern culture. His general demeanor is somewhat cold, and highly intellectual. He is tolerant of non-criminal behaviors outside of the social mainstream, such as nudism. Tibbs is uninterested in glory or media attention. He is a perfectionist, and his sole motivation is duty and justice. In the films, Tibbs displays a considerably larger degree of anger over issues of race than in the books. For example, in the novel ''In The Heat of the Night'', the phrase "They call me Mr. Tibbs" is a statement ending in a period, while in the movie, it's an angry exclamation. Physically, Tibbs is slender, quick, strong, and handsome. His nose is relatively narrow, and his mouth is "straight and determined". His skin tone is neither exceptionally light nor dark. Tibbs has several romantic liaisons in the novels and seems to be well on the way to be getting married by the end of the last Tibbs novel ''Singapore''. In the first film, Tibbs is not married, although the second and third films he was depicted as having a wife (played by Barbara McNair) and two children. For the book ''The Great Detectives'' (1978), edited by Otto Penzler, John Ball contributed a short story in which Ball (or rather his counterpart in Virgil Tibbs' universe) meets with Tibbs and asks him to recount his upbringing. This short story establishes that Tibbs' superior on the police force encouraged Ball's fictionalizations of Tibbs' cases to promote positive public relations. "'I have a letter from Otto Penzler,' I said... 'Otto has asked me for a piece about your background. How much may I tell him?' I should insert a footnote here. Virgil Tibbs is basically a quiet, self-effacing man... He has mentioned to me more than once that my accounts of some of his cases have proved somewhat embarrassing to him. However, Chief McGowan feels that these books help explain the police function to the citizenry at large and to show how modern, enlightened police departments function." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Virgil Tibbs」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|