Main Cast: Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, James Woods, William H. Macy, Craig T. Nelson, Bill Cobbs, Susanna Thompson
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 130 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
This is a long-awaited film telling the story of the trials of Medgar Evers' killer. Medger Evers (James Pickens, Jr.) was a black civil-rights activist in Mississippi who was shot to death in 1963. Despite very persuasive evidence that Byron De La Beckwith (James Woods) was indeed his killer, the all-white juries hearing his case at that time acquitted him (he was tried twice). In this film, with the aid of Ever's widow Myrlie (Whoopie Goldberg), Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin), a young lawyer, gathers enough new evidence to bring Beckwith in for a third trial. Woods' performance as a wise-cracking bigot is one of the film's highlights. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Christopher Burian-Mohr - Art Director, Jane Jenkins - Casting, Janet Hirshenson - Casting, Frank Capra III - Co-producer, Gloria Gresham - Costume Designer, Frank Capra III - First Assistant Director, Rob Reiner - Director, Robert Leighton - Editor, Charles James Newirth - Executive Producer, Jeffrey Stott - Executive Producer, Marc Shaiman - Songwriter, Lilly Kilvert - Production Designer, Rob Reiner - Producer, Frederick Zollo - Producer, Nicholas Paleologos - Producer, Andrew Schinman - Producer, Karen O'Hara - Set Designer, Alan S. Kaye - Set Designer, Robert Grieve - Sound/Sound Designer, Lewis Colick - Screenwriter, John Seale - Screenwriter
The original music score was composed by Marc Shaiman and the cinematography is by John Seale.
In 2008, AFI nominated Ghosts of Mississippi for the Courtroom Drama segment of its AFI's 10 Top 10 special but the movie did not make the final countdown.[1]
Medgar Evers is a black civil rights activist in Mississippi who was murdered by an assassin on June 12, 1963. It is later suspected that Byron De La Beckwith, a white supremacist, is the murderer and he would be tried twice and both trials ended in hung juries. In 1989, Evers' widow Myrlie has been trying to bring De La Beckwith to justice for over 25 years, and she believes she has what it takes to bring him to trial again. However, most of the evidence from the old trial has disappeared, but Bobby DeLaughter, an assistant District Attorney, decides to do what he can to help her, despite being warned that it might hurt his political aspirations and the strain it is causing his marriage. However, DeLaughter becomes more involved with bringing De La Beckwith to trial for the third time 30 years later. In 1994, Byron De La Beckwith is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The attorneys for the prosecution, Bobby DeLaughter and Ed Peters, were later disbarred for their involvement in the Dickie Scruggs bribery case. [1], [2]
De La Beckwith died on January 21, 2001 at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. He had suffered from heart disease, high blood pressure and other ailments. The court later voted to vacate his conviction. [3]
