Themes: Culture Clash, Unlikely Criminals, Members of the Press
Main Cast: Kevin Spacey, John Cusack, Jack Thompson, Lady Chablis, Alison Eastwood
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 155 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Clint Eastwood directed this adaptation of John Berendt's non-fiction best-seller about a Savannah, Georgia, murder case. When this film was released, Berendt's book had been on best-seller lists for four years. As the film begins, New York journalist John Kelso (John Cusack), alter ego of author Berendt, arrives in Savannah to do a brief Town and Country article on the annual Christmas party given by sophisticated, urbane antique dealer Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey), who restored many mansions in Savannah, including the famed Mercer House where he lives. After the party, Williams kills his rude, violent lover Billy Hanson (Jude Law), explaining it as a necessary act of self-defense. Kelso decides to stay in Savannah to cover the trial, encountering a variety of colorful locals, eccentric and otherwise, including black transvestite nightclub performer Lady Chablis (appearing as herself), financially challenged bon vivant Joe Odom (Paul Hipp), vocalist Mandy Nichols (Alison Eastwood), voodoo priestess Minerva (Irma P. Hall), and Williams's deceptively powerful defense attorney Sonny Seiler (Australian actor Jack Thompson with a very convincing Southern accent). Kelso develops a romantic interest in Mandy while tracking the events that led up to the killing. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Review
Clint Eastwood re-affirmed his directorial talents with this adept, atmospheric portrait of Savannah, GA based on John Berendt's wildly popular non-fiction bestseller. Eastwood wonderfully captures the pervasive feel of the Southern city's idiosyncratic subculture: The Savannah of Midnight is a world in which the everyday and the bizarre are one and the same. The film itself has a similar Southern drawl, unhurried and rich with suggestion. Kevin Spacey plays the potentially-murderous Jim Williams such that the character becomes a metaphor for the internally-conflicted South. John Cusack is reliably likeable, though the film's dependence on his character to move the plot along is one of its chief weaknesses. A couple of factors may have harmed Midnight's success at the box office: its laid-back, 155-minute running time is a bit long for most attention spans; and Eastwood took on the near-impossible task of visualizing a story that had already been realized in the heads of millions of readers. Still, the film remains a wonderful snapshot of an original, completely American slice of life. ~ Matthew Doberman, All Movie Guide
Irma P. Hall - Minerva; Paul Hipp - Joe Odom; Jude Law - Billy Hanson; Dorothy Loudon - Serena Dawes; Anne Haney - Margaret Williams; Kim Hunter - Betty Harty; Geoffrey Lewis - Luther Driggers; Rhoda Griffis - Card Club Woman #2; Shannon Eubanks - Mrs. Hamilton
Credit
James Murakami - Art Director, Jack Gammon Taylor, Jr. - Art Director, Michael Maurer - Associate Producer, Phyllis Huffman - Casting, Tom Rooker - Co-producer, Robert Lorenz - First Assistant Director, Clint Eastwood - Director, Joel Cox - Editor, Anita Zuckerman - Executive Producer, Lennie Niehaus - Composer (Music Score), Henry Bumstead - Production Designer, Jack N. Green - Cinematographer, Clint Eastwood - Producer, Arnold Stiefel - Producer, Richard C. Goddard - Set Designer, John H. Anderson - Set Designer, Willie D. Burton - Sound/Sound Designer, John Lee Hancock - Screenwriter, William McConnell - First Assistant Camera, John Berendt - Book Author
Several changes were made from the book. Many of the more colorful characters were eliminated or made into composite characters. The reporter role, played by John Cusack, was based upon Berendt. However Cusack's character was given a love interest not featured in the book, a role played by Eastwood's daughter Alison Eastwood. The multiple Williams trials were combined into one on-screen trial. Jim Williams's real life attorney Sonny Seiler appeared in the movie in the role of Judge White, the presiding judge at the film's trial.
Reviews of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil were generally mixed, with praise for Spacey's likeness to Williams and the inclusion of Chablis. The film's box office performance was ultimately disappointing. Fans of the book were generally disappointed with the film, particularly because of the aforementioned differences.
Advertising for the film became a source of controversy when Warner Bros. used elements of Jack Leigh's famous photograph in its posters for the movie without his permission. They later settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.[citation needed]
The film featured a cameo by Uga V, the English bulldog live mascot of the University of Georgia, playing his father, Uga IV. The Uga mascots live in Savannah between football games.
Integral to the film was the soundtrack, dedicated to the music of Johnny Mercer, a Savannah native. The CD (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture—1997) includes versions of songs heard in the film.
