Main Cast: Alfre Woodard, Laurence Fishburne, Craig Sheffer, Ossie Davis, Joe Morton
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Produced for the HBO cable network, this docudrama explores the social and ethical issues at the heart of the infamous Tuskegee Study of Untreated Blacks With Syphilis. From 1932 through 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service studied 600 poor African-American sharecroppers in Macon County, AL -- 399 chronic syphilitics and a 201-man healthy control group. Doctors treated the men with placebos, hid the true nature of their research, and withheld penicillin even after it became the standard and highly effective treatment for the disease in the mid-'40s. Although the experiment was hardly a secret, it was not until the early '70s that a public outcry developed; by then, all but 127 of the original study group had died. A class-action lawsuit obtained modest financial reparations for the participants and their descendants, but it was not until 1997 that President Bill Clinton offered an official government apology for the study. Framed as a series of flashbacks during the 1971 congressional hearings about the experiment, the film employs the viewpoint of Eunice Evers (Alfre Woodard), a local nurse who knew of the study's true nature, but devoted her life to caring for the men as they suffered horrifying physical and mental debilities and eventually died. The film charts her warm personal relationships with many of the participants -- the title refers to a singing and dancing troupe named in her honor -- and her failed romance with Caleb Humphries (Laurence Fishburne), an experimental subject who obtained penicillin from a military doctor and left the study to fight in World War II. Miss Evers' Boys was adapted from the play by David Feldshuh, which was itself based on the book Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment by James H. Jones. Although fictionalized, the title character is based on the real-life Eunice Rivers. The film won three Emmy Awards, including top acting honors for Woodard. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
Beautifully acted and chilling in its depiction of woefully misguided medical ethics, this docudrama attempts to portray both the facts of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study and the personal stories that underscore its horror. Fascinatingly enough, the experiment began as an attempt to procure better health care for poor, rural African-Americans; its lasting legacy, however, is a lingering mistrust of the entire biomedical community. Playwright David Feldshuh and screenwriter Walter Bernstein take dramatic license in ascribing motives to their title character, who was based on the real-life nurse Eunice Rivers. Although such liberties may rankle, they ultimately give shape to what might otherwise have become a dry quasi-documentary, or, even worse, an overwrought movie of the week. In the title role, Alfre Woodard gives a typically rich performance, chronicling the noble intentions, moral compromises, and abiding guilt of the local woman who served as the primary point of contact between the study and its participants. Laurence Fishburne, who as executive producer helped shepherd the material from stage to screen, is also strong in the role of a patient who romances Miss Evers but eventually seeks treatment elsewhere and leaves both the study and her behind. Ossie Davis, Craig Scheffer, Joe Morton, and Obba Babatunde help round out the fine supporting cast, while the photography (by Donald M. Morgan) and the music (by Dwight Andres and Charles Bernstein) capture both the beauty and the squalor of the rural South. The fiery rhetoric of Woodard's closing monologue may seem overblown (and fly in the face of the historical record), but otherwise Miss Evers' Boys ranks among director Joseph Sargent's most compelling fact-based dramas. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Freddy Chancellor - Boom Operator, Shay Griffin - Casting, Robyn Mitchell - Casting, Jackie Brown - Casting, Dwight Douglas Andrews - Choreography, Dianne McIntyre - Choreography, Kern Konwiser - Co-producer, Peter Stelzer - Co-producer, Susan Mickey - Costume Designer, James Edward Griffin - First Assistant Director, Joseph Sargent - Director, Michael Brown - Editor, Laurence Fishburne - Executive Producer, Robert Benedetti - Executive Producer, Sterfon Demings - Hair Styles, Erma Kent - Hair Styles, Charles Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Dwight Douglas Andrews - Composer (Music Score), Wynona Y. Price - Makeup, Matthew Mungle - Makeup Special Effects, Michael Fedack - Camera Operator, Edwin Myers - Camera Operator, Charles C. Bennett - Production Designer, Donald M. Morgan - Cinematographer, Derek Kavanagh - Producer, Kip Konwiser - Producer, Shirley Libby - Sound Mixer, Derek Kavanagh - Unit Production Manager, Walter Bernstein - Screenwriter, David Feldshuh - Screenwriter, Karen Weintraub - Additional Editing, John Strauss - Music Editor, Teresa M. Yarbrough - Production Coordinator, Scott Stephens - Properties Master, Robert Glass - Re-Recording Mixer, Jim Fitzpatrick - Re-Recording Mixer, Scott Ganary - Re-Recording Mixer, Jonathan Watson - Second Assistant Director, Richard Taylor - Supervising Sound Editor, John C. Cameron - Assistant Properties, Angie Riserbato - Construction Coordinator, Carol Sadler - Costumes Supervisor, Emilie Sennebogen - Set Production Assistant, Michael Hicks - Set Decorator, Bill McLoughlin - Set Decorator
