I don't know whether "Ghosts of Mississippi" was the best movie ever relating to the Civil Rights Movement, but it is quite good. Portraying the struggle to bring Medgar Evers's murderer to justice many years after the murder, the movie will remain important, just because of our country's racist legacy (I had actually never heard of Medgar Evers before this movie came out). Alec Baldwin, James Woods, Virginia Madsen, Whoopi Goldberg, Craig T. Nelson and William H. Macy all do very well in their roles (Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter Yolanda also appears).So, while some people may say that there are so many movies like this that they all get blurred, we need to remember something: this is part of OUR history. As Americans, we have an obligation to deal with our racist past. And we should commend Rob Reiner for making one of many movies about this.

The specter of Gov. Barnett shaking the hand of DeLaBeckwith in front of the jury reminds me of the great line of 1 reporter to another: "You're not in America, you're in Mississippi." One exception: Mississippi has a Air America Radio Station. My home state, Alabama doesn't, so maybe they're leap-frogging your intellectual progress. I can't forget that your state gave birth to William Faulkner, as mine did Truman Capote and Harper Lee. Nor that Mississippi gave birth to BB King and Robert Johnson, as well as many other blues greats, who wrote the blues because of the 'inspiration' given them by the atmosphere in Mississippi.The movie has Medgar Evers' brother AND Alec Baldwin as Bobby Laughter saying, "You can change the law, but it will be a long time before their hearts are changed." Alec refuses to tell Mrs. Evers (Whoopi Goldberg in a great role) that they've found the gun (in his father-in-laws house, a judge who may or may not have presided at the 1st 2 mistrials where DeLabeckwith is ridiculously freed by an all-white jury). His new wife points out that "You were afraid she would leak it", indicating that there's mistrust on both sides.Great movie. I STILL want to read that review off your Univ. of Mississippi site of the book. Wonder if Judge Bobby Laughter still lives. He's no Alec Baldwin, but he had guts, as did Judge Johnson of Alabama, who paid for his courage with his life from the white supremacists' exploded bomb. Never forget that it's the silence of the educated middle classes that promotes such hatred as we've seen in Mississippi and Alabama.Watching the first scenes between Judge Laughter (Alec Baldwin) and his blonde wife evoked memories of Kim Bassinger, who bought a town in Georgia. Wonder how many of those scenes Alec used his ex-wife for inspiration in preparation for.Here's something to chew on: Alec Baldwin and George Clooney have been featured in some fantastic films about human savagery disguised in business suits. Arnold and Reagan were in films that extolled human savagery and buffoonery. Can we extrapolate from that who would make the better president? Baldwin and Clooney have the intelligence, the looks (unfortunately, that's important in our increasingly superficial citizenry), and the compassion to make great presidents, n'est ces pas?Good movie AND timely. From Alabama, I was especially interested in the newsreel shots at the beginning. The cops beating the black people reminds me of what happens to dissenters today nation-wide.

I had to watch this movie as a wrap-up to the Civil Rights Movement unit in English class and to tell you the truth, I really did not want to watch it. I figured it would be another boring historical movie. To my surprise, it was very good! I was immediately sucked into the story and loved it. Alec Baldwan was amazing at capturing the emotion of someone who was brought up to believe that Byron De La Beckwith was innocent and then trying so hard and risking his life, and his marriage to Dixie to prove that Byron De La Beckwith is guilty. Whoppi Goldberg was also amazing as Myrlie Evers The scene were Medger was first shot just broke my heart. Her performance throughout the entire movie just showed how strong and determined Myrlie was to get justice for her husband. All in all, a very good, very true story. I loved it.

In 1963 the black civil rights leader Medger Evers was shot down on his driveway. The suspect was a white man called Byron de la Beckwith who is naturally acquitted. Mrs Evers never gives up and, around 30 years later she gets a lawyer to try and prove jury tampering and thus force the DA's office to reopen the case. Despite only have two pages of an old police report and none of the original physical evidence, the Assistant DA Bobby DeLaughter reluctantly picks up the case and begins to investigate. Over several years of effort, he begins to make progress – a fact that leaves him exposed to black politicians, white politicians and racist groups from all over the state. Movies about civil rights and the degree of racism in the 1960's Southern America are always going to be impacting because they are based on fact and it is hard to watch such 'facts' from just a few decades ago in a supposedly world leading country. However these films cannot rest of their subject matter and rely on that to deliver the goods – they must have good acting, writing, directing etc just as any other film. In a way that is what this film does – it relies on the impact of this true story to do all the work while the other aspects of the film are weak. The basic plot is OK and is based on a true story but some of it is dumb. Some of it must be fictionalised and I really, really hope that Mrs Evers did not sit on the original court transcripts for decades, thus greatly hindering any work by the two or three DA's she has trying to reopen the case. Could she not have photocopied (in the late 80's) the document and passed that on, while keeping the original safe? Like I said – I don't know if this is true or not but I hope it is not in this regard particularly. Outside of this nitpicking, the actual story is enjoyable enough and it is hard not to be moved by the background and the emotion of the reality – however the film rather lazily rides on this and relies on the history and several key moments to keep it going. Certainly Reiner has no clue how to inject energy and tension into this story – happily sitting back and letting the material speak for itself rather than working to make it better as a film.What I mean by 'relying' is that other aspects are poor. The actual script is weak, writing lazy heart-string-pulling moments combine with dialogue that isn't natural and is slightly corny, to damage the film. It is a shame, with such a solid courtroom thriller to work with that the writing isn't any better. Likewise the characters are very basic – Delay is evil, Evers is a strong, good-hearted woman with a lot of dignity and a reservoir of emotion, DeLaughter is a good family guy etc etc. I'm not saying that they are not like this in real life but the film makes no effort to expand on these basic brushstrokes. For this reason the cast don't perform that well (even if some were nominated for various awards). Baldwin is OK in the lead role – he is a solid actor and does what is required – but he hardly stands out. Goldberg carries herself with dignity until she gets her chance to let out emotion near the end – it is an easy character and Goldberg hardly has to stretch even once. Woods is a better actor than this film would let you think – his character is a good racist but it is a simplistic performance that hardly gives Woods a chance to shin – he simply does what anyone else would have done. The support cast is full of famous faces that add real class even if they don't have much more to do than show their faces and deliver simple roles. Macy, Madsen, Nelson, Ladd, Romano, Stahl and Cobbs stick in the mind the most and are all OK. The film also has Darrell Evers playing himself but chances are you won't spot this until the end credits unless you really know this story well and know what he looks like.Overall this is an OK film that is interesting and passable. However it is a little annoying because it could have been a lot better (and thus impacting) if it had had a better script, better characters, more interesting direction and had been edited to be a bit tighter. The film goes for easy emotional shots and it relies on the involvement of the actual true story to keep the audience engaged; luckily for it's sake the story is interesting and involving enough to be worth seeing even in this half-cooked effort.