Ghosts of Mississippi

Ghosts of Mississippi
Frederick M. Zollo Charles Newirth Jeff Stott
Starring	Alec Baldwin Whoopi Goldberg James Woods Craig T. Nelson
Cinematography	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date	December 20, 1996 (1996-12-20)
Running time	130 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$36 million[1]
Box office	$13,323,144 (US)

Ghosts of Mississippi is a 1996 American

.

James Woods was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role of Byron De La Beckwith, but lost to Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup, but lost to The Nutty Professor.^[2][3]

Plot

had been trying to bring De La Beckwith to justice for over 25 years.

In 1989, emboldened by a newspaper article by

, decided to help her despite being warned that it might hurt his political aspirations and the strain that it caused in his marriage. DeLaughter forms a team of investigators from his office, however, the investigation suffers many setbacks.

After learning that several of the key witnesses have died, and the court transcript of their testimony from the 1960s trials is lost, the team is convinced this is a futile effort. This is reinforced when DeLaughter fails at a desperate strategy of convincing two police officers who provided De La Beckwith with an

on the KKK, to see what he knows of the case.

Once confirming that Dennis indeed had met De La Beckwith, the team is optimistic they have enough to secure a new indictment. As knowledge becomes public that the district attorney's office has re-opened the case, white supremacist elements threaten DeLaughter and his children, having by this time separated from his wife. After committing to Myrlie that he will try De La Beckwith again, Myrlie, initially skeptical of DeLaughter, reveals that she has a court certified transcript of one of the 1960s trials in her possession. DeLaughter had long sought such a transcript to be able to read testimony from deceased witnesses to the jury for the new trial. DeLaughter mostly presents the same case as was presented in the 1960s trial, with the addition of Dennis and two other witnesses who supported Dennis's testimony. Detective Lloyd Bennett read the testimony of his father, Detective LC Bennett, the officer who found the murder weapon while searching the crime scene, to the jury.

In 1994, De La Beckwith was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The film ends with Myrlie tearfully rejoicing to the assembled crowd at the courthouse that she never gave up in the fight for justice for Medgar.

Cast

Music

The soundtrack of the film, with a score by

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praises going to Goldberg and Woods.[5]^[6][7] Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 43% approval rating based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 5.70/10. The site's consensus states: "James Woods is convincing as a white supremacist, but everything else rings false in this courtroom drama, which examines a weighty subject from the least interesting perspective."^[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.^[9] Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both gave the film two thumbs down, with both commenting that the film should have focused more on the story of Medgar Evers instead of Baldwin's character.^[10]

The film was not a financial success, making less than half of its budget back.^[11] Later, Alec Baldwin referred to the film as "tepid": "In ’96, I did The Edge and Ghosts of Mississippi. And that’s when you hear the sound of the wheels of the train screeching to a halt. The Edge and Ghosts of Mississippi were my last shots at the arcade, so to speak. Both movies were out in ’97. They bombed.”^[12][13]

Accolades

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actor	James Woods	Nominated	[14]
	Best Makeup	Matthew W. Mungle and Deborah La Mia Denaver	Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actor	James Woods	Nominated	[15]
Critics Choice Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated	[16]
Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture		Nominated	[17]
Heartland Film Festival	Truly Moving Picture	Rob Reiner	Won
NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture	Whoopi Goldberg	Nominated
Online Film & Television Association Awards	Best Supporting Actor	James Woods	Nominated	[18]
Political Film Society Awards	Human Rights		Won
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actor	James Woods	Runner-up	[19]

See also

• Civil rights movement in popular culture
• Culture of Mississippi

References

External links

• Ghosts of Mississippi at
  IMDb
• Ghosts of Mississippi at AllMovie
• Ghosts of Mississippi at Rotten Tomatoes