A cinematic retelling of the 1994 trial that finally brought a killer to justice.
In short: The 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi dramatizes the decades-long quest to convict Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers. While the movie struggled at the box office and drew mixed critical reviews, it remains a notable exploration of a landmark legal victory.
Directed by Rob Reiner, the film chronicles the efforts of Myrlie Evers, the widow of Medgar Evers, to secure justice for her husband’s murder. After two trials in the 1960s resulted in hung juries, the case remained cold for over 25 years. The narrative momentum shifts in 1989 when journalist Jerry Mitchell exposes jury tampering by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, prompting assistant District Attorney Bobby DeLaughter to reopen the investigation despite significant personal and political risks.
The investigation faced immense obstacles, including the loss of key evidence and the deaths of essential witnesses. The team’s breakthrough came from two unexpected sources: the discovery of the original murder weapon among the personal effects of a deceased judge, and the location of Delmar Dennis, a former Ku Klux Klan member turned FBI informant. These pieces of evidence, combined with a court-certified trial transcript held by Myrlie Evers, allowed the prosecution to build a case that finally led to a guilty verdict and a life sentence for De La Beckwith in 1994.
Despite the gravity of the subject matter, the film’s reception was polarized. Critics praised the performances of Whoopi Goldberg and James Woods, the latter of whom earned an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of the white supremacist. However, reviewers like Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel argued that the film focused too heavily on the white prosecutor’s perspective rather than the experiences of the Evers family. Commercially, the film was a disappointment, grossing only $13.3 million against a $36 million budget, a failure Alec Baldwin later described as a turning point in his own career.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Ghosts of Mississippi
- Also: Ghosts of Mississippi
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