Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)

Synopsis: Fueled by James Woods's chilling portrayal of Klansman Byron De La Beckwith, the cold-blooded, unrepentant killer of Medgar Evers, GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI offers a compelling account based on the true story of the attempt to see justice served in spite of time, corruption, and a defiant... Fueled by James Woods's chilling portrayal of Klansman Byron De La Beckwith, the cold-blooded, unrepentant killer of Medgar Evers, GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI offers a compelling account based on the true story of the attempt to see justice served in spite of time, corruption, and a defiant community. During the 1960s, Myrlie Evers (stirringly portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg) witnessed her husband slain in her own driveway in front of her three young children. For 30 years, Mrs. Evers petitioned the courts to reopen his case, tried twice to questionable mistrial, with her pleas eternally falling on deaf ears. Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin), while certainly an ambitious attorney, is not the most likely candidate to take on the largely forgotten case of the shooting murder of Evers, a prominent civil rights worker. The son-in-law of a well-known (and well-known to be racist) judge, DeLaughter's civil rights history is negligible; however, as a father, the case strikes his sense of fairness, justice, and family, and he takes it. From there lies an uphill battle, as many in Mississippi, even at the end of the 20th century, still hold to the traditions of segregation and resentment of those who would change them. Despite these odds, Rob Reiner's film tells the moving story of one unlikely triumph over the horrors of the past. [More]