User reviews

Medgar Evers' tragic murder in Jackson, Mississippi, was overshadowed by the cold-blooded killing of three civil rights workers near Philadelphia, Mississippi, a year later. So too this film has been overshadowed by an earlier movie, "Mississippi Burning," about the Philadelphia homicides. I was even confused by the similar titles and accidentally rented "Ghosts of Mississippi," thinking it to be the earlier film. This is too bad because "Ghosts of Mississippi" is a winner all the way and Medgar Evers' assassination was as significant, if not more so, than the later dastardly acts of hate and malevolence.

Most of my generation remember one of Dylan's early recordings he wrote called "Pawn in the Game" about the Medgar Evers murder in which Dylan asserts that the coward who pulled the trigger and shot the civil rights leader in the back in front of his wife and three children was carrying out what the racist elements in Mississippi and in the nation as a whole had brainwashed the simple mind into executing. That the endemic racism in American was the real perpetrator of the heinous deed which deprived our society of one of its gifted leaders. "Ghosts of Mississippi" concentrates more on the scumbag who squeezed the trigger, played with élan by James Woods, almost a carbon copy of the killer in both speech, mannerisms, and looks.

James Woods is a member of a strong cast led by Whoopi Goldberg as the widow, Myrlie Evers, spending her life seeking a degree of justice for her husband and children. William H. Macy adds much needed humor in the role of Charlie Crisco, a member of the prosecution team. Unfortunately, his part is mainly limited to the middle section of the movie. Why director Rob Reiner and writer Lewis Colick decided to turn Macy's character into a cameo during the latter part of the film is unclear.

A subplot in the film is the growing involvement of prosecutor Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin) in the case, opening his eyes not only to the past evils of the society in which he lives but also hostile residue left by the civil rights movement in the state. Married to the daughter of one of Mississippi's most racist judges causes him to be blind to much of the injustice prevalent around him. Significantly, his wife is named Dixie (Virginia Madsen). The change that takes place in his character (which also involves a change in wives) as he is drawn deeper into the thirty-year-old case is pinpointed by his inability to continue to sing "Dixie" to his daughter to chase away the ghosts she sees at night. In explaining to her that the song might actually be encouraging the ghosts to reappear in her bedroom, the two opt for "Old McDonald" as a more suitable goodnight song.

Glossy but highly effective thriller based on the true story of an attempt to bring a racially motivated killer to trial. The film suffers from a certain liberal obviousness: brave, charming white man (who loves his kids) and dignified black widow fight side by side for justice; but it's always compelling, and pertinent too. No magic, then, but a strong story: one of director Rob Reiner's better efforts.

It may not be the best film about race relations in the South. Mississippi Burning and A Time To Kill have more intensity, but it is still compelling and worth watching for some great performances.

Alec Balwin (Bobby DeLaughter) turned in a fine performance. Personally, I feel it is the best he has ever done.

James Woods was perfect as Byron De La Beckwith. He channeled the venomous hatred and cocky arrogance so familiar in those who were consumed with their self-worth, gained by stomping on others. This performance resulted in an Oscar nomination in a year with many fine performances.

Dixie DeLaughter, played by Virginia Madsen, shows how ingrained racism is in the South, and how difficult, if not impossible, it is for a marriage to survive with a disparity in views, whether it be race or politics.

I also enjoyed seeing Wayne Rogers as Morris Dees, even if it was a small role.

This is an important film that should be seen by all who care about the state of race relations in this country.

It should also be see by all young people so they can see a sign at a gas station saying 22 cents a gallon. Those were the days.

Impressive drama about the assassination of 1960's civil rights leader Medger Evers, which was fought in courts for 30 years until it was re-opened in the 1990's with Mississippi D.A. Bobby DeLaughter (Baldwin) leading the charge to bring assassin Byron De Lay Beckwith (Woods, in a juicy Oscar nominated role) to justice. Goldberg is especially standout as Ever's widow who fought for the truth for over 30 years. Rob Reiner's film may run a little long for some, but the excellent cast and realistic story will keep you glued until the end.

Ghosts of Mississippi is an emotional movie that shows how hateful the human soul can be. It may be quite similar to Mississippi Burning but they both have their place. Ghosts of Mississippi is slightly more political and less violent. It focuses on the fight for justice and the roadblocks faced in controversial high-profile cases.

The sheer effort that was involved to develop a level of tolerance in the South is despicable. Every time I watch a movie where racism is so prevalent it simultaneously boils my blood and breaks my heart. The acting is very good and makes you feel like you are living the story. James Woods does such a good job that you can't help but despise him. Especially since he is portraying a real person and not a two dimensional character.

Don't underestimate the emotional connection you will have to this movie. It will move you and is certainly worth your time.

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.

Mississippi has a history that most any human being with a heartbeat would lament and try to bury. They've become the poster child for racism and racial injustice--and for good reason. God only knows how much blood has been spilled on her dusty earth. Some of that blood belonged to Medgar Evers, an NAACP field secretary who was bravely working to enfranchise Black Mississippians. He was shot in the back with a high-powered rifle on June 12, 1963. Byron De La Beckwith would be charged with the murder, but two mistrials would see him walk out of court a free man.

"Ghosts of Mississippi" takes the viewer from that fateful night in 1963 to 1989 when the case would be reopened. Assistant DA Bobby DeLaughter (played by Alec Baldwin) would be in charge of looking into the old case and determining if there was enough evidence to retry the case. DeLaughter did more than could ever have been expected of a white ADA in Mississippi; he dug deep. He dug in deep and kept Myrlie Evers (played by Whoopi Goldberg), Medgar's wife, apprised of everything. He dug to the point his traditional dixie wife, Dixie (played by Virginia Madsen), left him. And he was determined to keep digging until Byron De La Beckwith (played by James Woods) saw the inside of a prison.

These types of movies are incredibly difficult to watch--movies such as "Mississippi Burning," "Rosewood," "A Time to Kill," and others. And what makes "Ghosts of Mississippi" even more heart wrenching is that it is 100% true. But watch I did even when my blood was boiling (indicating how good of a job James Woods did). "Ghosts of Mississippi" was a good movie and a necessary movie. But even more necessary was a step by good ol' Mississippi in the right direction towards some semblance of justice for Medgar Evers.

Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) is a movie I recently watched on HBOMAX and tells the tale of a white supremacist in Mississippi who one day grabs a rifle, drives down the street, gets out of his car for all to see, and shoots a black man in front of his wife and kids. He is found not guilt and released. An aspiring lawyer decides to pick up the case almost 30 years later and press for retrial. At that time, no white man had ever been found guilty of murder against a black man and the lawyer hopes to change that trend. This movie is directed by Rob Reiner (A Few Good Men) and stars Alec Baldwin (The Departed), James Woods (Vampires), Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple), Virginia Madsen (Candyman), Lucas Black (Friday Night Lights) and William H. Macy (Shameless). The storyline for this is very powerful and portrays the intensity of the times very well. The acting is excellent and Baldwin shows a lot of conviction in this performance. The backdrops of the south and the depiction of the dialogue and perspectives are very well presented. Overall this is an above average courtroom drama with some good depictions of the time, but not a masterpiece. I would score this a 7/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Human ghosts are worst of all real ghosts , to bring them out we have to walk towards truth and justics for me 8/10

Rob Reiner's 'Ghosts Of Mississippi' is a golden opportunity, gone wrong. Though based on a disturbing yet moving story, the on-screen interpretation doesn't hold you completely.

'Ghosts Of Mississippi' is based on the true story of the 1994 trial of Byron De La Beckwith, a white supremacist accused of the 1963 assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers.

Rob Reiner knows his job. He is a very talented storyteller, and his direction even in here is good. But, the writing has many loopholes. As mentioned, the true-story, doesn't get it's due. The writing in the first hour doesn't work and bores. Sure, the climax is dramatic & effective, but the damage is already done by then. John Seale's Cinematography is alright.

Peroformance-Wise: Alec Baldwin as Bobby DeLaughter does fairly well. James Woods is very impressive as the conniving Byron De La Beckwith, while Whoopi Goldberg as Myrlie Evers is fair. Virginia Madsen is wasted. William H. Macy and Craig T. Nelson are okay. Others lend able support.

On the whole, A golden opportunity gone wrong. At best, An Average Fare!

I was curious for years about GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI because of the subject and also its colorful cast. 8 months ago I finally saw it and while I found it below my expectations, I still kinda liked it.

It begins with white suprematists Byron De La Beckwith (James Woods) that one night shoots black civil rights activist Medgar Evers in front of his wife and kids. Byron has been tried twice and twice found not guilty. Evers' widow Myrlie (Whoopie Goldberg) wants to bring Byron to justice and enlists the help of district attorney Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin) and Bobby accepts not knowing that this would cause him some troubles including having his family targeted by the Ku Klux Klan. After lots of tribulations Bobby in 1994 will manage to make Byron sentenced to life imprisonment and Myrlie will rejoin the crowd outside the courthouse that supported her in her fight for justice.

The cast is full of various big names (Baldwin, Goldberg, Woods, William Macy, Bill Cobbs, Virginia Madsen, Craig T. Nelson, Lucas Black and Brock Peters) that give their best with the material given. I liked the idea for the plot because despite this is a movie from 1996 the subject is still relevant today. My problems are that at times the movie looked a bit too long and it could have benefited from some trimming, and the pace looked a bit dead in a few points. But as it is, it's a good movie but not a masterpiece.

Perhaps Rob Reiner and company made this film with the best possible intentions. The story of Byron De La Beckwith's assassination of Medgar Evers in 1963 is worthy material and should have made for a powerful film. So I'm sure they didn't mean for the movie to be thuddingly inept, nor for it to be almost insulting to all who struggled to make civil rights a reality. Reiner directs with the subtlety of a kick to the lower abdominal area and the black actors are forced to act all noble on us. And here's yet another Hollywood film that narrows it down to this---the crazy racist situation in Mississippi can only be fixed by a white lawyer. Even if every second of this story is true, the way the movie presents it is obvious, dull, and insipid.

James Woods is one of the most exciting actors alive, but even he's dudding it up in this pic. His Oscar nomination was most undeserved. He plays a caricature. Even if the real Byron De La Beckwith is as over the top and imbecilic as Woods plays him, he's more of a buffoon than a monster. Beckwith deserved justice and Medgar Evers' family obviously deserved to see the guy pay for his crime, but it's hard to cheer when a film botches the story as badly as this.

If there are ghosts in Mississippi, they were probably dying to haunt the film set to make the film-makers tell this story right. Don't let these people near a Martin Luther King script. This team would find a way to make even the most-important black leader of the 20th century seem boring.

Based on fact and directed by Rob Reiner, Ghosts recounts the investigation, and retrial in 1994 - after two mistrials in the 60s - of Byron de la Beckwith for the racist shooting in 1963 of Medgar Evers, an NAACP activist. The film has gained renewed topicality with the recent conviction of another white supremacist for the Birmingham, Alabama, Baptist Church bombing, also in 1963.

Alec Baldwin gives a solid, and sometimes stolid, performance in the central role of prosecuting DA, Bobby DeLaughter (pronounced DeLaw), himself from Mississippi's white uppercrust, whose marriage hits the rocks because of his pursuit of the case. James Woods, convincingly made up to look over 70 for most of the movie, is electrifying as the arrogant, hateful Beckwith. Whoopi Goldberg portrays Medgar's widow with a lot of dignity and even a touch of humour, but it would have been understandable if she had also displayed a little more bitterness.

The movie is possibly not as powerful as Reiner hoped, partly no doubt because he was restricted by the facts. In particular, the retrial seems to have thrown up little or no new evidence, thus making the courtroom action less dramatic than in a fictional movie. Perhaps a greater criticism is that the intense focus on Baldwin/DeLaughter, who is in almost every scene, tends to turn him into the hero of the movie; whereas it should be Medgar Evers, who as a civil rights activist in one of the most bigoted areas of the USA deserves everyone's undying admiration.

Despite the movie's flaws, it is gripping for most of its 130 minutes, and this was certainly a story worth telling.

Ghosts of Mississippi is a well executed courtroom drama, but that focus leads to the sidelining of characters like Whoopi Goldberg's in favor of a myopic focus on Alec Baldwin's prosecutor. As an enjoyer of the courtroom drama genre, I enjoyed watching this movie, it was fun, properly dramatic, but a bit predictable at times. I would've liked to see at least a few more scenes of Medgar Evers, maybe in a flashback, or some scenes of the Evers family without Alec Baldwin there. The film does a good job of imparting the feel of race relations in the south at the time, and it feels credible and realistic, but doesn't elevate the topic to say something beyond the obvious.

In 1963, civil rights activist Edgar Meyer was gunned down by a white supremacist, who enjoyed judicial and societal immunity, for close to 3 decades, while mouthing off racist stuff in numerous interviews. This is the story of the activist's wife and district attorney's fight to ensure that justice delayed doesn't become justice denied.

The court scenes that last for almost 3 quarters of an hour are the life of the film. However, it invests too much time in the human drama happening in the lawyer's personal life, which could have been either because the script writer was trying to make him look all too human or to cash in on his star appeal. This, unnecessarily, increased the run time and made the impact less powerful.

James Woods has 10-15 minutes of screen time as the septaguenerian racist. But, he chews up the scenery in his Academy Award nominated role. Alec Baldwin is well cast as the earnest attorney.

It has its heart in the right place. And it brings to light a heart breaking travesty of justice.

But, sometimes that is not enough. It could have done well with better editing. It feels too long, with the initial hour almost sinking the more powerful second half.

Recommended for the history buffs.

What an intelligent, highly watchable piece of cinema Rob Reiner's film is. Focusing on the dormant-but-still-there racial tensions of the Mississippi delta in the early 1990s. It revolves around the retrial of Byron De La Beckwith, accused of assassinating civil rights leader Medgar Evers. The cast is positively first-rate. Alec Baldwin is good as Bobby De Laughter, the Assistant District Attorney that agrees to reopen the case. James Woods is superbly chilling as Beckwith, although he is in the background all too much and didn't have enough to say. Whoopi Goldberg, in a rare serious turn, outshone the whole cast as Evers' widow Myrlie, she oozes passion and her grief and pain is totally believable. This film is a cinematic treat that has a simple moral of anti-racism and "crime doesn't pay".

In the 1990s, the family of a murdered man fights to reopen the case from thirty years before. Medgar evers was a civil rights activist, and it's pretty well known that he was hated by local white supremacist de la beckwith. Whoopi plays evers' widow, who is determined to get justice done. But of course, evidence is missing. Files are mysteriously lost. Half the witnesses are dead. And this takes place in jackson mississippi. Fighting huge odds, myrlie fights and pushes to keep the court case going against de la beckwith. Some pretty big names in this one (baldwin, woods). Good stuff. Great performances by the actors. Interesting that evers' actual sons appear in the film, and his widow myrlie is listed as "consultant". Directed by rob reiner, who directed so many great films. I'm not an attorney, but it seems to me that there were a couple minor procedural issues that they kind of breezed right over, but maybe they were too insignificant to matter. It's mostly very well done and believable, as it is based on a true story. This film was nominated for james wood, and for best make-up. Reiner had been nominated for "a few good men".

What could have been a topline film has been adulterated by slipshod direction, poor writing and shocking editing. Over half the film should have been cut and stronger dialogue added to the more potent scenes. The director has destroyed an important story line and topic by diluting all the drama and stereotyping the performers which is a shame because blokes like Alec Baldwin show he can actually act but he has to do it with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Whoopi is a fine actress in anything but here she is washed away by turgid meanderings. James Woods stands out mainly because the director forgot everyone else in his attempt to show one evil man rather than a ridiculous and evil system. American Blacks must view this film with the same angst they would a Laurel and Hardy film. And with as much respect.

This excellent film tells the true story of a white southern prosecutor who has the courage to try to set right a gross miscarriage of justice that took place in the segregated South at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement 30 years earlier. Alec Balwin as prosecutor Bobby DeLaughter and James Woods as Brian De la Beckwith, the accused, give outstanding performances. Whoopi Goldberg shows her range as an actress portraying Myrlie Evers, widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers whose murder was never solved or prosecuted. Goldberg lets the viewer know that Mrs. Evers is a woman of great dignity, strength and faith.

I was a young woman during the actual events that took place in Mississippi so long ago. At the time, I must not have paid much attention because none of this story was really familiar to me. I enjoyed it so much that I bought the DVD and watch it about three times a year. I have recommended the film to social studies teachers. The story serves a springboard for teaching opportunities. The artistic quality of the film never leaves the viewer feeling bored.

Really good film.

A fairly decent film, but not one to inspire mass demonstrations for continued change to society. Whoopi Goldberg is regal as the grieving Widow Edgers. Baldwin is competant but a tad boring as the Ass't D.A. And Woods is heavily made-up, but does a fine job of making you squirm, even if he only gets to do it in a few scenes. Somehow, you just don't get too riled up at what's going on for these people, except when "Delay" gets up on his White Supremisist Horse. You should get scared for Baldwin's family what with all the threats, but you don't. You should feel the tension in his parent's dissaproval of his following of the case, but you don't. Odd. This film's most surprizing facet is Rob Reiner's direction - if you thought all he could do was comedy, then see this movie and realize his capabilities. Even though there are many things that you don't care about - which I mentioned in the paragraph above - I was still impressed by Reiner's strong sense of story and character. He just needed to either tighten up the editing, or get the actors to raise the intensity of what is at stake for them in the movie. All in all, a good story, good direction, some good performances, but it's not inspirational.

This could have been a pretty good ninety minute film. Unfortunately it is 130 minutes and the extra 40 minutes is almost fatal. There is an important story being told, that is somewhat dulled by way too much extraneous material, along with some distracting family distress, and child coddling. Less would have been best in the case of "Ghosts of Mississippi. The acting by Alec Baldwin, Whoppi Goldberg, and especially James Woods is totally acceptable, but the movie drags on way too long. I realize being based on fact, the writers were somewhat restricted, but I would have preferred a leaner story, without the distracting extras involving wives and children. - MERK