Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) 

 

Release Date: December 20, 1996

Director: Rob Reiner

Writer(s): Lewis Colick

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Alec Baldwin, James Woods

Estimated budget: $36 million

U.S. Box office: $13,323,144

 

In this film based on actual events, black activist Medgar Evers (James Pickens Jr.) is murdered in 1963, and much of the evidence points toward white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith (James Woods). However, after two trials, De La Beckwith is acquitted twice by a jury of whites. Now, decades later in 1989, Evers' widow, Myrlie (Whoopi Goldberg), thinks she has evidence to finally convict him. But no lawyer will touch the case except the young and brash Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin).