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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Release Date:
21 November 1997 (USA)
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Tagline:
Welcome to Savannah, Georgia. A City Of Hot Nights And Cold Blooded Murder.
Plot:
A visiting city reporter's assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire, whom he befriends. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
1 win
&
2 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(11 articles)
The M/C Interview: John Lee Hancock discusses 'The Blind Side'
(From Hitfix. 18 November 2009, 11:30 AM, PST)
Actress Kim Hunter Dies
(From WENN. 12 September 2002)
(From Hitfix. 18 November 2009, 11:30 AM, PST)
Actress Kim Hunter Dies
(From WENN. 12 September 2002)
User Comments:
Good Lord, I can't take my eyes off Kevin Spacey
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | John Cusack | ... | John Kelso |
 | Kevin Spacey | ... | Jim Williams |
 | Jack Thompson | ... | Sonny Seiler |
 | Irma P. Hall | ... | Minerva |
 | Jude Law | ... | Billy Hanson |
 | Alison Eastwood | ... | Mandy Nicholls |
| Paul Hipp | ... | Joe Odom |
| Lady Chablis | ... | Chablis Deveau (as The Lady Chablis) |
| Dorothy Loudon | ... | Serena Dawes |
| Anne Haney | ... | Margaret Williams |
 | Kim Hunter | ... | Betty Harty |
 | Geoffrey Lewis | ... | Luther Driggers |
 | Richard Herd | ... | Henry Skerridge |
 | Leon Rippy | ... | Detective Boone |
 | Bob Gunton | ... | Finley Largent |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for language and brief violence.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
155 min
Country:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Iceland:12 |
Singapore:PG (original rating) (cut) |
Argentina:13 |
Canada:14A |
Chile:14 |
Finland:K-12 (original rating) |
Finland:K-15 (TV rating) |
France:U |
Germany:12 (bw) |
Mexico:C |
Portugal:M/12 |
Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) |
Spain:13 |
Sweden:11 |
Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) |
Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) |
UK:15 |
USA:R
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Lady Chablis, the transvestite from Savannah featured in John Berendt's book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", plays herself in the movie adaptation of the book.
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Goofs:
Continuity: In bar scene with John and Sonny, the head (foam) on John's beer changes between shots.
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Quotes:
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Damn Good Dog (2004) (V)
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Soundtrack:
Early Autumn
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (186 total)
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Like every film Clint Eastwood makes, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is fascinated by the mystery of masculinity: what it means to be a man, and what you have to do to be the kind of man you think you need to be -- whether that's a father, a member of a cultural group, or the ideal man in a certain social situation. Two highly-acclaimed recent Eastwood films -- "Mystic River" and "Million-Dollar Baby" -- mildly disappointed me by sinking into oversimplification and predictability. Possibly Eastwood's directing hand is more interesting when less "self-assured," because 1997's "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" follows these questions down less well-defined, and thus less predictable, paths. Maintaining a scrupulously neutral eye, the film recounts a complex tale of murder, involving characters who are recognizable types on the surface but carry deep difference underneath. It unfurls a slow, rich, and troubling narrative which answers the mysteries of its crime premise even as it opens much more difficult questions about the very things that murder stories are supposed to make simple: innocence, guilt, motivations, affection, and its characters' so-called morality.
Thanks in large part to a literally mesmerizing performance by Kevin Spacey (I'm riveted every time he appears on screen) and a well- balanced turn by John Cusack as the sympathetic investigating reporter, who charms us even as he maintains a total and focused receptivity to new information and strange events, the movie fills its two and a half hours with a slow-paced and carefully balanced story that brings us into the suffocating green world of Southern Gothic, with its all its mannered refinements, thick silences and passionate secrets. There's something in this film that would have pleased Tennessee Williams or Truman Capote, those cool-eyed investigators of the closeted South. John Berendt's nuanced book, Spacey's restrained, smoldering performance and Eastwood's lucidly hands-off direction have created a strange, slow gem of a film. It's not a gem appreciated by everyone, but two years before Spacey's turn in "American Beauty" struck a chord that resonated with the wider public, "Midnight in the Garden" asks similar questions in a context that is, at the same time, more precise, more exotic, and equally American.