Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

A visiting city reporter's assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire, whom he befriends.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

John Berendt (book), John Lee Hancock (screenplay)

Stars:

John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, Jack Thompson

1 win & 3 nominations.

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

Storyline

This panoramic tale of Savannah's eccentricities focuses on a murder and the subsequent trial of Jim Williams: self made man, art collector, antiques dealer, bon vivant and semi-closeted homosexual. John Kelso a magazine reporter finds himself in Savannah amid the beautiful architecture and odd doings to write a feature on one of William's famous Christmas parties. He is intrigued by Williams from the start, but his curiosity is piqued when he meets Jim's violent, young and sexy lover, Billy. Later that night, Billy is dead, and Kelso stays on to cover the murder trial. Along the way he encounters the irrepressible Lady Chablis, a drag queen commedienne, Sonny Seiler, lawyer to Williams, whose famous dog UGA is the official mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs, an odd man who keeps flies attached to mini leashes on his lapels and threatens daily to poison the water supply, the Married Ladies Card Club, and Minerva, a spiritualist. Between being Jim's buddy, cuddling up to a torch singer, ...

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Plot Keywords:

homosexual | murder | trial | murder trial | reporter | 

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Taglines:

Welcome to Savannah, Georgia. A City Of Hot Nights And Cold Blooded Murder.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and brief violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

21 November 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Medianoche en el jardín del bien y del mal

Filming Locations:

Mercer House - 429 Bull Street, Savannah, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,233,658, 23 November 1997, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$25,078,937, 15 February 1998

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Malpaso Productions, Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

155 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lady Chablis, the transgender woman 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

The end of the first day of the trial, the judge tells the jury to go home and not to talk to anybody and come in the next morning and go to the jury room. As Sonny and John leave the courthouse, Sonny explains that he is going away for the weekend, John is shocked that he is going with the trial starting in three days.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Minerva: Quit eye balling me, Flavius. I knew you when you was a two bit hustler on Bull Street.

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Crazy Credits

Closing disclaimer: This film is based upon John Berendt's book "MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL". Dialogue and certain events and characters contained in the film were created for the purposes of dramatization.

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Alternate Versions

The UK Region 2 multi-DVD box set titled "CLINT EASTWOOD 35 YEARS, 35 FILMS" (EAN 5051892017114) released on August 16, 2010 makes reference to the inclusion of a Director's Cut. Eastwood has admitted to shooting a "love scene" between Kevin Spacey and Alison Eastwood and then cutting it from this film and although not confirmed it is suspected this is included to make some or all of the Director's Cut. The latter information sourced from http://www.screenit.com/movies/1997/midnight_in_the_garden_of_good_&_evil.html

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Connections

Referenced in V.I.P.: Midnight in the Garden of Ronnie Beeman (1999)

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Soundtracks

Jeepers Creepers
Written by Johnny Mercer and Harry Warren

User Reviews

Grand Entertainment as well as a lesson on hospitality

I got the chance to view this recently on video and to me it left me in total awe. This is Clint Eastwood's best movie to date in a line of good movies that include his directorial debut from "Play Misty For Me" to his brandish westerns like "The Outlaw Josey Wales" to his Oscar winning "Unforgiven",to even his soft hearted material ranging from his military drama "Heartbreak Ridge" to the emotional "The Bridges of Madison County". But here "Midnight In The Garden Of Good and Evil" is astounding entertainment and it features actor Kevin Spacey in one of his most gifted role of his career. The movie focuses on the happenings of Savannah,Georgia where the city of hot nights and cold-blooded murder all rolled into one. Its a rarely do movies of this magnitude show so much of true southern city they are depicting and basically get it right. It also shows in the first half of the movie the that way these houses and the designs which are depicted is incredible(yes,Mr. Eastwood has a eye for good art)and they way details are properly set,especially with the Christmas party dinner scene is perfect as well as the overall architecture of some of the most lavish houses ever bulit(if you ever go down to Savannah you must see this to believe it and its worth the trip) as well as the proper way to show courtesy of upright manners in front of your guests where hospitality is always first rate. But as far as the movie is concern(which is based on John Berendt's novel of the same title)what you see is depicted throughout the movie and the overall beauty of the city of Savannah. The people are so loving and caring that it makes you not only leave,but stay here more to see what happens next. I got the chance to read the book on this,but I take the book over the movie as a tossup,but you will not be disappointed. A grand style of entertainment at its finest hour. Thank you so much Kevin Spacey and director Clint Eastwood.