·· · · · · · ·· ·T· · ~·~ · ~ · y: ~ · ~· .I.- \9. ~ .. Another Case of Murder in Mississippi

TV movie on the killing of three civil rights worke 5 in 1964 tries to fill in what 'Mississippi Burn ing' left out

By IRV LETOFSKY this month -on several cable movie chan­ nels- focused on the manhunt for the he Hollywood types flew into Me­ killers. This new one puts th e story in its ridian. Miss., to soak up local color broader context; it is in effect a "prequel," T for their movie. Naturally, they had showing what led up to the murders. to meet Lawrence Rainey, th e old-time "Murder in Mississippi" relates that it sheriff. He always seemed 'to be in the was the black leadership in "the move­ acti on around Neshoba County. ment" that called for the invasion of 1,000 This was about three years ago, as or more young white activists into the state producer Tova Laiter and screenwriter -, to reg ist er black voters that hot summer. Stanley Weiser. the visitors, were planning One black leader comments in the film that. a film about what Mississipp i calls "the white people ar e part of the problem and tr oubles" -that summer of '64 when those have to be part of the solution. hree "agitator kids"-civil-rights work­ Civil rights advocates believ e that if it ers- were killed by Ku Klux Klan night had just been Chaney who was killed, the riders and all the wrath came down. media would have stayed at home. The fact Weiser recalls the gathering at the that two young white men were kille d restaurant at the Howard Johnson's: "So inflamed the national cons cience and set Rainey comes in with his country bumpkin abou t breaking down th e barriers to black lawyer . . . [and he was ] try ing to tell us to franchise in Mississippi and the whole lio 'The Sheriff Rainey Story.' 'Why do you South. In that sense, they were landmark want to dig up these old troubles again? murders. Sheriff Rainey's a pr ince of a man and you A four-hour miniseries that veteran TV should do his story, like "Walk ing Tall." writ er -producer Calvin Clements Sr. wrote Buford Pusser.'" . for CBS in 1975, "Attack on Terror: The Laiter recalls Ra iney as ver y affable. He FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan ," preponder antly was tried in the case, not on murder followed the FBI versio n of the manhunt, charges but on federal charges of depriving aided by William Conrad's booming docu­ the three men of th eir civil rights-the two mentary voice. Wa yne Rogers and Dabney -wmtes, Michael (Mickey ) Schwerner. 24. C m e s ar ':' . age ts: 1 ed ,and ndy Goodman. 20. and th e black, Beatty was "Sheriff Ollie Thompson ." , 21. "I had to change all the nam es," remem ­ Seven men were convicted, including bers Clements, "and I got a call from the Deputy Sheriff Cecil Ray Price; Rainey and network and they wanted to change the seven others were acquitted. Th e sen tenc­ name of the state! I said. 'You want to put it es ran from th ree to 10years. in Tennessee?' " The irony these many years later was The hit feature film from English direc ­ that Rainey was working around Meridian tor Alan Parker. "," as a security guard. Working for two black which came out at the end of 1988. was men. intended as a fiction with a lot of factual Weiser remembers now, "T hey talked background, but again, dealt mostly on the bout how the re was no problems before manhunt, starring Gene Hackman and 1964: 'Before this whol e civil rights hap­ Willem Dafoe as ace F BI agents. (It pened, the blacks were treated well.' We received seven Oscar nominations , includ­ asked about all th e bodies [of black people1 ing best picture, best director and best found in the riv ers. " The law yer said that acto r for Hackman - and ended up winning those weren't necessarily racist killings " Murder in Mississippi," above, attempts to place the events surrounding the brutal one, which went to Peter Biziou for best and some might have committed suicide.' cinematography.) killings in a broader context. The Academy-Award nominated " Mississippi Burning" "Mississippi Burning" evo lved into a Rainey recited his theory that th e mur­ hasbeen criticized for tellingthe story from a white point of view . ers in 1964 were done by "their own" ­ raucous. vengeance- is-thine movie that other civil rights workers-and th en the did a virt ual double reverse on the blax­ FBl covered it up. ploitat ion films of the mid- 1970s- only Weiser recalls th at Laiter was dumb­ with the white guys raging against the s.ruck, She kept asking . "How can we whites over the black frus tr ations. The oelieve that ?" beating of a white woman , wife of ' the depu ty, set Hack man and his agents off on a rampage of kidnappings, extortions , as ­ assions ran high and wild around the saults. arsons, breaki ngs and other may ­ murd ers in Mississippi, and still do. hem. When it comes to the retelling of this story , The film was criticized for telling the truth also runs wild. alt hough the latest story from a strictly white point of view. Its ersion, via Laiter and Weiser, called black characters prett y much stood around , "Murder in Mississippi," might be the best looking stalwart and resolute but im mobile, visual history of . It can like the Indians in Old Wes t movies. e seen Monday at 9 p.m. on BC. "A lot of excitement and a lot of blood The core of the cast is Tom Hulc e as and a lot of action ," observed Ben Chaney Schwerner. Jennifer Grey as wife Rita Jr.. 37: brother of Jame s Chaney."but it Schwerner, Blair Underw ood as Chaney didn't reflect the attitude of th e people who and Josh Charles as Goodman. were there at the time. and that distorted It has been hard to round up the facts, as history." the sheriff's version suggests. Both the surviving Chaney and Dr. Two other film versions about the same Carolyn Goodman. Andrew's moth er. visit ­ incident- including the Academy Award­ ed L.A. at the behest of NBC to discuss nominat ed "Mississippi Burni ng. " showing "Murder in Mississippi." Both like its mood

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and accuracy of the time and the place. his mother insisted, "Andy knew what it "Seeing this movie for the first time," . was all about. [It came] from his family life. said Chaney, who was 12 at the time of the We were always involved in all kinds of murders, "1 was sort of relaxed and I demonstrations, pro -labor, anti-fasc ist. thought Hollywood was getting close to , That's the story of our lives. Andy was not who the people were in the movement who . an innocent." contributed so much to the struggle." But, again, that misportrayal doesn't Goodman, a psychologist for the New affect the essence of the film, the mother York State Office of Mental Health, noted, said. "On the whole, this movie did not pull a lot She noted 'that many of the so-called of punches. They were focusing on what Northern agitators were "more than stu - . happened, and what happen ed was .an dents," that many were "people from -the . incredibly powerful time in history. It Was . religious community, they were lawyers, not easy to watch it for me." they were doctors, a whole cross section of And the pages of history may not close people who came from far from Mississippi. .with Monday's broadcast. The Mississippi They came from lives of relative security. . attorney general, Mike Moore, announ ced They knew they weren't going down there about a year ago that he would examine the for a holiday." . 1964 files and see if state murder charges Chaney would have preferred more em­ could be brought. He did not retern several phasis on members of the Mt. Zion Method­ calls from The Times but ,if he does ist Church-the one that was burned by proceed, it could evolve into yet another the Klan in the incident that brought the version of the truth. ' three young men into the night -"and their attitudes and how come this church uring their recent visits to Los Angel- . • • . LARRYDAVIS / L.A, Times out of all the churc hes in Neshoba County D. es, Carolyn Goodman and Ben Chaney Tova Laiter on making contacts forthe movie: " Everybody was patronizing. They, was the one that stood up first. What made endorsed the NBC project and introduced said, 'Tova, you know better thanthat.' It's true, jf you take on black subject matter, those people do that?" I ' ' the film makers to families and friends. The you 're going ?na suicidal mission." . , Chaney referred to some dialogue inthe Schwerner family avoided the movie. Pro ­ film that some black leaders were not . ducer Laiter said that Mickey Schwerner's willing to accept leadership of white peo­ fathe r told her "the family had a policy not ple. "[They felt that] this was their move-

to talk about it and not cooperate in I a . ment and they didn't believe white people movie, that his son was no more a hero could stand up under the line of fire t han ariybody else." anyway. And when people like Michaef . Goodman and Chaney said that they . Schwerner came down and stood up on the were disturbed by "Mississippi Burning." line of fire, he got the respect of the people "It wasn't about civil rights," said Good­ of Mississippi-blacks, young and old-and man. "It was a film that used the deaths of from then on they were able to work the boys as a-means 'of solving the murders together." and the FBI being heroes." Goodman added tha t ' there were very (The reality is that the FBI was caught few defections after themurders. "That's between the warring factions that summer. something that has to be known too." The earlier productions deified the bureau; "Murder inMississippi" runs an actual TV ova Laiter , now president of Freddie news segment prior to the "invasion" in T- Fields Productions, first heard the which J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's impervi­ name James Chaney in 1984 from writer ous chieftain, rails against the suggestion Ben Stein. Eddie Murphy's "people" (man ­ that his agents should get involved. 'The murde r victims-.James Chaney, Mickey Schwerner, Andrew Goodman. , agement) told her that they 'were looking ("We most certainly do not give protec­ for movie ideas, and she in turn was tion to civil rights workers," the real [changed here to Jessup County] and in the "At the same time," Chaney put in,.'''the discussing possibilitieswith Stein: Hoover says in the news clip. "In the first larger view of America. image that younger people got [from the "A friend who had been a state trooper in place, the FBI is not a police organization, "1 think we certainly succeeded in that film] about .the times, about Mississippi Arkansas," recalled Stein, "told me a story purely an investigative organization. And respect. I think we galvanized a nation, itself and about the people who participated about how he had known state troopers in the protection of individual citizens" either • which a good movie should do. We 'made in the movement being passive, was pretty Mississippi who had known Chaney and natives of the state or coming into the America think about the events of that negative and it didn't reflect the truth." said what was unknown about him was that state, is a matter for local authorities." - summer and the events in America'today, . The survivors both acknowledged inac­ he was funny, a mimic, a comical guy. He (In the TV movie scene; the civil rights whether it be.in Boston [the Carol Stuart curacies in the new TV representation. could do imitations like Eddie Murphy." workers, who are watching the TV screen, murder] the last few weeks , in Howard Chaney, who used to "hang out" with his "Why," asked Laiter, "had 1 never heard hoot at Hoover's stat ement. ) Beach [the racial incident in Queens, N:Y.] older brother because their mother always of this James Chaney? I thought, 'How Calvin Clements Sr., semi-retired at 74 or in that county in Georgia [Forsyth] pressed James into baby-sitting, is shown come I don't know about this great story?' ", (he has a book being circulated in New where no blacks live because of what in playing with his Slinky on the stairs at Laiter hadn't known that much Ameri­ occurred decades ago [KKK lynchings in the civil rights office in Meridian. York, a screenplay being "proposed for can history. She was raised in Israel, 1912]." "I don't know we had Slinkys in cable, a musical "kicking around" ), was if studied art and philosophy at Hebrew They didn't set out to remake a ' true told back in 1974 to avoid any contact with Mississippi at that time," Ben Chaney said. University and 'served as a serg eant in . the families. But he feels that his "Atta ck .story but, he said, many memorable events "I know we used to play out in front of'the Army communications in the War Room in on Terror" still is "100% accurate." were carefully reproduced from newsreel office with marbles and throw rocks at., Jerusalem during the Six Day War. She He studied articles, 3,000 pages of trial footage, including the march on downtown girls," he noted, adding a smile at. the remembered with some pride, "I gave the .testimony and "all the FBI investigative Philadelphia, Miss., and the speech over recollection. . historic announcem ent that 'We have the James Chaney at the funeral. 'Goodman had minor .quibbles "but I'm reports." (In his writing career he had done Wailing Wall in'our hands !' " episodes of the old "The FBI" series.) In publicity notes, director Parker wrote not sure they will interact on the impact of "I had to verify it all," he said. "1 had an that "Our'film cannot be the definitive film the film." , "As it turned out, Murphy didn't like it," . [FBI] agent with me all the time." on the [Movement]. Our heroes are still The image of son Andrew, for example. she said. "His career was just getting One recent night he came across "Missis­ white. And in truth, the film would proba­ He trained with the workers at the orienta ­ rolling and he didn't know if audiences sippi Burning" on a cable channel and bly never ha ve been made if they weren't," tion sessions at Western College for Wom­ would accept him.dying." "after an hour 1just turned it off, it was so .meaning that the studios wouldn't finance en in Oxford, Ohio, prior to' "invading" But 'she was intrigued about the Missis­ false..It was disgraceful." it out of fear that the white audience might Mississippi. He had even played a racist sippi summer .and started making the Frederick Zollo, producer of "Mississippi not atte nd a film with black heroes. . heckler during the fierce indoctrination rounds, talking to perhaps 20 people: "Ev­ Burning ," said he was "surprised about the sessions. Then he was among the vanguard erybody was patronizing. They said, "I'ova, enormous reaction." oodman said that "Mississippi Burn ­ heading into Mississippi but was there only you know better than that.' It's true, if you He said' the movie was .intended as "a Ging" did serve to arouse interest, one day before the deadly trip into the take on a black subject matter, you're going drama, as powerful as we could make it, "especially among young people," who wilds of Neshoba County. . on a suicidal mission.'" . using the three murders as a backdrop to hadn't known anything about that time in 'In the film, Andrew Goodman is depicted . In 1987, she had a "pitch" meeting with the st.udy of racism in Neshoba County the South. as a boy who just stumbles into trouble. But Please seePaqe 98'

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drama genre, insists, "Unless it's a court trial or Richard Nixon's of­ Mississippi fice, nothing between two people is recorded on tape. So a writer Continued from Page9 creates dialogue. So right away Mark Canton, then Warner Bros. you're taking dramatic liberties." Drp ~ i rlpn t of worlrl. wide motion pic­ Director , who shot ture production (now executive the TV -rnovie around Atlanta, vice president of the corporate went into Mississippi to investi­ Warners): "She presented the sto­ gate: "I was very concerned that ry with such passion and it got to we do it as right as we could. I me so quickly," recalled Canton, drove the same roads, I went to the who had ' studied contemporary killing sites. I went to the church. " American history at UCLA. "It touched a nerve in me. I thought it ,arolyn Goodman is a quiet, , was incredibly relevant and, from C thoughtful woman who the dramatic viewpoint, this story speaks with precision and authori­ was very emotional and very ac­ ty and expresses a strong will. Ben cessible." Chaney has a feisty side apparently He talked with Lucy Fisher built up over years of fervor over (now executive vice-president for matters of civil rights. Even within theatrical .production at Warners) weeks of the discovery of the and the deal was set by the end of bodies, little Ben was in a group of the day, with rare speed. two ,dozen demonstrators who "It seemed like a·really human were jailed for trying to register at , way to tell a story that was a story all-white Meridian schools. "At 12 that still affects the nation," Fisher you don't feel you're too small to ' said. "Most things are didactic, but take on the world," he said. this one YO\1 could use the eyes and He has ridden the roller coaster ears of Mickey and James." of emotions of the civil rights Laiter met with 10 or 12 writers, movement. After repeated threats, finally working out a script deal the family moved ' to Harlem, with Stanley Weiser, who had where young Ben eventually be­ written "Wall Street" and "Project gan hanging with Black Panther X." "My approach was to isolate militants. , the story on Chaney and Schwer ­ In 1970, at age 17, after a wild ner," Weiser said. "I thought about excursion with two friends into the making it a 'buddy film'- those South that exploded in the killings dreaded words." ' of four people in South Carolina Then they set about researching, and Florida', he was tried three talking with the old Freedom Sum­ times on felony murder charges. mer gang in Boston, New York, He was acquitted on one charge New Orleans, Meridian. and fo n ~ 0 ,, mercy recommendedin both cases hen "Mississippi Burning" since it was acknowledged that he W hit big, Warners tensed. didn't participate in the actual "From the management point of murders but drove the car and view, we had a wonderful script served as the lookout for his two ami we would have been happy to young black companions, one a wait a.year or two or three," said 19-year-old Vietnam War veteran, ­ Fisher, "and then come at it again." He served 13years in prison. But "Tova was incredibly intent on "I had a regular parole scheduled moving it forward," Lucy Fisher in the year 2014," Chaney said. said. Laiter decided she didn't want "Ramsey Clark [former U.S. attor­ to wait for a feature production and , ney general and a major civil rights agreed to release the script for a activist] got into my case in 1980 TV production. and he finally convinced the Flori­ Enter TV producer David L. da Parole Board to give me a Wolper. About a year ago, he hearing in 1983and I was released recalled, "I was having dinner with in September." Bob Daly [chief executive officer of For a time he worked as a clerk Warners] and saying, 'Are there in Clark's law practice in New any films that you're not making, York, and Clark donated , office with scripts that may make good space for the year-old James Earl television things?' He said, 'Yes, as Chaney Foundation, dedicated pri­ a matter of fact.' " marily to voter registration drives. Wolper then became executive "But now I'm moving back to producer of the project and the Mississippi," Chaney said last script was reworked for TV use. ,week. "We're going to station the "The violence and language were a foundation in Meridian. We're try - ' little coarser than for television, ing to look for a site there to put a but it could easily be adapted," said building up or maybe rent some Tony Masucci, NBC vice president space in the meantime, hopefully i for movies and miniseries. "The ' by the end of the summer." I only important thing we lost be- So Chaney goes home. Will the cause of time was the James Cha­ New Mississippi be any different I' ney relationship with a young than the Old Mississippi? One ques- I woman in his home town. There .tion put to him ' during a press were some lovely moments but we conference here was, '"What were j had to trim it.". the decent white people in Missis­ i With such "true-life" or "fact­ sippi doing at this time?" t based" dramas, the question al­ Chaney returned, "I don't know ways lingers about what is true of any decent white person in representation and what isn't. It's Mississippi in 1964." 0 obviously a heavier question with Research for this article was,pro­ heavier topics. vided by Harry Fey and Doug Con­ Wolper, a veteran of the docu- n ~r of The Times ~ditorial Library.