·· · · · · · ·· ·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 ." James Chaney, 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. "Mississippi Burning," 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 Freedom Summer. 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 8 ,,' . ~~/U ~;, v ~ I.9 f~ CY N ." . .. .... ... ~ ~ I / . 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.