Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (film)

File:Mercer House 2017.jpg. The alleged murder of Billy Hanson occurred in Williams's study – the bottom left room in this photograph. The house is now known as the Mercer Williams House Museum]]

File:Mercer_House_study.jpg took place]]The panoramic tale of Savannah's eccentricities focuses on a deadly shooting and the subsequent trial of Jim Williams, a self-made man, art collector, antiques dealer, bon vivant, and semi-closeted homosexual. John Kelso, a magazine reporter from New York with one book—Before the Fall—to his name, flies to Savannah, amid beautiful architecture and odd doings, to write a feature for Town & Country on one of Williams's acclaimed Christmas parties. Williams's parties, held at his Mercer House home, were the highlight of many people's social calendars.{{Cite web |last=Nwogu |first=Laura |title=Savannah's Jim Williams' legacy lives on through film, a murder case and historic buildings |url=https://www.savannahnow.com/story/entertainment/2021/07/21/jim-williams-savannah-ga-midnight-garden-good-evil-mercer-house-hbo-max-kevin-spacey-clint-eastwood/8029996002/ |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=Savannah Morning News |language=en-US}}[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/midnightinthegarden.htm "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"] – The Washington Post Williams had an "in" box and an "out" box for his invitations, depending on whether or not the person was in Williams's favor at the time.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5MbSGZ0uXQ |title=Midnight in Savannah A&E Broadcast Premiere Nov 30 1997 |language=en |access-date=2024-04-22 |via=www.youtube.com}}

En route to Savannah's Jones Street, via a tour of the city's tourist hotspots, Kelso alights at Forsyth Park. Making his way to his lodging in Monterey Square, he has a brief interaction with Billy Hanson in front of Mercer House. Kelso does not know who Hanson is, or that Mercer House is Williams's home.

Awoken by Mandy Nichols, who is looking for some ice to take back to her partner Joe Odom's party, Kelso accompanies her back to the festivities. There, he meets hairdresser Jerry Spence and Odom, who is playing the piano.

Kelso is guest of honor at the Williams's party. During the course of the evening, Kelso meets Emma Kelly, named the "Lady of 6,000 Songs" by Savannah's own Johnny Mercer,[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/29/arts/emma-kelly-82-lady-of-6000-songs.html "Emma Kelly, 82, 'Lady of 6,000 Songs'"] - New York Times, January 29, 2001 Harry Cram, the former silent-film actress Serena Dawes and Williams's mother, Blanche. Williams shows Kelso his organ in the upstairs ballroom. It is there that Billy Hanson appears, having let himself in the servants' entrance. Hanson demands some money from Williams so that he can "get fucked up." Williams refuses, saying Hanson "gets paid on Friday like everyone else." Hanson responds by smashing a bottle and threatening both Williams and Kelso with it, before storming out. After explaining Hanson's situation to Kelso, Williams sits down and plays "Jeepers Creepers" on the organ, demonstrating that he uses it to drown out the sound of his neighbour Lorne Atwell's dog.

After the guests have left, Williams and Kelso wind down with a brandy in the Mercer House library, where Kelso discovers his book in Williams's bookcase. Kelso leaves shortly thereafter, stating he has an early flight home.

Kelso is again awoken, this time by the sound of sirens. He ventures out into Monterey Square to find out what is going on. It transpires that Hanson was shot dead by Williams in the Mercer House study after an argument between the two. Kelso lets himself, and Williams's cat, Sheldon,"'For Sale' Sign Goes Up in the Garden of Good and Evil" - New York Times, June 3, 1999 through the back door into what should have been a secured environment. Williams is being questioned by police in the drawing room. Sonny Seiler arrives a few seconds later and tries to defuse the situation.

Kelso stays on to cover the murder trial for a new book, with the blessing of Williams. Along the way, he meets some characters: the irrepressible The Lady Chablis, a transgender entertainer; Luther Driggers, a man who keeps flies attached to strings on his lapels and threatens daily to poison the water supply; the members of the Married Woman's Card Club; and Minerva, a spiritualist and root doctor, based on real-life Valerie Boles.[https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2009/05/09/reclusive-voodoo-priestess-midnight-fame/13737460007/ "Reclusive voodoo priestess of 'Midnight' fame dies"] – Savannah Morning News, May 8, 2009

Between becoming Williams's friend, a love interest of Mandy (whom he discovers is a torch singer), meeting every eccentric in Savannah, participating in Minerva's midnight graveyard rituals, and helping solve the mysteries surrounding Hanson's death, Kelso has his hands full. Kelso discovers that the bagging of Hanson's hands was performed by a nurse at Candler Hospital, when it should have been done at the crime scene instead. When Williams becomes confident he can win his case on a matter of flawed police procedure, he falsely testifies to killing Hanson with return fire in self-defense. This disappoints Kelso, to whom Williams has confessed he executed Hanson in retaliation for attempting to shoot him with the gun's safety catch on. The judge and jury later find Williams not guilty.

As Kelso is leaving town, when saying goodbye to Williams in the Mercer House study, he asks one last question for the book: Does he want to tell him what really happened? Williams replies, "Truth, like art, is in the eye of the beholder. You believe what you choose, and I'll believe what I know." He watches from the window as Kelso walks away. Minutes later, Williams is stricken by a heart attack and falls face down on the carpet. His heartbeat slows. He imagines Hanson lying alongside him, as he was in death. Their eyes meet, Hanson raises his head, smiles, then resumes his position, lifeless. The heartbeat has stopped. An overhead shot shows the two dead men lying like mirror images, then Hanson fades away. After the funeral, Minerva tells Kelso he knows all he needs to know and warns him not to waste too much time on the dead. “I love you, boy, but I ain’t the only one. You know that, don't you?” Later, Kelso signs a six-month lease on an apartment. To celebrate, he, Mandy and Lady Chablis, who is walking Uga, stroll off together for a picnic. Minerva, who is feeding Flavis, a squirrel, in the park, laughs as they pass. Cut to the cemetery and shots of the two graves. The credits roll over film of the Bird Girl statue in Bonaventure Cemetery,The sculpture has since been moved from the cemetery to Telfair Museums' Telfair Academy. with k.d. lang singing "Skylark", as she does in the movie's opening.

File:John Cusack Cannes 2014.jpg played John Kelso, a writer from New York]]

File:Kevin Spacey (48171134437).jpg appeared as antiques dealer Jim Williams]]

File:Gary Anthony Williams, at Manuel's Tavern, 2007-05-03.jpg portrayed the tour-bus driver at the beginning of the film|156x156px]]

{{div col}}

• John Cusack as John Kelso
• Kevin Spacey as Jim Williams
• Jack Thompson as Sonny Seiler
• Irma P. Hall as Minerva
• Jude Law as Billy Hanson
• Alison Eastwood as Mandy Nichols
• Paul Hipp as Joe Odom
• The Lady Chablis as Chablis Deveau
• Kim Hunter as Betty Harty
• Geoffrey Lewis as Luther Driggers
• Bob Gunton as Finley Largent
• Richard Herd as Henry Skerridge
• Leon Rippy as Detective Boone
• Sonny Seiler as Judge Samuel L. White
• Dorothy Loudon as Serena Dawes
• Patrika Darbo as Sara Warren
• Michael Rosenbaum as George Tucker
• Jerry Spence as himself
• James Moody as William Glover
• Georgia Allen as Lucille Wright
• Emma Kelly as herself
• Géza von Habsburg as himself

{{div col end}}

Clint Eastwood permitted The Lady Chablis to ad-lib some of her lines, but had to rein her in on occasion. He gave her the nickname the "one-take wonder".[http://www.david-de-alba.com/Chablis.htm "De Alba on Chablis"] - David-De-Alba.com "We kind of hit the script in a roundabout way," confirmed John Cusack.The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, November 18, 1997 "[During filming] they put me up at the Holiday Inn," explained Chablis in 2011. "So I told Clint: 'Y'all forgot. I am the Doll. I do not stay at the Holiday Inn.' There was not enough room there for my luggage. And Clint apologized. He said, 'I can't believe they did that to you, Doll.' He was so wonderful."[https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/film-wake-up-savannah-the-world-is-coming-to-town-1138883.html "FILM: WAKE UP SAVANNAH, THE WORLD IS COMING TO TOWN"] - The Independent, 23 October 2011

Gary Anthony Williams played the tour-bus driver at the beginning of the movie.[https://web.archive.org/web/20191207224317/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb4e013dd Gary Anthony Williams] - British Film Institute He did more than just load the tourists' bags into the bus, however: "They hired me for the job, and for some reason they thought I could a drive a big double-decker bus that was from England," Williams explained in 2021. "With the steering wheel and gas and clutch on the opposite side, I thought I was going to kill a bunch of background actors that day. But Clint Eastwood was so cool. He put me at ease."{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

"[My character] is based loosely on John [Berendt]," Cusack said in 1997. "John is a very funny, curious, mischievous, smart guy, so I was definitely able to pull those qualities that John actually has and put them into the John Kelso character."[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDVxWNYA6vU&t=179s John Cusack "Midnight in The Garden Of Good And Evil" 1997 - Bobbie Wygant Archive] - The Bobbie Wygant Archive, YouTube, July 15, 2020

Flavis, the squirrel Minerva talks to on the Forsyth Park bench at the beginning of the movie, was a trained animal.

Several changes were made in adapting the film from the book. Many unused characters were eliminated or combined into remaining ones. John Berendt states at the end of his book: "All the characters in this book are real, but it bears mentioning that I have used pseudonyms for a number of them in order to protect their privacy." To create further distance, several character names in the movie are different than in the book.

• John Berendt is removed from the journalistic role; the fictional John Kelso is introduced in his place, and a love interest is added
• Danny Hansford is renamed Billy Hanson
• Betty Harty, who welcomes John Kelso to Savannah, is named Mary Harty in the book
• The Mercer House bachelor party happens the night before the main party in the movie, but is the night after in the book{{Cite book |last=Bardsley |first=Marilyn J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yUkqAAAAQBAJ&dq=jim+williams+oglethorpe+club&pg=PT258 |title=After Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil |date=2012-12-14 |publisher=Rosetta Books |isbn=978-0-7953-3343-9 |language=en}}
• The line "Serena, how lovely to see you out of bed" is spoken by Jim Williams in the movie; Colonel James P. Atwood{{Cite book |last=Alford |first=Kenneth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b7rZvgEACAAJ |title=Jim Atwood: Army Officer, Charmer, Entrepreneur, Collector, Risk-Taker, Rogue, and Con-Artist |date=2018-10-23 |publisher=Independently Published |isbn=978-1-7291-6793-9 |language=en}} says it in the book
• Lee Adler, the former member of the Telfair Museums board, becomes Lorne Atwell
• George Oliver, the judge in Williams's trial, becomes Samuel L. White[https://www.wtoc.com/story/1993796/judge-george-oliver-dies-at-89/ "Judge George Oliver Dies at 89"] - WTOC, July 2, 2004
• Spencer Lawton, the district attorney who prosecutes Williams, is renamed Finley Largent
• Greg Kerr, one of those called to witness, becomes George Tucker
• Prentiss Crowe's lines about the deceased being "a good time not yet had by all" are instead spoken by Serena Dawes
• Sonny Clarke, a member of The Oglethorpe Club, says the line, "They're saying he shot the best piece of ass in Savannah" in the book, but it is given to Joe Odom in the movie

The multiple trials were combined into one on-screen trial. Williams's real life attorney, Sonny Seiler, played Samuel L. White, the presiding judge of the trial. Seiler was originally cast as a juror, but Eastwood persuaded him to take on the role of the judge. Eastwood visited Savannah with production designer Henry Bumstead.{{Cite web |last=LLP |first=Bouhan Falligant |date=2014-04-04 |title=Sonny with a Chance of Midnight |url=https://www.bouhan.com/blog/sonny-with-a-chance-of-midnight/ |access-date=2024-06-01 |website=Bouhan Falligant |language=en}} Seiler explained: "I said, 'I'm not an actor,' and Clint said, 'Of course you are. All lawyers are actors, and you are one of the best. If you do this for me, I won't have to hire a dialect coach.'"[https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/travel/2014/06/20/midnight-in-savannah-20-years-later/ "‘Midnight’ in Savannah — 20 years later"] - The Dallas Morning News, June 20, 2014 Seiler's daughter, Bess Thompson, appears in the movie as the "pretty girl"As listed in the film's credits in Forsyth Park who asks if she can have her picture taken with Uga.[https://www.savannahnow.com/article/20091109/NEWS/311099883 "People who were there fill ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’"] - Savannah Now, November 9, 2009

Advertising for the film became a source of controversy when Warner Bros. used elements of Jack Leigh's famous photograph in the posters without permission, infringing copyright law.Paul Siegel {{google books|E6saibxgIN4C|Communication Law in America|page=213}}

File:Jones Street, JC Backings.jpg, the work of J. C. Backings, which was made for the movie]]

File:115 East Jones Street.jpg, built in 1853, was the venue for Joe Odom's party]]

While entertaining the role of being the film's director, Clint Eastwood visited Savannah, Georgia, where the majority of the film was shot, in 1996. "I didn't get to know too many people at that time — mostly places — but I did meet some people who knew about the Jim Williams episode. And I met the attorney, Sonny Seiler, who was very, very helpful in making everyone understand what the attitude and atmosphere was in Savannah in the 1980s," he said.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIQltf8uELs "Clint Eastwood chats with Joe Leydon about 'Midnight...'"] - YouTube, published February 25, 2010 Principal photography began in the spring of 1997.Hughes, p.148

Kevin Spacey also visited Savannah before filming began. He wanted to learn the accent by listening to the locals.

"[John Berendt and I] spoke a lot about the novel and he took us on a tour of Savannah — The John Berendt Tour — which is a great tour of Savannah," John Cusack said in 1997. "We talked about the screenplay. He was very helpful." As for Savannah itself: "I'd definitely go back and hang out. It's a fun place. It's terrific being in a place that isn't interested in being modern. It's not interested in the fast-paced, kinetic lifestyle that we all lead. It's very relaxed; it's got a slow rhythm. All the squares that are in the middle of the town are made so that you can't speed through in traffic; you have to go leisurely around. Cocktail parties and parties are a big deal. It's interested in preserving its past; it's not interested in moving towards the future. It's interested in the way it is. It's very lush and exotic and mysterious."

Several scenes were filmed in and around Monterey Square. Jim Williams's Mercer House is located in the southwestern tything block of the square, at 429 Bull Street. Williams's sister, Dorothy Kingery, became the owner of the house after her brother's death. After initially agreeing to permit filming to take place inside the home, she developed cold feet. "Clint Eastwood came from California the next day," Kingery said. "We talked about my concerns, and he addressed those." While most of the scenes were filmed inside the home, the fight and shooting scenes were done in a California studio. When it came to the Christmas party scenes, the house contained so many valuable pieces of art and furniture that it presented a security problem. Eastwood, therefore, decided not to use extras. He instead sent out engraved invitations to the same locals that Williams used to invite to his parties. The Mercer House hallway and office were recreated in Hollywood.

File:Monterey Square 1.jpg, where John Kelso is greeted upon his arrival in Savannah. The gate in the fence that Kelso walks through has since been removed]]

John Kelso is shown being welcomed by Mrs. Baxter to the Italianate house at 2 East Taylor Street — the 1880-built former home of Hugh Comer (1842–1900), president of Central of Georgia Railroad, on the square's northeastern ward. Kelso does not stay there in the movie, however; his carriage-house apartment was built on a soundstage in Burbank, California,[https://www.stardustfusion.com/midnight-in-the-garden.html Midnight in the Garden] - StardustFusion.com with backdrops outside his windows provided by J. C. Backings. Establishing window shots from inside the carriage house were filmed across from 115 East Jones Street, which Joe Odom was looking after for its owner, who was in New York. (Odom's house, constructed by Eliza Jewett in 1847, was at 16 East Jones Street.)[http://gosouthsavannah.com/historic-district-and-city/jones-street.html "JONES STREET, SAVANNAH, GA"] - GoSouthSavannah.com Kelso's six-month rental, shown at the end of the film, is 218 West Jones Street, which is now valued at over $1.15 million.[http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/218-W-Jones-St_Savannah_GA_31401_M69587-08429 218 West Jones Street] - Realtor.com

File:Armstrong House.jpg, the former home of Bouhan Falligant LLP. The firm moved to One West Park Avenue in 2017]]

The scenes at Sonny Seiler's offices were filmed at the Armstrong House, 447 Bull Street, south of Monterey Square and close to the northern edge of Forsyth Park. John Bouhan was one of the partners of Bouhan, Williams & Levy, which moved into Armstrong House in 1970. Bouhan died the following year, but his dog, Patrick, was taken for daily walks by the law firm's porter, William Glover (James Moody), long after Bouhan's death.[https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2000-08-20-0008170416-story.html "SAVANNAH DAYDREAMS"] - Orlando Sentinel, August 20, 2000 In 2017, Bouhan Falligant LLP moved to One West Park Avenue[https://www.bouhan.com/history/ Bouhan.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805015458/https://www.bouhan.com/history/ |date=August 5, 2020 }} - History after developer Richard C. Kessler bought Armstrong House. Seiler retired just before the move.[https://www.savannahnow.com/sports/20180428/savannahs-sonny-seiler-inducted-into-uga-circle-of-distinction "Savannah's Sonny Seiler inducted into UGA Circle of Distinction"] - Savannah Now, April 28, 2018

The courthouse exterior seen in the movie is the Tomochichi Federal Building and United States Courthouse, in the western trust lot of Wright Square; however, internal shots were filmed in Burbank. Dixie's Flowers, the flower shop Mandy works at, is in the northeastern tything lot of the square, at 6 East State Street.

File:Lady Chablis house.jpg]]

The residence used as The Lady Chablis's home is 418 East Liberty Street. The Myra Bishop Family Clinic she walks to is at 311 Habersham Street, about 500 feet away. In the book, it is opposite Berendt's apartment at Forsyth Parkside. Myra's real last name is Pope.{{Cite web |title=Oct 26, 1994, page 41 - The Atlanta Constitution at Atlanta Journal Constitution |url=https://ajc.newspapers.com/image/403711978/ |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}

Kelso has breakfast (and an evening coffee with Mandy) at Clary's Cafe, at 404 Abercorn Street. Photos of the cast taken during down time from filming are hung by the door to the diner.

The Married Woman's Card Club is at 126 East Gaston Street, now known as Granite Hall and part of SCAD.

File:Grave of Thomas N. Theus and his wife - Bonaventure Cemetery - Savannah, GA.jpg]]

Churchill's Pub was located at 9 Drayton Street at the time of filming, but it was damaged in a fire six years later and closed.[https://www.savannahnow.com/business/20180507/city-talk-fitzroy-brings-eclectic-menu-to-drayton-street "City Talk: The Fitzroy brings eclectic menu to Drayton Street"] - Savannah Morning News, May 7, 2018

The Debutante Ball was filmed at the Savannah Inn and Country Club. (It later became Wilmington Island Club but was renamed back to Savannah Inn and Country Club in 2018.)

Bonaventure Cemetery, on the city's eastern edge, is featured on several occasions, including for the funeral service of Jim Williams which was shot near Johnny Mercer's burial site. Minerva performs her mysterious incantations at the "colored cemetery" just beyond Bonaventure in the movie. (In the book, said cemetery is in Beaufort, South Carolina, within walking distance of Minerva's home. Also, Dr. Eagle, the common-law husband of Valerie Boles, the inspiration for Minerva, is renamed Dr. Buzzard.)

Forsyth Park is the venue for the dog-walking scenes, including the cameo appearance of Uga V, the English bulldog live mascot of the University of Georgia, playing his father, Uga IV. Uga V died two years after filming.[https://georgiadogs.com/sports/2017/6/16/uga.aspx "Uga - The Georgia Bulldog"] - GeorgiaDogs.com The Uga mascots live in Savannah between football games.

Candler Hospital is erroneously pronounced Chandler Hospital throughout the film.

After location filming ended in June 1997, a fundraiser was held at and for Savannah's Lucas Theatre, which was built in 1921. Spacey donated $200,000 in Williams's honor to assist in the $7.6-million renovation of the theatre.[http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1997/06/16/ent_209950.shtml#.WQj8JcaZMk8 "'Midnight' filming ends in Savannah"] - The Augusta Chronicle, June 16, 1997 "I love Savannah. I had a great time here," said Spacey, an Oscar winner in 1996 for his role in The Usual Suspects. "I plan to visit again. And once this (theater) gets done, I'll bring a play here." It was hoped that the movie's premiere would take place at the Lucas, but it was instead held on November 17 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. Its Savannah premiere occurred on November 20 at the Johnny Mercer Theater. It opened nationwide the following day. While the Savannah premiere was in progress, Dorothy Kingery was holding a private party at Mercer House.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRAO3C88C_8 |title=Midnight in the Garden premiere / Savannah |language=en |access-date=2024-05-04 |via=www.youtube.com}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

| type = Soundtrack album

| artist = Various Artists

| cover =

| caption =

| alt =

| released = November 18, 1997

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio =

| genre =

| length = 58:04

| label = Warner Bros.

| producer = Ernie Altschuler

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title =

| next_year =

}}{{Music ratings|title=Soundtrack

| rev1 = Allmusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}} [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r318506|pure_url=yes}} link]}}

The soundtrack for the film was released in 1997. It is also dedicated to Johnny Mercer. The CD includes versions of songs heard in the film.[https://www.allmusic.com/album/midnight-in-the-garden-of-good-evil-mw0000030408 Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil – Original Soundtrack] at AllMusic.com

{{Track listing

| extra_column = Performer

| title1 = Skylark

| writer1 = Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer

| extra1 = k.d. lang

| length1 = 3:46

| title2 = Too Marvelous for Words

| writer2 = Richard Whiting, Mercer

| extra2 = Joe Williams

| length2 = 3:40

| title3 = Autumn Leaves

| writer3 = Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prévert, Mercer

| extra3 = Paula Cole

| length3 = 7:24

| title4 = Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)

| writer4 = Rube Bloom, Mercer

| extra4 = Rosemary Clooney

| length4 = 4:10

| title5 = Dream

| writer5 = Mercer

| extra5 = Brad Mehldau

| length5 = 5:10

| title6 = Days of Wine and Roses

| writer6 = Henry Mancini, Mercer

| extra6 = Cassandra Wilson

| length6 = 4:47

| title7 = That Old Black Magic

| writer7 = Harold Arlen, Mercer

| extra7 = Kevin Spacey

| length7= 3:33

| title8 = Come Rain or Come Shine

| writer8 = Arlen, Mercer

| extra8 = Alison Eastwood

| length8 = 4:32

| title9 = Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive

| writer9 = Arlen, Mercer

| extra9 = Clint Eastwood

| length9 = 3:35

| title10 = This Time the Dream's on Me

| writer10 = Arlen, Mercer

| extra10 = Alison Krauss

| length10 = 3:46

| title11 = Laura

| writer11 = David Raksin, Mercer

| extra11 = Kevin Mahogany

| length11 = 4:49

| title12 = Midnight Sun

| writer12 = Lionel Hampton, Sonny Burke, Mercer

| extra12 = Diana Krall

| length12 = 4:01

| title13 = I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)

| writer13 = Mercer

| extra13 = Joshua Redman

| length13 = 4:59

| title14 = I Wanna Be Around

| writer14 = Sadie Vimmerstedt, Mercer

| extra14 = Tony Bennett

| length14 = 2:10

}}

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was a box office failure, grossing $25.1 million to an estimated $30 million budget. It received mixed reviews. It scores 51% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 39 reviews with an average rating of 6/10. The site's consensus states: "Clint Eastwood's spare directorial style proves an ill fit for this Southern potboiler, which dutifully trudges through its mystery while remaining disinterested in the cultural flourishes that gave its source material its sense of intrigue."{{Rotten Tomatoes|midnight_in_the_garden_of_good_and_evil|Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil}} On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".{{Metacritic film|title=Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil}} Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.{{cite web |title=Home - Cinemascore |url=https://www.cinemascore.com/ |website=Cinemascore |access-date=28 December 2019}}

"Kevin Spacey played Jim Williams -- badly," John Berendt said in a 2015 interview. "He didn't even come close. I had offered [Spacey] recordings so he could listen to Jim Williams talking to me, regaling me with stories while sitting in his living room in Mercer House. [Spacey] said he'd already heard Williams on tape talking during one of his trials. But when I saw the movie, I was perplexed by the way Spacey portrayed Williams, because he did it as if he were asleep. He talked as if he were in a fog or sleepwalking. Then I realized what had happened, and I thought it was hilariously funny." Berendt believes Spacey listened to tapes of Williams during the third trial, when he had taken Valium.[https://www.islandpacket.com/living/article33635538.html "Author of 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' returns to Savannah"] - The Island Packet, March 3, 2015

;Specific

{{reflist}}

;General

• {{cite book|last=Hughes|first=Howard|title=Aim for the Heart|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2009|isbn=978-1-84511-902-7|location=London, UK}}

• {{IMDb title|0119668|Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes|midnight_in_the_garden_of_good_and_evil|Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil}}
• {{mojo title|midnightinthegardenofgoodandevil|Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil}}
• {{Metacritic film|title=Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil}}

{{Clint Eastwood}}

{{John Lee Hancock}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil}}

Category:1997 films

Category:1997 crime drama films

Category:1997 crime thriller films

Category:1997 LGBTQ-related films

Category:American crime drama films

Category:American crime thriller films

Category:American LGBTQ-related films

Category:1990s English-language films

Category:1990s French-language films

Category:Films directed by Clint Eastwood

Category:Films produced by Clint Eastwood

Category:Films based on non-fiction books

Category:Films set in Savannah, Georgia

Category:Films shot in Savannah, Georgia

Category:American neo-noir films

Category:Southern Gothic films

Category:Malpaso Productions films

Category:Silver Pictures films

Category:Warner Bros. films

Category:Films about trans women

Category:Films scored by Lennie Niehaus

Category:Films with screenplays by John Lee Hancock

Category:1997 drama films

Category:1990s American films

Category:LGBTQ-related crime drama films

Category:English-language crime drama films

Category:English-language crime thriller films