Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A New York magazine reporter travels to Savannah to cover the social life of an eccentric antiques dealer, only to become entangled in a deadly shooting and its subsequent trial.
The story
John Kelso, a New York magazine reporter, travels to Savannah, Georgia, to write a feature on the lavish Christmas parties of Jim Williams, a wealthy antiques dealer and art collector. While attending one of Williams's famous gatherings at his Mercer House home, Kelso meets various eccentric locals and witnesses a tense confrontation between Williams and a man named Billy Hanson. Following a violent altercation, Hanson is shot dead in Williams's study. Kelso remains in Savannah to cover the ensuing murder trial, immersing himself in the city's mysterious atmosphere and the complex, often bizarre lives of its residents.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
John Kelso, a New York magazine reporter, travels to Savannah, Georgia, to write a feature on the lavish Christmas parties of Jim Williams, a wealthy antiques dealer and art collector. While attending one of Williams's famous gatherings at his Mercer House home, Kelso meets various eccentric locals and witnesses a tense confrontation between Williams and a man named Billy Hanson. Following a violent altercation, Hanson is shot dead in Williams's study. Kelso remains in Savannah to cover the ensuing murder trial, immersing himself in the city's mysterious atmosphere and the complex, often bizarre lives of its residents. During the trial, Kelso discovers that Williams falsely testified to killing Hanson in self-defense, despite having confessed to Kelso that he executed Hanson in retaliation for an attempted shooting. The judge and jury find Williams not guilty. As Kelso prepares to leave, Williams admits that 'Truth, like art, is in the eye of the beholder.' Shortly after Kelso departs, Williams suffers a fatal heart attack. In a final vision, he sees Hanson lying beside him. After the funeral, Kelso reflects on the mysteries of Savannah while Minerva warns him not to waste time on the dead.
- First release year
- 1997
- Runtime (minutes)
- 155
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Clint Eastwood
- Writers
- John Lee Hancock · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- John Cusack · John Kelso; Kevin Spacey · Jim Williams; Jack Thompson · Sonny Seiler; Irma P. Hall · Minerva; Jude Law · Billy Hanson; Alison Eastwood · Mandy Nichols; Paul Hipp · Joe Odom; The Lady Chablis · Chablis Deveau
- Genres
- crime drama; crime thriller; LGBTQ-related; neo-noir; Southern Gothic
- Themes
- Truth vs. Perception; Southern Gothic; Eccentricity; Social Status
- Tone and mood
- Mysterious; Lush; Exotic; Relaxed
- Premise and plot tags
- Crime; Drama; Mystery; Non-fiction adaptation
- Source material / true-story basis
- John Berendt's 1994 book of the same name
- Content notes
- LGBTQ-related
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews and was a box office failure, grossing $25.1 million against a $30 million budget.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 51% · review count: 39; Metacritic · score: 57 · scale: 100 · review count: 23
- Production trivia
- The film's advertising was controversial for using Jack Leigh's photograph without permission.; The character John Kelso is a fictionalized version of the author John Berendt.; The squirrel Flavis was a trained animal.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…