Made for television, Murder in Mississippi covers the same historical ground that was fictionalized in the theatrical film
Mississippi Burning (89). The film recounts the murders by the Ku Klux Klan of three civil rights workers in 1964. Rather than detail the subsequent FBI investigation, the plotline follows the life of one of the white murder victims, Mickey Schwerner (
Tom Hulce), who gave up a comfortable lifestyle in the North to struggle alongside African-American freedom fighters in the South.
Jennifer Grey portrays Schwerner's wife, while
Josh Charles and
Blair Underwood portray the other two martyred activists, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. Filmed in Georgia, Murder in Mississippi was produced by David L. Wolper of
Roots fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide