American Playhouse (TV Series) For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story (1983) User Reviews

Dramatic

[jabailo · 6/10 · 25 October 2009]

I just finished watching the movie on the THIS network. It's easier to watch a movie like this on TV with commercials to break up the horror of the telling.

Besides presenting the history, with dramatic performances, there were some visually striking scenes. After the students were arrested for protesting, and they were placed in cattle stockades...some girls were singing, as others stuck their heads between the rails -- showing the people being treated as animals.

The film also dealt with the reality of protest...of organizing and needing money, of people speaking out losing their jobs or contracts, of being blacklisted for fighting something wrong, and the moral dilemma of asking people to stand together for their rights at the risk of them losing it all. The film shows the progression from simple concern, to taking a small risk, to being all the way in...and yet, at each step, it offers a chance for the people to stop, and take an easier way out.

Strangely, during the commercials they advertised a movie with John Wayne making this quote, "There's right and there's wrong. You gotta do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat." Medgar Evans, and his family and supporters are still alive.

Review both!!

[angim · 8/10 · 1 July 2000]

This movie is a must see for all who are interested in accurate info on the civil rights movement. It was featured on movies in time on the History Channel. Although I enjoyed this movie it left me with a void, which the movie Ghosts of Mississippi filled. Neither can be watched without also seeing the other. Both are a must see for all who want a fuller picture of the events surrounding this great man's life, even if some of it may include a little hype by the movie industry.

The story of an American hero

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 26 December 2015]

While this was a television biopic, it is quite well done, and I recommend it.

Howard Rollins stars as civil rights activist Medgar Evers, and is very good here. I'm not sure Irene Cara is quite believable, but since I know nothing about Mrs. Evers, I don't know that for sure.

The film does not tell Evers' entire story, but rather concentrates on his rise as an NAACP activist in Mississippi. The story becomes very interesting with the 1954 boycott against white merchants, and I think gives a fairly good sense of the suffering that took place in Mississippi at that time, including the murder of Emmet Till. No matter what, Evers continues to work towards integration in one of the most racially prejudiced states then in the Union. The movie concludes with his assassination in 1963.

One could go on and on about the film, but suffice it to say that this is an important chapter if one wants to understand the history of civil rights in America. I can honestly say that this man -- Medgar Evers -- is a hero.

Earnest, Important, Sad

[B.B.-2 · 9/10 · 17 January 2002]

Medgar Evers might have been forgotten if not for Rob Reiner's ambitious but flawed "Ghosts Of Mississippi." But if one were just to watch that film, one would only know Evers as a dead martyr with a brave widow (Myrlie Evers-Williams), a determined newspaper reporter (Jerry Mitchell) and a brilliant lawyer (Bobby DeLaughter) seeking to bring his killer to justice. However you would not know much about who Medgar Evers was or what he tried to do.

This very earnest film begins and ends with Irene Cara's dramatic reading of Myrlie Evers' words. In between, patient viewers are rewarded with a moving portrait of a determined, dedicated, and doomed man whose life was spent in a noble cause.

Don't expect big stars or flashy production values. Just watch and be absorbed into the life of a great man. THEN watch ""Ghosts Of Missippi!"

Push on regardless of the consequences.

[Tor-11 · 11 August 1999]

What Medgar Evens did in his lifetime made him an example to follow. He showed the Southern Black man what he could do to achieve justice in a society of deaf ears and closed eyes. And that was, to make the system work for you regardless of the consequences.

Well done, taught me a lot

[vchimpanzee · 15 January 2004]

This was an African Heritage Network presentation on my local TV station, co-hosted by Ossie Davis, who wrote part of the screenplay.

I didn't know that much about Medgar Evers. The movie opened with events leading up to his murder. Then it went back to 1953, when Evers was selling insurance to blacks but also promoting the NAACP. A black sharecropper was accompanied by the white man he worked for as Evers visited, and the white man made it clear that the sharecropper was happy and Evers should stay away. The sharecropper could only agree, in an Uncle Tom kind of way.

Eventually, Evers moved on to become one of the top NAACP officials in Mississippi, with his dedicated wife his only employee. Evers campaigned for desegregation of schools, but those who supported him ended up having trouble getting work or even being victims of violence. Later, college students protested, and a white man was accused of murdering a black (which in the South of the 1950s often meant no consequences).

Howard Rollins did a good job as Evers, and I was pleasantly surprised with Irene Cara as his wife. Roscoe Lee Browne gave a fine performance as usual, as Evers' boss. Paul Winfield was good as a local black leader respected by the racist whites because he did things their way. The effects of segregation and the attitudes of whites were shown effectively. As is usual in movies like this, the local white people weren't shown that positively, and some of the more racist characters seemed stereotyped.

One scene was quite disturbing: a group of white men nearly raped an older black woman who was a major character. This wasn't seen as a serious offense, but if a black MAN even looked at a white woman in the same culture....

The movie's one major weakness: we were not given enough information about the passing of time. I wasn't aware school segregation had become illegal when the campaign to integrate schools took place, yet cars from the late 50s were showing up. This could have meant that cars being used were only the approximate ages because specific years were hard to find, but eventually it became clear the 60s had begun.

Also, if Byron de la Beckwith was eventually convicted in Evers' death, why was he not mentioned?

This was a movie worth seeing, especially for those who can't believe the South was ever like this.