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Miss Evers' Boys

PG 1997 1h 58m Drama List
Tomatometer 1 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
When nurse Eunice Evers (Alfre Woodard) is chosen to facilitate a program intended to curb syphilis rates among African Americans in rural Alabama, she is gratified to be able to serve her community. Over time, however, the study becomes twisted into a shocking human experiment in which patients are systematically denied much-needed medicine. Decades after the fact, Evers is called before a Senate committee to testify as to what really happened during the infamous "Tuskegee Study."
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Miss Evers' Boys

Critics Reviews

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TV Guide Rated: 4/5 Jul 30, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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StephenPaul C The greatest 01 hour: and 58 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Laurence Fishburne executive produces and co-stars next to Alfre Woodard, EG Marshall, and Joe Morton directed by Joseph Sergeant Based on the true story and play by David Feldshah African American men suffered from the effects of syphilis and the whites were afraid it would spread to their population They also believed black doctors and nurses were inferior In 1932 the government created special programs 'for the Negro' to counteract the disease One in particular was the 'Tuskegee Study' in Macon County, Alabama headed by nurse Eunice Evers fully aware of the lack of treatment provided to help her patients Plus the budget's funding was cut The Senate Comittee saw it as some sort of a Nazi experiment while others saw it as a miracle this nurse wanted to help these men Yet penicillin couldn't be offered because of the concern of side effects involved next to the racial discrimination When it comes to disease we are all the same Truth be told the movie's focus isn't in the right place; there's way too much time spent on Evers' romance than concentrating on the patients' conditions But Woodard's performance makes it I really wish more of the drama was more engrossing But thankfully over time President Clinton recognized this experiment as shameful and unjust back in 1997 as well as giving reparations to all the deceased's relatives that couldn't be treated properly There's a good story in here; the romance needed to be secondary to what was actually being told Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review victor o Every once in a while, I hear about the horrors committed by humanity when it claims to advance science but does it in a way that is beyond immoral. The United States government's study of Syphilis in the 1930s was one of those horrors in which hundreds of black men were used as Guinea pigs to advance research into the Syphilis bacterium. This movie tells a semi-fictional tale about a nurse that took the initiative to provide men for the government to study all while leaving them prone to the agonies of being untreated and lied to in the name of scientific progress. It is the 1930s in Tuskegee, Alabama and the United States Office of Public Health is doing what it can to help stem the tide of the effects of the Great Depression. The economy's collapse is causing unemployment and poverty which brings disease. In this story, a nurse by the name of Eunice Evers is called to assist doctors looking to stem the Syphilis bacterium that is plaguing several poor black communities in Tuskegee. A study is held to treat black men suffering from the disease. Things begin earnest but with said economic problems there is no money to support it. But a solution rises in the form of a Congressional study that allows money to flow but it is not to treat the sick but to study them, see how they react, and see if race plays a factor. It is a dilemma that troubles Nurse Evers, as she must deal with the suffering that these men, men she had encouraged to be in the study, endure and she can do nothing about it. Years go by as the guilt weighs upon her as the study is made public and Congress holds hearings on the unethical nature of the study. It all ends with lives lost, but no one is punished, there is an apology but years after the fact the laws changed. While this story is fictional, it is based on a factual event and that is what makes this worse. A true-life drama of a horrific event played to perfection by such great performers as Alfre Woodard, Laurence Fishburne, Ossie Davis, Joe Morton, E.G. Marshall, etc. HBO Films made a great film, one long overdue on something that should never be forgotten. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Very well done. A based on the true events of the "Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments". It really shows the heartbreaking background that many civilians. When medical professionals decide to do a controlled study on many civilians to test the effects of prolonged syphilis. Alfre Woodard puts in a very good performance. Very sad since a cure for the infection had been known for years. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Between a 6/10 and 7/10, as a history lesson about human experimentation and cautionary tale about bigotry and the abuse of power, Miss Evers Boys is first-rate and informative. As a film, it's acting keeps it above the level of middling. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Just saw this old film about a so-called experiment where the doctors would forbid treatments to patients because they were african-americans and to prove they would die the same way that white people would die. This would be absolutely unethical today. It was at the time but being unethical is what the english invasion was all about. The invasion was not possible any other way. Just think about it. Now that the large majority is assimilated, they can relax a notch. Well,pretty good film. Good tv film, well acted. True story. In the synopsis, they say that some were injected with syphillis but in the film, it was not clear that they were injected with it. It is rather inferred that they all had it already. I find it hard to believe that they would infect people a deadly disease without consent and without treatment in the 1930s, although the englishes are known to have done much worse to the natives before. Mmmh, it's possible. And a look online shows that it did happen. It makes sense now that so many people believe 9-11 was a government plot from the start. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Miss Evers' Boys

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis When nurse Eunice Evers (Alfre Woodard) is chosen to facilitate a program intended to curb syphilis rates among African Americans in rural Alabama, she is gratified to be able to serve her community. Over time, however, the study becomes twisted into a shocking human experiment in which patients are systematically denied much-needed medicine. Decades after the fact, Evers is called before a Senate committee to testify as to what really happened during the infamous "Tuskegee Study."
Director
Joseph Sargent
Producer
Kip Konwiser, Derek Kavanagh
Production Co
HBO NYC Productions
Rating
PG, TV-14
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 30, 2016
Runtime
1h 58m
Sound Mix
Stereo
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