Mississippi Burning
Tags: dramatic, cult, suspenseful, murder

Plot synopsis:
A scene opening at a public building showing segregation of races with a water fountain for blacks and one for whites and a wooden country church burning with Mahalia Jackson's "Lead Me On" playing introducing the audience to the ugly reality of life in the rural south for most blacks during the Jim Crow era, which is being brought to a close in this movie.Three young men, two whites and one black, are driving down a rural Mississippi road at twilight. They are James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, civil rights workers who in the summer of 1964 were working to get blacks voting rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Several vehicles tailgate them and one of them turns out to be a police car. An unseen police officer is supposedly going to issue a citation for speeding, but it turns out he and several KKK members murder the young men. Off screen, you hear gunshots of the men being murdered and the screen says "Mississippi, 1964".FBI agents Ward and Anderson are driving to the fictional Jessup County, Mississippi (Neshoba County in reality) to investigate the missing men. Ward is a young, rather uptight, clean-cut, college-educated, and by the book agent and Anderson is a middle-aged, rough around the edges, and former small town Mississippi sheriff who believes in more experienced means to investigate, since he knows how the law works and how people's mentality is in the south. Both are liberal, but still don't see eye to eye.The men arrive at the sheriff's department at the Jessup County courthouse and ask a young deputy to see the sheriff. The deputy blows them off and teases them, but the sheriff comes out of his office soon afterwards, He is a chubby, jovial, tobacco chewing, and generally personable man that accepts their invitation and into the office to talk. Initially he thinks they are there to solve racial problems under the direction of Martin Luther King.Back in the car, Anderson and Ward are reviewing the sheriff's testimony to them about the three civil rights workers arrested for speeding, then released and escorted as far as the county line, never to be seen again. Ward is suspicious because the men are trained activists that are supposed to phone their headquarters every hour and that they did not do so after being released from jail or after their escort.Anderson and Ward go into a crowded restaurant to have lunch that is segregated and Ward, not taking seriously the rules and customs of segregation, goes into the black section to question a young man eating lunch. The man refuses to comply and the whites at the front of the restaurant all stop eating and stare at them.Anderson and Ward are at the remains of a black church in the countryside that was burned down where voter registration headquarters were being set up. The klan torched the place before anything could be done and the three missing men came back to apologize for what happened and talked to some locals. Ward wants to talk to some of them, but Anderson insists he's wasting his time that blacks refuse to do so in fear of retaliation, but Ward insists it's "bureau procedure". Ward questions an elderly black woman in a shack with her bedridden husband and the woman just answers yes sir and no sir to the questions he has about the incident of the burning.At a house of a black family, three menacing white men knock on the door and a young boy answers it with the men asking to see the brother. He is the young black man at the restaurant that refused to talk to Ward. The two white men beat him mercilessly that he better not talk to the FBI agents.Anderson and Ward are in their hotel room with Anderson going through the files of the missing young men. Ward does not understand where all the hatred of blacks is coming from. Anderson tells Ward a story of a black man that lived near his place when he was a kid that owned a mule that was later poisoned and the black man packed up and left. His father was a self-hating racist that had done it without any objection and taught his son that blacks will never be better than whites. Immediately afterwards, a shotgun blasts their window and there is a burning cross on the hotel property. Ward insists on more FBI agents being sent over, but Anderson objects to it thinking it will just cause more trouble.Ward, Anderson, and numerous FBI agents set up an office at a local movie theater to rent for only $75 a month. At the same time, a Cadillac with a Confederate flag is pulling up at another building nearby and Anderson is sure it's the Grand Wizard of the KKK. Ward goes to do a license plate check on who the car belongs to. Anderson goes about his less traditional means to infiltrate and find out information. He goes into the local barber shop with the sheriff there. The town mayor is receiving a shave and introduces himself to Anderson that outsiders need to just let people live their lives in their community and not stir up trouble. The sheriff insists their community is peaceful and if the FBI agents continue to push them, there will be dead bodies. Anderson blows them off passive-aggressively that nobody is bold enough to stand up to the racism and that they are just there for a missing person's case.Agent Bird is another FBI agent that comes to Ward and tells him the license plate does indeed belong to Clayton Townley, Grand Wizard of the KKK. And that a Choctaw Indian on a nearby reservation believes he found the car the three missing civil rights workers were in.Anderson now goes into the local beauty shop flirting with the ladies that he wants a new hair job, then inquires who that vehicle belongs to and the local operator Mr.s Pell, states it belongs to Clayton Townley. Anderson confesses he's an FBI agent and Mrs. Pell is the deputy's wife. After questioning, a car squeals on the street and dumps a young black man out of it. He is the young black man at the diner that Ward tried to question. The sheriff tells the agents to back off and for he and his staff to handle the situation. Anderson reprimands Ward for speaking to a black man with a white audience and that this is what happens. They both already know Clayton Townley is the man that pulled up in the car and Ward explains to Anderson about the vehicle at the Choctaw reservation.A Choctaw Indian man is filleting catfish and shows the FBI agents the vehicle. About a dozen of them all walk through the swamp in their nice suits and find it. A tow truck pulls the car out of the swamp. Anderson and Ward now realize they never left the state. Ward orders Bird to telephone asking for 100 men to search the swamp for the bodies. Once again, Anderson disagrees thinking it will just cause more trouble.Over 100 Naval Reserve men have been activated to come search the swamp. During this time, black homes and churches are bombed and set on fire by klansmen and there is national media coverage with many white locals thinking the whole thing is a hoax set up by the FBI.The media are interviewing Sheriff Stuckey and he insists the FBI are wasting their time searching for the three men and think the whole thing is a set up by the NAACP.Ward and Anderson are back at the site where the black church was burned and a young black boy, Aaron is talking to a group of people about how the day will come that they will no longer have to kiss ass with the sheriff or any other powers that be. The other people leave, but Aaron and his father remain with Ward attempting to ask them questions. Anderson tries to as well, but Aaron speaks back at him that he knows there will be retaliation if they say anything and that they are not the law there and should be just as scared as they are.Ward and Anderson go to Deputy Pell's home while he is on break from work eating dinner and watching a baseball game. The deputy is annoyed at them coming there, but Ward questions him about the night the three men were missing and Anderson converses with Mrs. Pell in the kitchen with her telling him the house they are in is where she was born and raised and about the hours her husband works. Afterwards, Ward and Anderson leave with Ward worried about Pell's confidence in the matter and that Anderson saw a wedding photo of the Pell couple with three men with the KKK symbol in the picture.Anderson and Ward secretly spy on Pell escorting a drunk out of jail with Anderson using this as an opportunity to interview Mrs. Pell.Anderson goes back to the Pell residence to question her brushing off Ward's college boy book smarts, gives her pretty flowers that smell bad, and she offers him iced tea while they talk. He tells her about his life growing up in Mississippi himself, hanging on to an unsuccessful marriage while working as an FBI agent, and questions her about Deputy Pell's alibi about 50 minutes he spent with her on the fateful night, but she answers a reluctant yes and he decides to leave.At a black church, many locals have gathered from churches that have been burned down. A large group of klansmen are waiting outside the church to beat the people and run in horror after having seen them. Aaron is in that group, gets down on his knees to pray, and a klansman attacks him threatening to kill him if he talks to FBI agents again.Back to the site of the swamp being searched, white locals are being interviewed by the press, some thinking blacks are treated badly and others thinking there's nothing wrong with the way they're being treated. The klansmen are teasing people searching the swamps for wanting to find them.Back in town, the media are interviewing Clayton Townley. He's asked if he's with the KKK, but Townley insists he's a businessman and why people that are not white, Anglo-Saxon Christians are not accepted, among them including Jews, Catholics, Tartars, Mongols, Orientals, and Negroes.Anderson goes into a local club that serves beer, even though he's in a dry state and attempts conversation with the men. Among them are Deputy Pell and several other men. Pell gives him a Falstaff beer to drink. He tells them of his days with bootlegged alcohol on his payroll and his days as a Mississippi sheriff, but they pay him no mind and Pell cuts him off and tells him they're not interested in his stories. Frank Bailey, a klansman that was seen at the beginning of the movie harassing and possibly killing the three missing civil rights workers, threatens and grabs Anderson that he and the staff of FBI are wasting their time trying to investigate and change things and that they need to leave unless they want more dead bodies. Anderson puts Frank in his place grabbing him by the genitals that they will not leave until the job is done. He thanks Pell for the beer and leaves.Anderson is back at the makeshift FBI headquarters at the movie theater with a documentary about a klansman objecting to integration. Ward reprimands Anderson for his intimidation tactics and talking to the deputy's wife about the incident. Anderson is furious, but Ward reminds him that opening a can of worms happens on the inside.There is a street protest in town with mostly blacks and some white participation. Anderson goes back into the beauty parlor with Mrs. Pell upset at the protest she sees outside.Anderson and Ward stake out the sheriff's department on a young black man that's just been released from jail. Some klansmen pick him up in a truck afterwards with Anderson and Ward on their tail. They find the young black man in the woods castrated and Ward upset at what white people inflict on blacks there.Ward goes up to the Walker residence, the parents of the young black man pleading for them to press charges and they refuse to talk.Ward and Anderson are convinced the sheriff's department arranged the murder of the civil rights workers and once again back in town interviewing Deputy Pell if he's a member of the KKK or had the three men murdered and he denies the allegations. Afterwards, he leaves with the sheriff reassuring him, ignoring the media, and Frank Bailey violently attacks the media to get out and leave them alone. The mayor confronts Ward and Anderson and is extremely frustrated at the FBI's tactics on his community, but Ward and Anderson insist they will not back down.Mrs. Pell is arriving at her home from grocery shopping and sees Anderson in another vehicle watching her. She is troubled at this and feels he knows something she knows.A group of klansmen firebomb a home of a black family with a boy as a witness as to who the men were. The FBI agents decide to give the boy a box to put over his head to disguise him.The accused men are in court with a lenient judge insisting it's the agitation of the FBI agents that led to the men bombing the home of the black family. He gives them a suspended five year sentence with the men celebrating.That night, there is riot in a black neighborhood with Anderson and Ward coming there and the sheriff refusing to let them in to stop it.The home of Aaron and his family is being invaded by klansmen and torched on fire. The wife and girls are told to leave and go up the road. Aaron's father brandishes a rifle for the men to come out, but before he can do anything, he's clubbed over the head and left to hang by Frank Bailey. Aaron rescues his father.The next morning, there is the aftermath of the fire and dead livestock burning. Anderson tells Ward what is happening is progress, but Ward feels all they have done is cause trouble. Aaron and his family have been asked to go live in Detroit with other family members. Ward reminds Anderson the three workers are still missing and he now needs to break the alibi Mrs. Pell told him about the 50 minutes with her husband.Clayton Townley is giving a speech at a klan rally that night at how much he loves Mississippi and that federal powers that be coming to their state will not change their ways for the better. A large group of unattractive inbred locals cheer him on. Ward and other FBI agents are taking down license plate numbers of cars of those attending and Deputy Pell confronts him that they have no business there, but Ward insists it's a KKK meeting.Anderson is back in town and goes to visit Mrs. Pell who is now closing down the beauty shop for the day. She reluctantly lets him in and tells him he needs to leave because it's so ugly at what she and many other white people have to live with, since most of the rest of the country see them as nothing but bigots and racists. She's upset enough at it that she spills her guts to Anderson confessing that her husband was one of the people that was out that night killing the civil rights workers and that they buried their bodies on a farm in an earthen dam.The FBI agents have unearthed the bodies of the three men and they are taken to the local morgue for an autopsy, with the FBI and sheriff's department refusing to comment on the incident. The sheriff pulls Pell to the side and tells him to take care of business at home, with Pell having initially failing to realize his wife released the information.Mrs. Pell is at her home watching television with her husband, Frank Bailey, Lester Cowens, and Wesley Cooke arriving at the home as witnesses. Pell attacks his wife and beats her within an inch of her life for releasing the information.Ward gets word at headquarters that Mrs. Pell has been badly beaten and in the hospital. He orders agents to secure the area and for Anderson to come down, with Anderson not aware at what's happened. Anderson comes into Mrs. Pell's room to see her on life support and Ward sitting down. Infuriated, Anderson wants to take matters into his own hands. He and Ward end up fighting with Ward pulling a gun on him, but now Ward agrees that his ways have been hopeless and that he wants justice to be done Anderson's way and do whatever it takes to apprehend the men.A funeral is now being held for James Chaney and the two white men with the black pastor of an ornate church giving a speech enraged at the injustice being done to blacks in his community, the hypocrisy, and how the locals continue to let it happen. Numerous FBI agents being brought in from outside also attend the graveside services and go to work to help solve the case and justice be done.The mayor is about to get in his car and is kidnapped by an unknown man. He's taken to an abandoned shack in the country with the hooded man that kidnapped him revealing himself to be a supposedly local black man. The black man tells the mayor a story of a young black man that was castrated by whites for doing nothing more than being a negro. He takes the mayor's pants down and threatens to castrate him if he doesn't tell him who killed the three civil rights workers and what happened. The mayor decides to comply.The black man gets inside a small commuter airplane on a farm and takes off in a rainstorm. He is revealed to be a "specialist" by the FBI from Agent Anderson. Anderson assures Ward the mayor won't talk and would be killed if he did so. It turns out that Deputy Pell and Frank Bailey did the killing and that Clayton Townley engineered it. But Ward knows that local charges can never be brought on the men and it would have to be federal. They squabble again about their illegal means to get information, but decide to follow through.Clayton Townley pulls up to a church not understanding what's going on. The sheriff, Deputy Pell, Lester Cowens, Wesley Cooke, and Floyd Swilley are all in the church assuming Townley called a meeting for them. Lester is confounded telling him he had a note written to him to meet there and that they must be set up, but Townley tells him to shut up and for all the men to leave the place quietly. Ward and Anderson are listening to a tape of the men in the church.Anderson and another FBI agent go into a footwear repair shop Lester works at with Anderson teasing him about a ride. Lester is confused at this and the other agent tells him to get in the car with them.Lester is being driven around with other FBI agents that they know all about his involvement with the night of the three missing civil rights workers, but he refuses to talk. He's told by Anderson to go on record to save himself trouble. They drop him off in the middle of a black neighborhood with residents glaring at him and he runs off.Deputy Pell is receiving a shave at the barber shop with Anderson taking over for the barber to shave Pell. He harasses him and cuts his face telling him about the night of the killings and berates him for what he's done, throwing him around the place.Lester and his wife and baby are having dinner that night and a gunshot blows out the window of his home. He sees a burning cross on his lawn and tries to escape, but the klansmen kidnap him. They take him out and tie him to a tree with him pleading he didn't say anything and the FBI come to his rescue for him to turn himself in. It turns out the klansmen are FBI agents in disguise that played a charade.Anderson and the other FBI agents arrest Deputy Pell, Sheriff Stuckey, Frank Bailey, Floyd Swilley, Wesley Cooke, and Clayton Townley. With the exception of the sheriff, all the others, including Lester, receive sentences ranging from anywhere from 3 to 10 years.The mayor has hung himself because of the guilt from what he let happen and that he was supposedly subpoenaed to testify in court. Ward and Bird remove his body with Bird questioning why he did it and Ward insists he was guilty for letting all this happen, but maybe the FBI agents are guilty as well.Anderson goes back to the Pell residence to visit Mrs. Pell, whose home was supposedly trashed out by the klansmen. He apologizes to her for what happened, but she knows she did the right thing and intends to remain in her home for life.Anderson and Ward are at the cemetery with a black female gospel singer with an interracial group wanting to join and all be one. Things seem to be getting better, but we're taken to the gravestone of James Chaney, which has been destroyed.

Review: Hackman and Dafoe are at their best, and Frances McDormand delivers a beautifully understated, powerful performance as the deputy's wife - a woman at war with her sense of right and wrong, struggling with fear and loyalty.
It's not just the actors, but Gene and William's characters, I wanted to be just like them, they were able to stand up even though the many times of being knocked down and caring so much just to try to in some way save that town.I honestly feel that everyone should see this movie, it can change your life or make you look around and want to change things.
The film is inspired by real-life events.Dafoe and Hackman play the two FBI agents sent to investigate.
Their differing styles of pursuing the case and Dafoe's belated admiration for Hackman's "method's" is an interesting layer of flesh added to the structure of the film.You will see some really nasty racist characters played by familiar faces like Brad Dourif, Lee Ermey and an especially violent Michael Rooker.
Mississippi Burning is set in 1964 when three civil rights activists are murdered in a small town by the Ku Klux Klan Two of them were white and one of them blackBased on actual events in Philadelphia, the screenplay centers chiefly on the hostility relationship between the two FBI agents (Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe) sent down to the small Mississippi town to seek information about the vanishing of the three victims Immediately upon their arrival, they are greeted with hostility by the local law enforcement and the town in general Dafoe's Ward in charge of the casecomes off as the embodiment of everything those men in the south dislike about the "Yankees" who are coming down there commanding them how to act Anderson(Hackman), who was once a Mississippi officer himself, has a special feel for how to settle things with Southerners He uses his charm to win the confidence of the friendly wife of a Klansman deputy, whom he suspects holds the key to unravel the details of the caseThe scenes between McDormand and Hackman are the best of the film They dramatize how quickly two lonely people can match...
This film is a good,though not flawless representative of the turbulent 1960's south.The character representation is good,though taken to a bit of an extreme in places.Gene Hackman gives another knockout performance here,as he does always as does Willem Dafoe.The cast is great,though Gailard Sartain was a surprising choice as Sheriff Stuckey, given his penchant for appearing in the worst of films.It is based on a true story,and as we all know,true stories are never presented to perfection.It is,however,presented as well as it can be.This is a very gripping,edge of your seat film,and very well done..
After some white Civil Rights activists disappear, the FBI is called in to investigate (Oscar-nominee Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe).
Mississippi burning shows Gene Hackman at his best and at his side is Willem Dafoe who also plays very strong.
The two agents have very different personalities, Rupert Anderson used to be a sheriff in a small Mississippi town, just like the town where they are investigating missing civil right workers, he does not like to do everything by the book, in contrary to Allan Ward, he is a hard working FBI agent who likes to do everything by the book.
When Ward lets Anderson do it his way they finally see what really happened.The acting in Mississippi Burning is close to brilliant, Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe are both good actors, but together they are brilliant.
When three young civil rights workers (two white and one black) going missing in the deep south of America, the FBI send two agents in to investigate.
For all this it gets 7 out 10.THE STORY: Is based on the real events of the murder of 3 civil rights activists in 1964 Mississippi and the subsequent FBI investigation into their deaths.
The movie portrays the murders, but FBI agents Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) and Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) are made up.
we have seen a lot of movie involving hackman, and this is one of the greatest performance from him...don't ever judge the acting by comparing to his age..he will always be one of the greatest actor for all time...Willem dafoe is just like the underdog...sometimes he has given a very powerful acting in a movie,and it was proved by two movies...this one @ Mississippi burning..and American psycho..thus to these performances...hackman was nominated for Oscar...he really deserves it !!
Perhaps the story should had put more its emphasis on its two main characters, played by Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman and their relationship as FBI-partners, who both have different ideas and styles of approaches.The whole racial theme serves as the basis for the movie its story.
Frances McDormand does fine with a caricature written part, whilst fans of Biloxi Blues {me} will delight in seeing the wonderfully named Park Overall laying on her hussy act in the beauty salon.At times shattering, at others frustrating, Mississippi Burning sadly only scratches the surface of the topic to hand, but for sure the movie world is all the more better for films like this, so in that it becomes an essential watch, so see it if you haven't already.
The latter plays a northern FBI agent in conflict with Hackman as no matter what the FBI attempts to do, they are thwarted every step of the way by a bigoted, disgusting town and local law enforcement officers up to their necks in corruption and murder.As the wife of a deputy sheriff, Frances McDormand is fabulous as an abused woman with a conscience.The film is terrific as it shows how the bigots attempt to justify their ways as appropriate to their religion.
So I can't see how anyone can question that the non FBI whites came out positively in this film.Great acting too from Dafoe, Hackman & McDormand.One previous commenter here, claimed that if you enjoyed this film you're a closet racist & as bad as the people in the film & the ones that made it.
It's flawed because it's not terribly functional as a crime drama or nuanced enough as a civil rights story, but its heart is in the right place, its grasp of the situation solid, and its detractors mostly attack it for all the wrong reasons.Like why does "Mississippi Burning" give all the credit to breaking the murder case to the FBI?
As the FBI investigation in Neshoba County revealed, the sheriff's office and the Klan worked hand in glove."Mississippi Burning" has great acting, sumptuous period detail, an unflinching desire to show the terrible toll of racism on a society, not only with lynchings but most powerfully, in the story Gene Hackman tells about how his father dealt with a black neighbor's mule.
There's an early scene where Willem Dafoe's character (based not on an FBI agent but a Justice Department official named John Michael Doar) sits down next to a black man and starts asking him questions about the murder, in full view of a hundred or so people.
Two FBI officers investigtate the mysterious disappearance of three civil rights activists, one is a young idealistic college kid (played by Willem Dafoe) under whom works a middle-aged man who's an ex-sheriff and was born and raised in a small Mississippi town (played by Gene Hackman).
This film does an excellent job on telling a story that depicts this and as a result, we get a film that's moving, touching, and even courageous.Alan Parker's film is about how two radically different FBI agents team together to solve the case of the three missing civil rights workers whom the authorities believe the Ku Klux Klan have a part in the disappearance.The acting is excellent thanks to the lead performances by Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.
Frances McDormand delivers a powerhouse as well as she is the clue to exactly what happened to these three men.Overall, Mississippi Burning is an excellent, but very moving film as it tells a harrowing story.
This drama-thriller is loosely based on the FBI investigation into the real-life murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, providing an additional value to anyway skillful plot (by Chris Gerolmo) and direction (by Alan Pakula).
The events are logical and catchy to follow, largely thanks to character actors like Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, and Brad Dourif who make a difference even while being briefly on screen -- no cute faces or politically correct solutions, but harsh and effective methods for solving a severe crime.It is neither family movie not entertainment, but depiction of black spot in the US history after WWII.
Comes as a sad fact that people are running away to see "The Help" (which is good considering how long Hollywood hasn't dealt with a heavy subject that racism is), taking it too seriously believing it's all truth but they probably never watched Alan Parker's classic.Based on a real case that happened in 1964 "Mississippi Burning" starts with the brutal murder of three young Human Rights activists who were helping the black communities of Mississippi.
Later on, the FBI comes to town led by the young and idealist Agent Ward (Willem Dafoe) followed by the veteran Agent Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) to search for the boys in what most people thought to be a simple case of missing person.
A key moment from the film is when Hackman's character tells to Dafoe a story that happened when he was a child, when his father killed the mule of a black man he knew, after getting sick of hearing his friends teasing him saying that the black guy was more important than he because he had a mule.
Lee Ermey, all spectacular performances.Alan Parker's most impactant film of the 1980's and certainly one of the greatest films of all time, "Mississippi Burning" might not be 100% real and not being all so truth to the facts but still works to present a dark period of American history.
The film presents two actors at the top of their game – Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe – playing a couple of FBI agents who visit a small town to investigate some racist murders.Alan Parker fills this film with a slow burning intensity and anger in much the same way he did in ANGEL HEART.
This was a very intense story about three missing civil rights workers in 1964 and the U.S. government looking into that disappearance (and murder) in Mississippi, where it happened.On first viewing, I really enjoyed this because of the top-rated performance by the lead actors Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe and the fact that the story was interesting.
Last year,I was appalled to read in an issue of Film Comment magazine that "Mississippi Burning" had been judged as the worst American film based on real life events.This is not only shocking but highly unbelievable too.What dismays is the fact that how can anyone categorize such a brilliant film as one of the worst political films.I am of the opinion that this is a big error on the part of a respectable film magazine."Mississippi Burning" is a superb rendition of the events which took lives of civil rights workers.Apart from the actors'efforts,the real credit of its success must go to Alan Parker's taut,skillful direction.With this film he has proved that he is at his creative best when he makes films based on real life events.No doubt people do remember "Midnight Express" and also the fact that hardly a week passes without the television screening of this film.William Defoe is a kind soul in this film.It was after this film that he decided to play various kind of bad guy roles.Gene Hackman is good too and his anger,frustration and obstinacy are a joy to watch.Frances McDormand is nice as the helpless soul trying to wriggle out of an unhappy marriage.Message of the film :nothing can be achieved through violence.PS: Live and let others live happily..
Set in mississippi during the tumultous civil rights era, 1964, Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe play FBI agents sent to uncover the whereabouts of some missing civil rights movement supporters.
This film involves the investigation of the disappearance of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1967.Dafoe plays the straight man from the FBI, He does everything by the book.
Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white.
Mississippi Burning (1988) **** (out of 4) Alan Parker's film about two FBI agents (Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe) who travel to Mississippi to try and see what happened to three missing Civil Rights workers.
The way Hackman juggles his character through so many emotions is a real treat to watch and in my opinion this is one of the best performances from the actor.Once again, I'm torn on the entertainment value a film like this should deliver but after thinking about it for a while I guess this is a perfect film.
Three civil rights activists (2 blacks, 1 white) go missing & presumed murdered by white racists (the Klu Klux Klan) in some small town in the heart of Mississippi during the race protests of 1964 .Enter two FBI men from the North - Hackman (the bad cop, who used to be a town sherrif in the area many years ago but now  hunts bigger fish whether it be within the law or otherwise ) and Willem Defoe (the good cop trying to set the world to rights with the belief that even racists can't be all that evil to want to kill).They investigate the case using the rules laid out by the pragmatic and by-the-book Defoe.
However, it is to the content of the film that counts most and this is where Parker's limited knowledge of the civil rights protests in the Deep South during the early 60s is painfully obvious.I would guess that if the film was remade today one of the leads would go to a black actor of the quality of Morgan Freeman (replacing Hackman's character) or Denzel Washington (replacing Defoe's preachy, peace-loving act).
When i started watching the movie i thought gene was just an ordinary detective and that too he proves till 45 min of the movie but after the movie catches its rhythm we see hackman's badass character and iam sure your gonna like it too.The movie is awesome with pure suspense and thrill.The way director alan made racism story into thriller movie is itself a achievement.
Inspired by real events this film opens with the murder of three civil rights activists, two white one black, in Mississippi in 1964.
Gene Hackman gives a great performance as Agent Rupert Anderson; Willem Dafoe is solid as Agent Alan Ward and Frances McDormand impresses as Mrs Pell, wife of a deputy involved in the case.
Director Alan parkar deserves standing ovation for making a outstanding eye opener , compelling depiction of real social problem is just too perfect , excellent cinematography , screenplay , powerhouse performances by Gene Hackman , Willem Dafoe ,Francis mc dormand made is cult classic thriller , such a movies are gem of cinema , feeling proud on such a talented filmakers & actors 👍👍.
It isn't a "pleasant" movie at all, but it's certainly a powerful one.It's loosely based on the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, and it revolves around the two FBI agents leading the investigation - Ward (Willem Dafoe) and Andersen (Gene Hackman).
This film tells the story of the follow-up investigation by two FBI guys named Anderson (Gene Hackman) and Ward (Willem Dafoe).
Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman star as FBI agents who investigate a murder on a civil rights activist in a racist southern town and find out that there different styles of work can lead to justice if they persevere.
Based on the 1964 civil rights workers' murders in Neshoba County, Mississippi, the film details the investigation of two FBI agents who travel down there to solve the case.
I disagree, for this is how history was, and it needs to be shown in an accurate light, no matter how hard it is to watch.The two leads are great, particularly Willem Dafoe, as detective Ward who is determined that justice will be served, whether the crime victim is white or black.I found this movie to be honest and insightful, telling history as it really was.
This film does not investigate such complex issues,it rather shows its devastating effects.The murder of 3 civil rights activists in Mississippi in 1964, attracts external police forces (mainly the FBI) to investigate the disappearance of these 3 young people (2 white, 1 black).
(Though Gene Hackman was the one nominated for an Oscar) The movie tells a powerful story about racism and hatred in the south during the sixties.
Such tensions as the racist's ideals of the KKK, the way the media are consumed by the investigation of the missing civil rights workers and even the different ways both Ward and Anderson do their job, are all very memorable points from the film and this is the good work of Parker.
Other interesting scenes in Mississippi Burning' include the events that show the three civil rights boys being harassed by the cops, you have all the media hype created by the FBI investigation which was great, and the racial tension created by the KKK and their hatred towards the black people of Mississippi, with the burning of one black family's home, quite disturbing.
FBI agents come to investigate--southern Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) and straight-laced by the book Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe).
Agent Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) and Agent Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) find themselves investigating the disappearances of three civil rights workers in a small, segregated town in Mississippi.