When a group of civil rights workers goes missing in a small Mississippi town, FBI agents Alan Ward and Rupert Anderson are sent in to investigate.
Local authorities refuse to cooperate with them, and the African American community is afraid to, precipitating a clash between the two agents over strategy.
As the situation becomes more volatile, the direct approach is abandoned in favor of more aggressive, hard-line tactics.
The 1988 film ‘Mississippi Burning’ is based on the real life murders of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman in 1964. The film is also considered a fictionalized version of the true story and the filmmakers took some significant artistic license, which also led to criticism from some historians and activists involved in the civil rights movement.
This 1988 feature film delivers quite a few moments that are really emotional, gripping, and at times, a little disturbing. The film did an astounding job exploring the hatred that was going on through society in the 1960s.
The performances in the film are incredible and is one of the aspects that really helped the film. Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe gave great performances as the two FBI agents who have differing styles of how to pursue this case, and showed how there were a couple times that they clashed while doing so.
There are also quite a few scenes that can be hard to watch, such as when several of the African Americans were beaten and we see that their church and homes were completely destroyed. Even though those scenes can be hard to watch, it did add to the intensity to show how bad it was getting in the south during that time period.
If you are interested in films that involve the civil rights movement, then I highly recommend this film. Indeed, it's a fictional account of the events. But, it’s still truly moving, engaging and should be seen at least once.
Cast: Gene Hackman (Anderson); Willem Dafoe (Ward); Frances McDormand (Mrs. Pell); Brad Dourif (Deputy Pell); R. Lee Ermey (Mayor Tilman); Gailard Sartain (Sheriff Stuckey); Michael Rooker (Frank Bailey); Darius McCrory (Aaron Williams); Stephen Tobolowsky (Townley).
Writer/director: Chris Gerolmo (writer); Alan Parker (director) (The Life of David Gale; Evita; Angel Heart)
Trivia: In 1985, screenwriter Chris Gerolmo discovered an article that excerpted a chapter from the book “Inside Hoover’s F.B.I.,” which chronicled the FBI’s investigation into the murders. ‘Mississippi Burning’ was also nominated for quite a few Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hackman) and Best Supporting Actress (McDormand).
Where to find the movie? You can find this film on Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video, along with other various PVOD rental services.
‘Mississippi Burning’ is rated R (running time 128 minutes)
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