view_and_review On June 21, 1964 three young men drove a CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) station wagon from Meridian to Longview, Mississippi. On the return trip to Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price arrested them for speeding. He jailed them in Philadelphia, MS. then finally released them a little after 10 p.m. and told them to leave town. A few miles outside of Philadelphia the deputy stopped their car again--this time after a wild chase--and turned them over to a group of Neshoba County Klansmen. Their bodies wouldn't be found until over a month later by FBI agents.That's the real story. Mississippi Burning is a close dramatization of it.I watched in both disgust and surprise. I was disgusted by the actions of the proud citizens of Mississippi and I was surprised to see actors that I new nothing about when the movie came out in 1989--the likes of Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand (Three Billboards...), R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket), Michael Rooker (Merle from The Walking Dead), Frankie Faison (commissioner on The Wire), and Darius McCrary (Eddie Winslow on Family Matters). I was surprised, not in a bad way, but in a "Whoa! He's in this?!" way. Sure these names aren't A-listers but they are all familiar faces to me that I never knew culminated on a 1989 project.As for the movie itself, there was some creative license taken but it was very close to the real events. In fact, the FBI knew so much about the murders because one of their informants was with the guilty party. The movie does evoke strong feelings and it is unavoidable. How do you depict 1960's deep south without raising the hairs on the back of someone's neck? Because this movie wasn't a through-and-through tragedy there was a modicum of justice served. I thought all the actors did a good job (too good in fact in some cases) and the script was well written. I still file this movie under "hard to watch".

pmassey-23533 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. But he doesn't get far. His investigation is blocked every step of the way by the locals, including law enforcement and the KKK. Clearly these Southern boys don't appreciate these 'bleeding heart liberals' coming down from the North and telling them how to 'treat their coloured folk'...The Gene Hackman comes along. He's another lawman, but with a more radical approach to investigation...Hackman's character is quite happy to do whatever it takes to achieve the desired objective including beating, threatening and intimidating witnesses and suspects. This approach is more successful...But will it prevail, in the face of opposition from (almost) the entire town?As usual, Dafoe is brilliant, and Hackman, of course never puts a foot wrong. He must have a really good agent, because I have never seen him act badly or be in a bad film. In fact his only mistake in his entire career seems to have been dental in nature...surely someone should tell these guys that 70 year olds do not have perfect, straight white teeth...

mariusar A personal favorite of mine for many years, Mississippi Burning is one of those films that once viewed is hard to forget. And that's as it should be.Superlative acting across the board. Sure-handed direction and top quality writing. Hackman, DaFoe, McDormand, Ermey, Rooker, Dourif...no need to say any more.America...how far we have come - sadly, how very far we have yet to go...

jimbo-53-186511 When three civil rights workers disappear FBI Agents Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) and Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) are tasked with investigating their disappearances. What starts out as a routine missing persons investigation quickly escalates into something much more serious especially when Ward (who isn't from Mississippi) starts to learn more about its townsfolk and about how those in charge choose to 'run' their town.I suppose it was kind of inevitable that a film like Mississippi Burning is going to be met with a rather mixed reception particularly as it apparently plays very 'loose' with the facts. In all fairness though anyone who watches a film and expects it to be 100% faithful or true to the story is somewhat naïve. What you get with Mississippi Burning is an interesting and fairly entertaining film which provides an insight into racial segregation in 1960's America - at least that's how I saw it!!!Although a lot of what we see may be fictional director Alan Parker works well with scriptwriter Chris Gerolmo in creating a powerful and somewhat terrifying look at the devastation that can be caused through bigotry and narrow-mindedness. Parker doesn't hold back and manages to stage some excellent scenes (the scene with Gene Hackman in the barber shop is particularly chilling as well as being memorable). The brutality continues throughout the film, which, admittedly, can make it hard to watch, but for me, this adds to the realism and Parker really engages with the viewer by drawing them into this appalling period of history.The strong performances compliment Parker's brutal direction well and the likes of Hackman and Dafoe are both good here (even though they are a rather clichéd pair of mismatched cops) Despite this though there's still an interesting and rather uneasy dynamic between the two men and the script occasionally affords them some amusing exchanges. The villains of the piece (Ermey, Dourif, Rooker, and Sartain) are excellent and all give rather sneering and cold-hearted performances.Aside from the cops and procedural elements being a tad clichéd one other aspect of this film that I found slightly problematic was the character of Mrs Pell (Frances McDormand). Her character is one of the few 'white' people who disagrees with segregation and is against how the Klu Klux Klan and the majority of white people treat the black people. This made her an interesting character who really should have had a more active role in the film. Instead of that, she is little more than window dressing and a bit on the side for Anderson (which is a tad frustrating and a waste of McDormand's acting talent). I personally felt that the film would have been slightly better if it had have at least given us some insight into what things were like on the other side of the fence.So yes there are some flaws with this film and rather ironically the narrative does suffer from being a bit 'black and white' However, it is a powerful drama that takes us back to an appalling time period, and although some of its brutality makes it hard to watch, I did find it to be a relatively engaging story.