Mississippi Burning
by Alan Parker
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DVD details
Actor: Brad Dourif, Frances McDormand, Gene Hackman, R. Lee Ermey, Willem DafoeDirector: Alan Parker
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Cinematographer: Peter Biziou
Editor: Gerry Hambling
Producer: Frederick Zollo
Producer: Robert F. Colesberry
Writer: Chris Gerolmo
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 128 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-05-08
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Mississippi Burning
DVD Review: Poignant and Brilliant Docudrama
Summary: 5 Stars
I have loved this film for a long time, and have watched it repeatedly. It provides a valuable lesson on the civil rights era which I have shown to students who have no idea of what the 60s were like when the civil rights wars were being fought. The cast is excellent, and this film remains a poignantly dignified tribute to those who died fighting to put an end to primitive and savage racism.DVD Review: intrigue, shoking but long
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a type of movies you should watch at least once to make a step towards to getting a comprehensive view at the american cinema or expand your present one if you're one of those who always crave for a real good stuff.
The movie is bit long but it's worth to watch. If you possess some basic knowledge of what was happening during the era of civil rights, you would enjoy seeing the actual based-on-the-true-events scenes and comparing it to the present time. Living in the South and witnessing the black culture that becomes so popular, it has been so unusual to get a snap-shot of some 40 years ago.
DVD Review: The film succeeds by being gripping, emotional, and disturbing...
Summary: 4 Stars
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...
The film succeeds by being gripping, emotional, and disturbing... Alan parker graphically explores the hatred, motivations and mentality that were once flaming through the American society in the 60's.
DVD Review: 3 stars out of 4
Summary: 4 Stars
The Bottom Line:
Neither historically accurate nor an effective police procedural, Mississippi Burning succeeds despite its flaws due to the fact that it can boast a trio of fine performances and an exquisite sense of atmosphere and menace.
DVD Review: A poignant film highlighting our rights to justice...
Summary: 5 Stars
My best friend and I had a discussion about Gene Hackman the other day, since both of us are huge fans. We were recounting some of our favorite Hackman performances (`Unforgiven', `Hoosiers') and I was suggesting to him Hackman films he needed to see (`The Royal Tenenbaums') and he was suggesting ones I needed to see (`Crimson Tide') and then we came to the subject of `Mississippi Burning' and realized that neither of us had seen it. So, I told him I was coming over and on my way I rented this film and we had a few beers and watched one of the best Hackman films either of us had ever seen.
Not just one of his best movies; one of his best performances!
`Mississippi Burning' (inspired by a true story) tells the tragic tale three young rights activists who were murdered in a small Mississippi town. Two white boys and one black, the local police department sweeps it under the rug, but when word that the boys are missing reaches the FBI two agents are sent to the town to investigate. Rupert Anderson is an ex-Mississippi sheriff himself and so he has a better idea of how to deal with the locals than his partner, the young and `by-the-book' agent Alan Ward. Alan is asking all the wrong questions at the wrong time to the wrong people and is stirring up more problems than he should; but Rupert is slinking around in the background, building trust with valuable witnesses who may in the end be able to help him tie up the loose ends.
The film is brilliantly crafted, building tension in all the right places and balancing out the violence with a brutal message of injustice and tolerance. There are so many technical aspects of this film that really grabbed me, like the use of gospel hymns during some of the more savage scenes; creating a mood, an air of melancholy as apposed to brutality. It is small touches like that that bring the film to another level, eliciting in the audience the desired emotional response. Sure, we are angered by what it taking place, but our anger is more repressed and tempered. We wind up more saddened and disappointed which, in my opinion, carries the weight of the film farther than just steeping our reaction in pure hatred.
Like Alan Ward brings to light towards the films closing; we are all guilty if we allow atrocities like this to happen; if we say nothing when we know we have the obligation to stand up for what we know is right.
The film is strengthened also by the marvelous performances that litter the screen, most notably by the two Oscar nominees; Gene Hackman and Frances McDormand. Frances is not on the screen for a very long time, but her control over her character is dominant. You can really feel her emotional connection to Mrs. Pell, her struggle to find steady ground as she tries to decide where her loyalties need to be staked. Gene Hackman is seriously at the top of his game here, delivering what may be his finest performance ever. I love the transformation his character makes, and this is seen in one particular scene where he joins a few suspects for a beer.
"Thanks for the beer."
The rest of the cast is equally impressive, from Willem Dafoe's stubborn take on Ward to Brad Dourif's devilishly squirmy Clinton Pell. R. Lee Ermey is magnificent as the corrupt Mayor and supporting players like Sartain, Rooker and especially Tobolowsky clutter the film with brilliance.
The film is an acting goldmine.
In the end I highly recommend this brilliant film. There is such a dark yet poignant message here that to me is universal. This is one of those films that, while broaching one particular subject, really opens itself up to a universally important message. The film is not merely a film about racism but a film about injustice and the obligation each living breathing human has to right wrongs, no matter how inconvenient that may be. This film is one that we do well to take to heart.
Description of Mississippi Burning
Starring two-time Oscar?(r) winner* Gene Hackman and Academy Award?(r) nominee** Willem Dafoe, Mississippi Burning ranks as one of the most potent and insightful views of racial turmoil yet produced (Variety). Nominated*** for six Oscars?(r) and winner of an Academy Award?(r) for Best Cinematography, this emotionally charged film vividly captures acrucial chapter in American history (Time)! As three civil rights activists drive down a desolate stretch of highway, headlights ominously draw near. Telling each other to stay calm, they have no way of knowing that in minutes they will disappear into the night and spark one of the most explosive murder investigations in history. Enter straight-laced Ward (Dafoe) and deceptively easy-going Anderson (Hackman). Can these two philosophically opposed FBI agents overcome their differences and uncover the chilling mystery of a small Ku Klux Klan-ridden community before an entire town is torn apart by racism?Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe star in this well-intentioned and largely successful civil rights-era thriller. Mississippi Burning, using the real-life 1964 disappearance of three civil rights workers as its inspiration, tells the story of two FBI men (Hackman and Dafoe, entertainingly called "Hoover Boys" by the locals) who come in to try to solve the crime. Hackman is a former small-town Mississippi sheriff himself, while Dafoe is a by-the-numbers young hotshot. Yes, there is some tension between the two. The movie has an interesting fatalism, as all the FBI's best efforts incite more and more violence, which becomes disturbing--the film's message, perhaps inadvertently, seems to be that vigilantism is the only real way to get things done. The brilliant Frances McDormand, here early in her career, is not given enough to do but still does it well enough to have racked up an Oscar? nomination for Best Supporting Actress. (Hackman also received a nomination for Best Actor, and the film won an Academy Award for Cinematography). The story line of Mississippi Burning is ultimately unsatisfying--it is, after all, the story of white men coming in to rescue poor blacks--but it is beautifully shot and very watchable and features a terrific cast playing at the top of their games. --Ali Davis
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