Customer Reviews

Mississippi Burning

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Mississippi Burning captures the American South of the 1960s and its turbulent race relations by telling a story that, while technically fictional, is inspired by actual events that took place. It succeeds by all at once being gripping, emotional, and contemplative. Despite being made in 1988 and taking place in 1964, the film holds up to this day quite well.

The story begins with the murder of three young civil rights activists--two of them white and one of them black--in a small town in Mississippi. Two FBI agents are soon assigned to this as a missing persons case; these are, as they formally refer one another, Mr. Anderson (Gene Hackman) and Mr. Ward (Willem Dafoe). Ward is the younger of the two, and also the agent in charge of the case. The local law enforcement and the town in general is hesitant to accept these big shots from up north, and their views don't much change when Ward decides they need a lot more men, and that this is more than just a simple missing persons case.

The Ku Klux Klan factors prominently into the case, but Anderson and Ward don't have much means for proving that they had any involvement, let alone which members, if any, contributed to the crime. It doesn't help much that nobody in town seems to want to help out--white or black. The FBI men are a little surprised to see such segregation and bigotry still taking place, but trying to explain it to some of the people in town is like trying to sell a newspaper to a dog. Ward's by-the-book style of gathering information isn't exactly producing the results he had hoped, and as a last resort, he decides to allow Anderson to use his more unconventional ways to get some answers out of some suspects.

The film is filled with a veritable who's who of That Guys, actors whose faces you recognize, but whose names you don't always know: R. Lee Ermey, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brad Dourif, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Michael Rooker, and Kevin Dunn. All of these men deliver consistently solid supporting work, as does the always-perfect Frances McDormand as the benevolent wife of a Klansman deputy.

Mississippi Burning, while a compelling thriller, drives for something deeper-seeded than a whodunit mystery. In fact, it pretty much gives away the mystery in the first scene. Instead, we get a study on race relations, and director Alan Parker explores the motivations and mentality of white people who persecute others based solely on the color of their skin. For some reason, these people have it burned into their minds that color of skin dictates social rank and intelligence, when nothing could be further from the truth. It would be nice to say that this sort of thinking has been abolished in our country, but that's still not the case. It has died down considerably, but it is not completely gone, and that's a real shame.

This is a powerful movie. Movies of this genre are bound to receive various political perspectives. But that doesn't lessen the impact of this movie. In many ways you feel Mississippi during the era involved. Not just in the politics and bigotry, but in the countryside presented itself. There are some subtle allusions that assist in creating a feel for the town this movie takes place in. Gene Hackman and William DaFoe are fabulous in their lead roles, as is Frances McDormand. But to me, the real reason to watch this movie is the incomparable collection of character actors, my favorite movie in that category. it's a treasure trove. You can debate the angle of many of the most popular civil rights movies, their message, be it explicit or implied. But the performances by this ensemble cast and the backdrop of Mississippi make this one of the most watchable movies of the genre. From R. Lee Ermey (Gunnery Sgt. in "Full Metal Jacket") and Stephen Tobolowski (Needle Nose Ned in "Groundhog Day") - 2 of the most renowned character actors playing the mayor and Clayton Townley, head of the Klan, respectively- to Brad Dourif, Michael Rooker, Gailard Sartain, Pruitt Taylor Vince- all playing loathsome bigots. Tobin Bell will be a familiar face as well in his small role as an FBI agent in the latter part of the film. Even James F. Moore who plays a simple barber with a pittance for dialogue is essential to the feel of this moving film. It's the character actors who steal this show. it's an outstanding film with crystal clear DVD remastering in sound and quality, There are several memorable scenes integral to the story (Hackman's encounter with Frank Bailey at "the club") and naturally the scenes that accompany such a film that stir the audience into righteous outrage. For the purposes of this movie, everything and everybody clicks. There are some gripping behind the scene stories as to the extent actors like the great Stephen Tobolowski went to dig into their roles, making their performances all the more effective and proven on the final print. When I started buying DVDs, this was on the top of my list. It's a steal at the often found bargain price.

This is a great movie on the grounds that Jim Crow Mississippi was a fascist state, where Blacks were subjected to second-class "citizenship" (or, as Malcolm X rightfully called "20th Century Slaves"). THAT historical viewpoint was correct. However, like nearly all Hollywood films depicting historical events (Like Nixon, JFK, Malcolm X, etc), the writers and directors can't help but to add Hollywood in the films. The way Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman died was way off. They weren't simply shot (as if THAT'S not bad enough), the three kids were dragged out the car, and beat with chains, pistol whipped, and the scum who carried out the murder made them beg for their lives...then shot them. This movie totally romanticized the role the FBI played in their forced "fight" against the Klan. When the FBI witnessed crimes, and police brutality, all they did was take notes, and did nothing else. Also, the Black people were so impersonal. Though the movie revolved around their treatment, they just stood in the background as impersonal objects. Don't get me wrong now; I think EVERYONE should see this movie. Just know that Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were not at all protected by the FBI, and that it took a mass movement for the government to finally cave in (or there REALLY would have been trouble in the streets) and pass a so-called "Civil Rights Bill" that took only 100 years to sign. The actors in the movie were excellent. Hackman was great. Dafoe was great. It made you mad, sad and happy. Definitely see the movie. Just don't take it as a historical reference. Watch Murder in Mississippi to find out the lives of the three, and what they did. Also, read Three Lives for Mississippi.

One last thing, I hope that SOB Edgar Ray Killen faces a death squad. In case you don't know, Killen was the one who orchestrated the murder of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner, and was conviced exactly 41 years after the act committed on June 21st, 1964.

Anton Batey

I remember watching this movie in a Florida movie theater when it first came out (I was stationed at Orlando Naval Base back then). Watching the movie was an overwhelming emotional experience, and many scenes shook me to the core with their raw emotional power. Mississippi Burning is THE definitive movie about the atmosphere of racism and violence that pervaded the Civil Rights era, with its dead on accurate portrayal and recreation of a small 60's Southern town. We get to intimately know the kinds of places where 3 young men, or any individuals interested in the plight of the oppressed, might disappear or get killed in the 60's South. We understand what it was like to be Black and live in such a divided society. Most important, we know that evil racism has no logical explanation save for the fact that it is taught and learned from one generation to the next.

This movie has been unfairly and recklessly attacked by overeager movie critics and experts on social affairs, all of whom feel guilty about praising such an important and powerful piece of film making (they don't DARE want to be called racist for praising the film!).

The most common criticism is that this movie doesn't have any strong Black characters. This is absolutely false. There are several strong Black characters in this movie. There is a scene where a Black preacher gives a strong condemnation about the killings of the young men. There are several scenes with a brave young Black child, deeply religious, who somehow manages to find courage amongst his tears and fright (in one exceptional scene, he doesn't run away during a Klan disruption of a church gathering, instead, he kneels and prays). And in the most controversial and powerful scene in the entire movie, a strong Black father (father of the previously mentioned young boy), fed up with the racists, goes out into the night with a shotgun shouting that he will not take this abuse anymore.

The other major criticism is that the movie focuses on White characters. This is not valid. I do certainly agree that many Hollywood movies tend to center the action around White actors, even if the story is about minorities (i.e., Come See the Paradise, Windtalkers, etc. etc.) However, this is one case where it was absolutely necessary for the story to be seen through the eyes of two White FBI agents. The two White agents (Gene Hackman in one of the greatest movie performances of all time) represent the opposite spectrum of the evil Southern racists. Just as the Southerners see the world in their segregated view, the two FBI agents see the world in their enlightened and open view, and in fact they stand for many White people that not only gave their lives for the cause of Civil Rights, but made their voices heard and actions seen so that segregation would one day end. The Civil Rights era is as much a story about White Americans as it is Black Americans, so I applaud the filmmakers for being courageous about this.

I recently watched the DVD version and it affected me as much as when I first saw it, and I make it a point to see several times a year. There are scenes that are so heartbreaking they will leave you in tears, and moments of beauty and power so self assured that you know you are watching a masterpiece that will one day stand the test of time. This movie is required viewing for all of the youth in America today, many of whom are clueless as to the Civil Rights period (and others simply do not care).

The hype given to this movie over shadows the fact that the movie was historically, woefully, inaccurate. Having the powerful story of the book, "Mississippi Burning", the screen writers chose to add events which did not exist while ignoring powerful events which really took place. If you have seen the movie, check out the book from your local library and see how good the movie could have been.

Although loosely based upon the true-life story of the murders of three young civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi in 1964, history gives way to an entertaining crime drama with a superb cast, particularly Gene Hackman, who gives perhaps his best performance ever. It is a compelling, fast-moving story which will doubtless keep the viewer entertained. As a good piece of drama, MB excels. However, for a far more interesting (and factual) version of the story, read Don Whitehead's "Attack on Terror". Enjoy the movie, but view it as drama, not history.

I saw this film at a cinema in south London when it first came out. It was a hot day, the cinema had no air conditioning, and it was like the deep south. I don't know how many times I've seen the film since, but I've rented it, bought the video, bought the DVD and watched it on television - so a hell of lot.

Despite these repeated viewings it never loses its power and that comes from two things. Firstly its subject matter and secondly from a powerhouse performance by Gene Hackman. Willam Dafoe, Frances McDormand and the rest of the cast are uniformly excellent - Hackman is better.

Loosely based on a true event in the 60's, it concerns the dissappearance of two human rights activists. The opening to the film is one of the most tense and memorable scences(and Hackman isn't even in it). Dafoe and Hackman do a variation on the good cop, bad cop routine with bad cop tactics being the final strategy!

Its a great film, which if you haven't seen, you should do so now.

I have read reviews of Mississippi Burning that range from waxing poetic about its power to those that despise its use of disturbing images to elicite an "autonomic response" of disgust and anger from the audience. Having viewed the movie several times, I realize that the latter's claims are not entirely without merit. That being said, Mississippi Burning is one of my favorite movies.

I don't know much about the situation in the South before the present day. For that matter, I don't know much about it now. I have no idea if things were as bad as they were portrayed in the movie. Having seen pictures of lynchings, though, as well as the festival-like atmosphere that accompanied them, I can't imagine that the film was too far off base. The atmosphere of fear and hate that pervades the film is almost visible. It's hard to imagine anyone being able to survive it with their humanity intact.

Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as the two FBI agents are an interesting study in contrasts. Hackman, as a former Good Ol' Boy sheriff, sees stublety and patience as the necessary tools to solve the three civil rights workers' disappearances. Dafoe, as a Kennedy recruit from the Justice Department, sees an intense show of federal strength and sheer investigative force as the way to go. Dafoe is an idealist, Hackman is a realist. The one thing they have in common is a disgust for the way blacks are treated in the South. I must admit I found Hackman's performance more convincing than Dafoe's, perhaps because his was a more complex character. A product of two worlds, one of racism and one of unity, his must not have been an easy life. And of course, Frances McDormand is brilliant as the long-suffering wife of a Klan member/Sheriff's deputy. She is disgusted with what's going on with blacks in her town, but cannot do anything about it. Her sense of fear and entrapment in a prison of hate have a claustrophobic feel to them that is palpable.

I do wish the movie hadn't used quite so many stereotypes in its potrayals of secondary characters, particularly blacks. I don't think there was a single scene in the movie that didn't show blacks as being the victims of some hate crime or other. It got so bad I couldn't see a black face without getting nervous for his or her continued good health. Surely *someone* in the black community decided to say "enough is enough"?

Also, the idea that everyone in Mississippi was (a) in the KKK, (b) black, or (c) a passive, approving bystander is an injustice to human nature. Situations are always more complex than they seem, and this one was no different, I'm sure. Oh well, it's not entirely the director's fault. He only had two hours.

This movie understands racism, is able to dig into the wellspring of hatred and sniveling and air it to the world. I've never been able to completely comprehend racism on anything other than an intellectual level. That it existed, I never had any doubt, but it's one thing to know it, but it's something else to really *know* it. And once you do know it, it's like staring in a funhouse mirror. You can see the image, but you're unable to force the shape you see into the shape you *think* should be there. This movie provides you with that gut abilty.

Gene Hackman and the rest of the cast excel in this stark and utterly gripping portrayal of the FBI's crackdown on racism in Mississippi. It is far from 100 per cent historically accurate, but name me a film that is. In any event, it captures the mood of the times well enough. Some may not be comfortable with its suggestion that the FBI had to emulate the racists' thuggery in order to defeat them. But surely the main point is that the movie's overall message is uncompromisingly in favor of tolerance and a shared humanity.

Gene Hackman is probably the most underrated actor in Hollywood. To every role he brings passion, humanity and believability. I can't imagine any other actor playing the role of "Mr. Anderson" (I can hear Willem Dafoe saying it) as effectively as he does.

As noted, the film is based on an actual event, the murders of Mickey Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Cheney, young civil rights activists trying to register blacks to vote. From what I know about the South in those days, it is a pretty accurate depiction. The hatred, the refusal to change (integrate), the two separate societies was all there. Little Rock, Univ. of Alabama, Central High School, these horrors could be watched on TV. The Southern racists in the movie are so beneath contempt that they risk becoming straw men, a possible weaknesses.

Certainly Mr. Anderson was right that the malefactors could never be charged with murder in a state court and be found guilty (unless somehow they obtained a change of venue, an unlikely event). Do the ends justify the means? When the FBI agents try to find the murderers the old-fashioned way, they meet solid walls of opposition: blacks afraid of retribution if they tell what they know, and whites who button up to protect themselves. So the DaFoe character finally takes Mr. Anderson's advice to "do whatever it takes" to put the murderers behind bars. Is Pauline Kael correct to dismiss this as "vigilantism"? Well, it is a legitimate objection (the DaFoe character reminds Mr. Anderson that the coerced confession he just obtained from the town's mayor violated his civil rights and will be inadmissible in court! Hot damn!). Mr. Anderson observes "These people crawled out of the gutter! Maybe it's time we got in there with them!" Well, they have more tricks up their sleeves, and obtain other evidence against them.

It is a wonderful script, with taut, exciting dialogue, and the conflict between Hackman and DaFoe is the stuff of powerful drama. This is a gut-wrenching film, not for the timid, with wonderful performances by all involved. I never tire of watching it.