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Mississippi Burning

United States

1988

128 Min
Color
1.85:1
English
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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DIR Alan Parker

PROD Frederick Zollo, Robert F. Colesberry

SCR Chris Gerolmo

DP Peter Biziou

CAST Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif, R. Lee Ermey, Stephen Tobolowsky, Michael Rooker, Gailard Sartain, Kevin Dunn, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Badja Djola, Frankie Faison

ED Gerry Hambling

MUSIC Trevor Jones

Berlinale (Competition): Best Actor

Synopsis

Cultures clash as a pair of FBI agents invade a small town in Mississippi to investigate the recent disappearance of two white civil rights workers and their black companion. Agents Anderson and Ward work against each other more frequently than they work together as they battle to find the truth in an a hostile and increasingly volatile environment. Agent Ward is twenty years younger than Anderson, but has risen higher in the FBI hierarchy through an idealistic adherence to protocol. Agent Anderson joined the FBI late in life, after years of working as a small town sheriff in a rural Mississippi border town. Anderson and Ward seek to overcome the formidable challenge posed by a conspiracy of silence, hatred, and bigotry from diametrically opposed backgrounds and perspectives, but their respect for each other grows as they discover that neither has an exclusive hold on the truth. The evolution of understanding between the southern-bred, obstinate veteran agent and his northern-born partner are a microcosm of the nation’s potential for hope in the face of brutal and unyielding efforts to resist. —IMDb

Director

Original

Alan Parker

An advertising gofer-turned-writer and director, Alan Parker began his film career through his association with producer David Puttnam, another ad man with cinematic aspirations, who hired Parker to write the screenplay for the preteen romance Melody (1971). After a stint directing television commercials and short films for the BBC, Parker made his first movie, Bugsy Malone, in 1976. He joined the front ranks of young filmmakers two years later with the fact-based thriller Midnight Express, a brilliant and brutal retelling of the experiences of a young American who escaped from a Turkish prison where he had been incarcerated for drug possession. Both an exposé of government corruption and an indictment of American pomposity, it earned lavish acclaim and a number of honors, including a Best Director Oscar nomination for Parker.

The director followed this success with the megahit Fame in 1980. A box-office smash, it spawned a long-running TV series and became a fixture in the American… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 12 wall posts.
Picture of Ben Smith

Ben Smith

21May12

Why Brad Douriff is not more well known is so fucking annoying. So is intolerance.

Picture of Daniela

Daniela

25Mar12

I'm really disturbed I was shown this in highschool without being told it's FBI white people propaganda o.o;;;

Picture of Dukkha-post

Dukkha-post

17Mar12

Maybe we're all guilty

Picture of Lorena

Lorena

20Feb12

Once again white people shown as the heroes during the Civil Rights movement (Another example The Help), when they were the oppressor rather then the oppressed!

  • LT

    1Mar12

    You've missed the point... entirely.

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