Storyline
Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his, former Sheriff, partner.
Directors
Cast
Stephen Bridgewater, Bob Penny, Lou Walker, Ken Magee, Kevin Dunn, Darius McCrary, R. Lee Ermey, Frances McDormand, Willem Dafoe, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brad Dourif, Tobin Bell, Badja Djola, Michael Rooker, Frankie Faison, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Gailard Sartain, Park Overall, Gene Hackman, Geoffrey Nauffts, Mert Hatfield, Robert Glaudini, John P. Fertitta, Paul Henderson, Mark Jeffrey Miller, Tonea Stewart, Frederick Zollo, Tom Mason, Marc Clement, Rick Zieff, Dan Desmond, Charles Franzen, Robert F. Colesberry, Ron De Roxtra, Doug Jackson, Gary Moody, Robert Erickson, Ed Geldart, James Eric, Daniel Chapman, Rick Washburn, Ralph Pruitt Vaughn, Christopher White
Trailer
Reviews
100
Apart from its pure entertainment value - this is the best American crime movie in years - it is an important statement about a time and a condition that should not be forgotten. The Academy loves to honor prestigious movies in which long-ago crimes are rectified in far-away places. Here is a nominee with the ink still wet on its pages.
100
USA Today
A powerful drama about the murder of three civil-rights workers in the South. Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe are FBI men investigating. A legitimate Oscar contender. [6 Jan 1989, p.5D]
90
Mississippi Burning speeds down the complicated, painful path of civil rights in search of a good thriller. Surprisingly, it finds it
80
The New York Times
For those who know such places, Mr. Parker, who is English, evokes the texture, the gritty, fly-specked Southernness, the brooding sense of small-town menace, the racial hatred, with considerable accuracy.
80
Variety
Though its credibility is undermined by a fanciful ending, Mississippi Burning captures much of the truth in its telling of the impact of a 1964 FBI probe into the murders of three civil rights workers.
