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Amazon.co.uk Review
Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe star in Mississippi Burning, a well-intentioned and largely successful civil-rights-era thriller. Using the real-life 1964 disappearance of three civil rights workers as its inspiration, the film 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 simply incite more and more violence--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). 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, featuring a terrific cast playing at the top of their games. --Ali Davis, Amazon.com
Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
DVD 9
French\German\Spanish
English\German
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Surround English French German Spanish
Dolby Digital Surround
Original Theatrical Trailer
Interactive Menus Screens
Chapter Selections
Audio Commentary By Alan Parker
Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\French\German\Norwegian\Spanish\Swedish
DVD 9
French\German\Spanish
English\German
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Surround English French German Spanish
Dolby Digital Surround
Original Theatrical Trailer
Interactive Menus Screens
Chapter Selections
Audio Commentary By Alan Parker
Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\French\German\Norwegian\Spanish\Swedish
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Based on true events that occurred in Mississippi back in the 60's, English Director Alan Parker's capital G-for-Gritty film is about as close to real-life as you would expect to get, with an extra little spice of life thrown in at good measure.
Set 1964 in a small town of Mississippi, the story follows the investigation of three missing civil-right workers, two white and one black, and the FBI's involvement to track them down before the community protest's for them to depart becomes too great, and find who, or who's reasonable. Starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as the two opposites-attract FBI Agents sent from Washington to discover the bodies dead or alive, begin to find their own mortality hanging in the balance as they come closer to uncovering the truth that leads all the way back up the ranks.
In one scene, Anderson (Hackman) observes 'What has four eyes, but can not see', Ward (Dafoe) baffled bails out and Anderson replies 'Mississippi'. This still remains a very important piece of the films' jigsaw, that keeps it social conscious raising the fact that even with this North-American intrusion, their bigoted and personal lives are unaffected, and that their inaccurate belief that nothing is capable of pulling-apart the Klan. The characters hiding out in the local police station are more slippery then slimer in 'Ghostbusters' as they wriggle and worm out of situations brandishing a smug smile.
Violence is in frequent use throughout and is of the most acrid, but its unprecedented message is one not be ignored. A fantastic and landmark piece of film-making that delivers a story with more undercurrents than the Thames.
Five Stars Well Deserved.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I saw this film at the Bromley odeon. 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 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.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
James Chaney, Andy Goodman and Mickey Schwener were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County, Mississippi 1964. Their disappearance and subsequent murder sparked off one of the biggest FBI manhunts in history, and led to the conviction of several high profile Klan members.
This is an interpretation of those events................
Make no bones about it, Mississippi Burning is an emotionally sapping piece of film, the vile and despicable theme at its core should sicken anyone with an ounce of decency in their respective make up. What stops the film being the masterpiece of importance it should have been, is that director Alan Parker gives way to over fictionalising the already harsh facts of the case. In the process, choosing to stereotype both parties and sidestepping equality issues in favour of an FBI uneasy alliance, and a god forsaken romantic sub-plot! It's such a shame that Parker and his backers obviously lost sight of the reason they picked the project to film in the first place.
So what are we left with? Well it's still one hell of a film for sure. The harshness and emotional impact is evident as the story unfolds, the troubled South vividly brought to life in a sea of burning crosses and segregated restaurants, with Peter Biziou's Academy Award winning cinematography an essential extra character in the piece. The cast is almost to die for, Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe take the lead roles as our feuding, at odds, FBI investigators, Popeye Doyle meets Sgt Elias anyone? But its with the supporting cast that Mississippi Burning becomes an essential watch for fans of actors. Rolling off the tongue like a who's who of weasel character actors is Michael Rooker, Brad Douriff, R. Lee Ermey, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Pruitt Taylor Vince, with FBI support coming from Tobin Bell and Kevin Dunn. Frances McDormand does fine with a caricature written part, whilst fans of Biloxi Blues {me} will delight in seeing the wonderfully named Park Overall laying on her hussy act in the beauty salon.
At times shattering, at others frustrating, Mississippi Burning sadly only scratches the surface of the topic to hand, but for sure the movie world is all the more better for films like this, so in that it becomes an essential watch, so see it if you haven't already. 8/10
This is an interpretation of those events................
Make no bones about it, Mississippi Burning is an emotionally sapping piece of film, the vile and despicable theme at its core should sicken anyone with an ounce of decency in their respective make up. What stops the film being the masterpiece of importance it should have been, is that director Alan Parker gives way to over fictionalising the already harsh facts of the case. In the process, choosing to stereotype both parties and sidestepping equality issues in favour of an FBI uneasy alliance, and a god forsaken romantic sub-plot! It's such a shame that Parker and his backers obviously lost sight of the reason they picked the project to film in the first place.
So what are we left with? Well it's still one hell of a film for sure. The harshness and emotional impact is evident as the story unfolds, the troubled South vividly brought to life in a sea of burning crosses and segregated restaurants, with Peter Biziou's Academy Award winning cinematography an essential extra character in the piece. The cast is almost to die for, Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe take the lead roles as our feuding, at odds, FBI investigators, Popeye Doyle meets Sgt Elias anyone? But its with the supporting cast that Mississippi Burning becomes an essential watch for fans of actors. Rolling off the tongue like a who's who of weasel character actors is Michael Rooker, Brad Douriff, R. Lee Ermey, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Pruitt Taylor Vince, with FBI support coming from Tobin Bell and Kevin Dunn. Frances McDormand does fine with a caricature written part, whilst fans of Biloxi Blues {me} will delight in seeing the wonderfully named Park Overall laying on her hussy act in the beauty salon.
At times shattering, at others frustrating, Mississippi Burning sadly only scratches the surface of the topic to hand, but for sure the movie world is all the more better for films like this, so in that it becomes an essential watch, so see it if you haven't already. 8/10
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Classic!
Fine acting by all the cast. A story of racial turmoil in the deep south. Gene Hackman and William Defoe capture a crucial chapter in Americn History. Unmissable!
Published 1 month ago by joca
Mississippi Burning
Very good film. Reminds the viewer that only 50 years ago many whites in southern states of USA still treated the blacks in a similar fashion to how the Germans treated the jews in... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Spectrum Is Green
MIssissippi re-captured
"Mississippi Burning", 1989, stars Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe under Alan Parker direction and having this great film on DVD makes it accessible once again and at a very sensible... Read more
Published 6 months ago by RR Waller
summary
the film was a real eye opener about how the people was to the coloured people with racsist remarks and segregation to where they could go and eat
Published 8 months ago by kingfisher
Searing journey into the heart of darkness
Watching this brilliant film always puts me in mind, oddly one might at first think, of a song from Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1949 South Pacific, particularly when Willem Defoe's... Read more
Published 11 months ago by still searching
Hackman at his best?
Mississippi Burning [DVD] [1989] The story is loosely based on the real-life murders of civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. C. Mcneillie
Fantastic
This is an amazing entry in cinemography, the brutal story of the Klu Klux Klan is amazing!
Published 19 months ago by Kai
An unforgettable film.
This film has everything you want in a suspense thriller - excellent plot, excellent dialogue, excelent acting and excellent music.
Published 21 months ago by S. Carey
True Story
This film is both touching and sensative. Gene Hackman and William DaFoe both turn in fantastic performances. The film has all your emotions running at full pelt. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mike Bailey
DVD review of Mississippi Burning
Excellent film with lots of action and good acting. Serious stuff though! - but it makes for interesting viewing and hard-hitting truth. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Pamela is Pretty Powerful
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