Mississippi Burning
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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 partner, a former sheriff.
What critics thought
The film works as a thriller and draws strong performances from Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, and Frances McDormand, but its most heated controversy is historical and moral: critics were sharply divided over whether centering the civil rights story on two white FBI agents distorts the record and sidelines the Black Americans who actually drove the movement. Audiences embraced it warmly while critical opinion landed somewhere between admiration and serious unease.
“the FBI as the sole heroic defender of the victims of southern racism in 1964...subverts the history of the civil rights movement itself”
Jonathan Rosenbaum·Chicago Reader
“the right story, but with the wrong heroes”
Rita Kempley·The Washington Post
“Hackman's mastery at suggesting an infinite number of layers beneath a wry, self-deprecating surface reaches a peak here, but McDormand soars right with him. And since she is the film's sole voice of morality, it's right that she is so memorable.”
Sheila Benson·Los Angeles Times
“The film doesn't pretend to be about the civil-rights workers themselves. It's almost as if Mr. Parker and Mr. Gerolmo respected the victims, their ideals and their fate too much to reinvent them through the use of fiction.”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
Accolades
Genres
Crime, Drama, Mystery
Cast & Crew
Alan ParkerDirector
Gene HackmanAgent Rupert Anderson
Willem DafoeAgent Alan Ward
Frances McDormandMrs. Pell
Brad DourifDeputy Clinton Pell
R. Lee ErmeyMayor Tilman
Gailard SartainSheriff Stuckey
Stephen TobolowskyTownley
Michael RookerFrank Bailey
Pruitt Taylor VinceLester Cowens
Badja DjolaAgent Monk
Kevin DunnAgent Bird
Frankie FaisonEulogist
Trevor JonesComposer
Peter BiziouCinematographyMississippi Burning
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 partner, a former sheriff.
What critics thought
The film works as a thriller and draws strong performances from Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, and Frances McDormand, but its most heated controversy is historical and moral: critics were sharply divided over whether centering the civil rights story on two white FBI agents distorts the record and sidelines the Black Americans who actually drove the movement. Audiences embraced it warmly while critical opinion landed somewhere between admiration and serious unease.
“the FBI as the sole heroic defender of the victims of southern racism in 1964...subverts the history of the civil rights movement itself”
Jonathan Rosenbaum·Chicago Reader
“the right story, but with the wrong heroes”
Rita Kempley·The Washington Post
“Hackman's mastery at suggesting an infinite number of layers beneath a wry, self-deprecating surface reaches a peak here, but McDormand soars right with him. And since she is the film's sole voice of morality, it's right that she is so memorable.”
Sheila Benson·Los Angeles Times
“The film doesn't pretend to be about the civil-rights workers themselves. It's almost as if Mr. Parker and Mr. Gerolmo respected the victims, their ideals and their fate too much to reinvent them through the use of fiction.”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
Accolades
Genres
Crime, Drama, Mystery
Cast & Crew
Alan ParkerDirectorGene HackmanAgent Rupert AndersonWillem DafoeAgent Alan WardFrances McDormandMrs. PellBrad DourifDeputy Clinton PellR. Lee ErmeyMayor TilmanGailard SartainSheriff StuckeyStephen TobolowskyTownleyMichael RookerFrank BaileyPruitt Taylor VinceLester CowensBadja DjolaAgent MonkKevin DunnAgent BirdFrankie FaisonEulogistTrevor JonesComposerPeter BiziouCinematographyStream
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