Mississippi Burning

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Actors: Gene Hackman , Willem Dafoe , Brad Dourif , Stephen Tobolowsky , Frankie Faison , Kevin Dunn , Michael Rooker , Pruitt Taylor Vince , Frances McDormand , R. Lee Ermey , Gailard Sartain , Badja Djola , Tom Mason , Geoffrey Nauffts , Rick Zieff

Director: Alan Parker

IMDB Rate: 7.8 out of 10 (21025 votes)

Plot Summary:Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe star in this well-intentioned and largely successful civil rights-era thriller. Mississippi Burning, using the real-life 1964 disappearance of three civil rights workers as its inspiration, 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 FBIs best efforts incite more and more violence, which becomes disturbing--the films 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). The story line of 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 and features a terrific cast playing at the top of their games.