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    Mississippi Burning

    Poster of the movie Mississippi Burning
    1988     Dramatic thriller    
    USA
    2h 8min
    R
    ·
    Guide for parents: Rated R in the USA.
    ·
    Guide for parents: Rated R in the USA.
    14A
    Guide for parents: Rated R in the USA.
    ·
    Guide for parents: Rated R in the USA.
    ·
    Guide for parents: Rated R in the USA.
    ·
    Guide for parents: Rated R in the USA.
    ·
    Guide for parents: Rated R in the USA.

    Mississippi Burning is an all-names-changed dramatization of the Ku Klux Klan's murders of three civil rights workers in 1964. Investigating the mysterious disappearances of the three activists are FBI agents Gene Hackman (older, wiser) and Willem Dafoe (younger, idealistic). A Southerner himself, Hackman charms and cajoles his way through the tight-lipped residents of a dusty Mississippi town while Dafoe acts upon the evidence gleaned by his partner. Hackman solves the case by exerting his influence upon beauty-parlor worker Frances McDormand, who wishes to exact revenge for the beatings inflicted upon her by her Klan-connected husband Brad Dourif. Many critics took the film to task for its implication that the Civil Rights movement might never have gained momentum without its white participants; nor were the critics happy that the FBI was shown to utilize tactics as brutal as the Klan's. The title Mississippi Burning is certainly appropriate: nearly half the film is taken up with scenes of smoke and flame.

    Directed byAlan Parker
    Written byChris Gerolmo
    CompanyOrion PicturesOrion PicturesOrion Pictures

    Awards

    Starring

    Gene Hackman
    Willem Dafoe
    Frances McDormand
    Brad Dourif
    R. Lee Ermey
    Stephen Tobolowsky
    Michael Rooker
    Pruitt Taylor Vince
    Kevin Dunn
    Frankie Faison
    Park Overall
    Tobin Bell
    + MORE

    © Orion PicturesOrion PicturesOrion Pictures