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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Director's Cut, Theatrical Version
Starring two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman* and Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe,** Mississippi Burning ranks as one of the most potent and insightful views of racial turmoil yet produced (Variety). Nominated for six Oscars and winner of an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, this emotionally charged film vividly captures a crucial chapter in American history (Time)! As three civil rights activists drive down a desolate stretch of highway, headlights ominously draw near. Telling each other to stay calm, they have no way of knowing that in minutes they will disappear into the night and spark one of the most explosive murder investigations in history. Enter straight-laced Ward (Dafoe) and deceptively easy-going Anderson (Hackman). Can these two philosophically opposed FBI agents overcome their differences and uncover the chilling mystery of a small Ku Klux Klan-ridden community before an entire town is torn apart by racismSystem Requirements: Running Time 127 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE
"Hackman gives a dynamic performance..." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"A startling history lesson. A chilling detective tale!" Los Angeles TImes
"[Mississippi Burning] gets inside the passions of race relations in America..." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Editor's Note
In 1964, when three civil-rights workers, two white and one black, mysteriously disappear while driving through Mississippi, two FBI agents, Ward (Willem Dafoe) and Anderson (Gene Hackman), are sent in to investigate. While Ward is young and by the book, Anderson is a seasoned southerner comfortable with the Byzantine (and, to Ward, morally ambiguous) ways of his region. Together they sift through a variety of leads and come up empty-handed--until the town sheriff's wife (Frances McDormand) steps forward and reveals some surprising information. In order to solve the case, the two contrasting agents must not only overcome the hostility of the local authorities and the black community but contend with their own differences as well. A fictionalized account of one of the landmarks in the civil-rights movement, MISSISSIPPI BURNING is a swift and powerful film. Director Alan Parker, continuing his investigation of human cruelty (begun explosively in his harrowing 1978 film MIDNIGHT EXPRESS), crafts a historically poignant film that fingers the monstrosities of a virulent strain of racial intolerance in America. Dafoe and Hackman are convincing as they investigate the disappearance of the civil-rights workers and unravel the grisly web of obfuscation around a scandalous, cancerous truth very near the heart of a nation.
Plot Summary
In 1964, two FBI agents try to solve the mystery of the disappearance of three civil rights workers.
| Features | Scene Access | | Interactive Menus | | English Subtitles | | Spanish Subtitles | | French Subtitles | | English Stereo Surround | | French Stereo Surround | | Spanish Stereo Surround | | Widescreen Format Enhanced For 16x9 TVs | | Director's Audio Commentary | | Original Theatrical Trailer |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: MGM |
| Release Date: 6/18/2002 |
| Running Time: 127 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1988 | | Catalog ID: 1001829 | | UPC: 00027616860996 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed, Spanish Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1989) |  | Peter Biziou, Winner, Best Cinematography | | | Gene Hackman, Nominee, Best Actor | | | Alan Parker, Nominee, Best Director | | | Gerry Hambling, Nominee, Best Film Editing | | | Rick Kline, Nominee, Best Sound | | | Frances McDormand, Nominee, Best Supporting Actress | |
Golden Globe (1989) | | | Alan Parker, Nominee, Best Director/Motion Picture | | | Gene Hackman, Nominee, Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture-Drama | | | Chris Gerolmo, Nominee, Best Motion Picture Screenplay |
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| | Professional Reviews | Sight and Sound
"...An almost visionary intensity..." 03/01/1989 p.131New York Times
"...Insistent....MISSISSIPPI BURNING is first-rate." 12/09/1988 p.C12 New York Times
Included in The New York Times "10 BEST FILMS OF 1988" 12/25/1988 p.II, 9 Los Angeles Times
"...Alan Parker's MISSISSIPPI BURNING does exactly what he want it to do. It moves us to outrage and horror....MISSISSIPPI BURNING'S most powerful achievement is its creation of time and place..." 12/09/1988 p.C1 Total Film
"...Strong on period detail....This still carries a certain brooding power..." 02/01/2001 p.108 Washington Post 8 of 10
...the sort of Hollywood-movie triumph that blacks could have used more of during--and since--that era. - Desson Howe
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