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Released by: Twilight Time
Released on: May 2015.
Director: Alan Parker
Cast: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif
Year: 1988
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The Movie:
Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning, made for Orion Pictures in 1988, takes place in a small Mississippi town in 1944. Two F.B.I. agents, an older former sheriff named Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) and a younger upstart named Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe), are sent to the to town to look into the mysterious disappearance of three young civil rights activists intent on changing the views of the segregated rural town. These two men have pretty different styles - Anderson wants to mingle a bit, snoop around town and see what he can come up with while Ward is more interested in bringing in the full force of the F.B.I. and the National Guard to tear through the town for evidence. It stands to reason that their differing methods drives a bit of a wedge between the two men and soon enough they're essentially leading different operations.
Soon enough, three corpses are found. The agents continue their work and it starts to look like Sheriff Ray Stuckey (Gailard Sartain) and his Deputy Clinton Pell (Brad Dourif) might have had something to do with it. Pell's wife (Frances McDormand) would appear to be his alibi, while the mayor of the town starts giving fairly vocal speeches about keeping outsiders out of the town's business. Anderson knows that Mrs. Pell knows more than she's letting on, figuring she's the key to busting the town sheriff's department and their connections to a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and so he tries his best to get close to her, exploiting her barely concealed disdain for the man she's actually married to.
As much a police procedural as a dramatic thriller, Mississippi Burning has aged wonderfully. It plays just as well in modern times as it did when it hit theaters almost two decades ago and that's thanks in no small part to the rock solid acting and the intelligent script. Parker's a smart enough director to aim for realism over sensationalism, we see this handled most astutely in how the film deals with race relations. There are white characters in this movie who will do whatever they feel they need to do in order to keep the local black population quiet. This could have been heavy handed, preachy even, and rightfully so - but instead Parker keeps things grounded, never over the top. This gives these scenes some real impact because they feel like they really could have played out the way that they are depicted in the movie.
The performances here are great. Brad Dourif is really strong here as the blatantly racist, misogynist deputy. We don't like this guy. Not that we're supposed to, but Dourif really crafts a remarkably despicable character here. His onscreen relationship with an equally impressive Frances McDormand is tense from the start and it only gets more unpleasant once Anderson enters the picture and starts snooping around. She's hardly a damsel in distress but rather a multi-layered and interesting character stuck between a rock and a hard place. Willem Dafoe as the younger of the two Feds in charge of the case is fantastic here as well but, probably coming as a surprise to no one, Gene Hackman is the one who delivers the best work out of a remarkably strong cast. As his relationship with McDormand's character becomes more complicated we really feel for the guy as he tries to keep his personal and professional life separate but obviously has trouble doing so. He also really wants to keep her out of danger. Seeing the two in the film offers us the chance to see two amazing actors work from an excellent script - it wasn't surprising to see Hackman take home the Oscar for Best Actor and McDormand the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Mississippi Burning debuts on Blu-ray framed at 1.85.1 widescreen in AVC encoded 1080p high definition and it looks quite good. Whatever softness is here, and there is some, looks like it stems back to the original photography as the image is quite film like and the grain structure seems untampered with. Detail advances over standard definition and colors are nicely reproduced. Black levels are good and while there are a couple of minor nicks and scratches if you look for them but for the most part the image is nice and clean.
The English language DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo track is a good one, with some appreciable left/right channel separation noticeable in the mix. Levels are well balanced and the dialogue stays crisp and clear throughout. There are no problems with any hiss or distortion and the lossless track does afford the score some more noticeable depth and range than it has had in the past.
Extras start off with an audio commentary from director Alan Parker that was originally recorded for the previous DVD release. This is a good talk in which Parker breaks down some of the events that inspired the film, talks up the contributions of different cast and crew members, discusses the shooting locations and generally just gives us a nice, thorough overview of his experiences working on this picture.
Aside from that we get an isolated score option, a trailer, menus and chapter stops. Julie Kirgo once again contributes a booklet of liner notes offering up some welcome history of the picture and some insightful critical analysis as well. Worth a read as always.
The Final Word:
Mississippi Burning holds up really well, it's a tense drama with some great performances and a genuinely gripping story. Twilight Time's Blu-ray release isn't stacked with new extras but it carries over the excellent director's commentary, offers up a nice booklet of liner notes and the isolated score and gives the movie a very nice high definition upgrade.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
