MOVIE · 1988

Mississippi Burning

CrimeDramaMysteryThriller128 min

In 1964 Mississippi, two FBI agents arrive in a small town to investigate the disappearance of three civil rights workers and find a wall of silence from local police and white residents. Gene Hackman’s former sheriff-turned-agent works by instinct and local knowledge, while Willem Dafoe is his younger, bureau-trained partner, pushing procedure in a place that resists outside scrutiny. As the search widens, the case runs straight into segregation, intimidation, and Ku Klux Klan violence, with the pair clashing as much over method as they do with the town closing ranks around them.