Taking place in 1964, three young activists, Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman, are murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. Their bodies haven’t been found. Two FBI agents, Anderson and Ward, show up to investigate.
Blaine: Alan Parker had just finished making the movie “Angel Heart” and he wanted to dive into a new project. An executive had sent Alan a draft for “Mississippi Burning” and he was already hooked after reading the first few pages, but the script needed more work. Chris Gerolmo was the screenwriter on “Mississippi Burning” and the first draft of his script was written more as a fiction. “Mississippi Burning” is based on a true story. Alan Parker knew that if you make a film about real life people then you should honor them with a real life story instead of a false one. That was his way of seeing it. Chris Gerolmo was trying to figure out the best way to tell the story and Alan suggested that he continue his research and go deeper into details. Alan would do research as well sense he was the one who was going to be bringing the script to life through his vision. The script was improving a lot thanks to Alan Parker and Chris Gerolmo’s team work. In the end it became script that anyone would accept.
Alan Parker was flying to Tokyo to attend a film festival and on the way back he met actor Gene Hackman. Gene Hackman has played a lot of tough characters in movies like “The French Connection” for one, and Anderson was written as the type who will get rough on ya if he needs to and Gene Hackman felt suitable for the character. Gene Hackman didn’t like the script, but Alan and Chris were still working on writing the story in a better way. After Gene Hackman was hired, there was the question on who would play his opposite? A lot of actors read for the part of Ward, but when Willem Dafoe auditioned Alan Parker was convinced he was right for the part. The way Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe work as actors is different from each other, but that was ok because their characters are completely different from each other. With Anderson and Ward it's like the good cop bad cop thing, but they’re above the cop thing, they’re FBI. Anderson likes to handle things the hard way, where as Ward likes to reason more.
“Mississippi Burning” takes place in 1964 and that was around the time the Civil rights movement was happening. Members of the KKK and red necks were going around killing people who supported the blacks. Viola Liuzzo, was a civil rights activist, and in 1965 she was shot to death by a member of the KKK. She was only 39, was a married woman and was the mother of five children. They would even kill a preacher. One of them was James Reeb and after leaving a diner, he and a couple other preachers were beaten to death by white folk who had clubs.
All these people wanted to do was help bring change to the country because they saw blacks as people too. The red necks and KKK would kill anyone who was innocent whether they were black or white. They were also threatening lives. They deserve to rot in jail for what they have done. Anderson doesn’t take kindly to people who threaten him and he doesn’t take shit neither. Anderson grabs one of them by the nut sack and really shows them the kind of guy he is. Judging by the look on his eyes, Deputy Pell might be frightened of Anderson. Anderson is a real tough guy and if the KKK mess with him, well then they are going to be sorry. He probably would stand up to an army of them. Anderson is going to make sure these guys get what they deserve. It’s good to see someone showing these scumbags that they won’t get away with murder.
Anderson knows how Mississippi works because he grew up there, but he was raised differently from everyone else. For one, he wasn’t raised to be a racist.
A lot of people in the South weren’t fond of guests, but the FBI make it their business of being there. It starts off with just Anderson and Ward, but shortly after they arrive they get threatened by the KKK and so they call in more agents as their help and backup. It’s like blue coats against white coats in the Civil War.
The FBI have seen a lot since they’ve arrived. The KKK are beating up and attempting to kill anyone who will talk to the FBI. The mayor of the town tells the FBI that anyone who puts a white bag over their head is just trying to scare the black people. Sounds like something Trump would say. The mayor should know it’s more than that. The KKK are blowing up black peoples’ homes, their churches and beating them up. They don’t just want to scare black people, they want them dead. The blacks just want to live in peace, but the KKK continue to make their lives miserable.
Everyone’s afraid to talk to the FBI, even though the FBI are trying to show them that they are here to help. Anderson and Ward take their jobs seriously. They know a lot of bad stuff is going on in town and they can’t just pretend like it is nothing. They want justice. The only one who is not afraid to talk is Deputy Pell’s wife, Mrs. Pell. Anderson and Mrs. Pell get sight of each other fast. Anderson is a hard man, but he also has a sweat side to him as well. Mrs. Pell is a little shy around Anderson because she is not use to nice guys, but she also feels comfortable expressing herself to him. She can be honest with Anderson and gives him answers that can be helpful.
There’s the question why a nice woman like Mrs. Pell marry a Klansman? Maybe she didn’t know he was a racist in the beginning, but after years of marriage with him, Mrs. Pell knows her husband well enough to know what he has been up to. A lot of girls dream about getting married and there was no else around in the area, so Mrs. Pell went with whoever made her laugh. If you wait a little longer the right man will come, and Anderson can do more than just make you laugh. He is also carrying, he keeps an eye on Mrs. Pell, knowing she is scared. Being in town surrounded by a lot of Klansmen scares her, and she could have left, but Mississippi has always been her home and she is brave enough to stay there. Another thing about Anderson is he is nice to talk to, at least when it comes to women. Anderson and Ward argue with each other a lot. Finally, he knows how to make Mrs. Pell smile.
A lot of things are easy to read in “Mississippi Burning". You can tell who’s a Klansman judging by the way they act. Sheriff Stuckey and Deputy Pell act like everything that has been happening is no big deal. You can tell they’re racist. Another thing that is easy to read is Mrs. Pell. You can tell she is upset with Klansmen around the town.
The Klansmen strike again, only this isn’t a threat for talking to the FBI, they just want to burn down a black guys home. A boy witnesses It and saw the faces of the men who did it. He’s afraid though because the Klansmen will go after anyone who testifies against them. The FBI make sure the boy’s identity is hidden, so the KKK don’t know who testified. The FBI brings these men in, but they are set free because the judge doesn’t care what outsiders think.
The bodies of the three boys are found. Once again Mrs. Pell has given the FBI useful information. She even tells Anderson that her husband was involved in killing those boys. She can’t keep a secret, it’s something she wants to tell. The KKK find out that Mrs. Pell has been talking to FBI and her husband beats her up. Seeing Mrs. Pell in the hospital really upsets Anderson and he has had enough of the Klansmen.
Everything the FBI has done hasn’t worked. The KKK can not get away with this. They just go around doing whatever as they please, like being the bad guys. So the FBI is going to have to bend the rules and fight fire with fire. Anderson is in charge of how things go and his way works better. They bring in one of the guys, Lester Cowens, and get the truth out of him by messing with him.
Anderson also goes after Deputy Pell. He has more than one reason to be getting rough on Deputy Pell. Not only is Pell a Klansman and a murderer, but he also beat up his wife. Mrs. Pell might not be Anderson’s wife, but he is fighting for her like a husband would. Anderson gets ugly on Deputy Pell and shows him he is his worst nightmare.
It’s the end of the line for the Klansmen. They are finally getting what they deserve. The FBI get Lester Cowens to admit the truth after making him believe the Klan was coming after him. Lester Cowens tells the FBI everything and they arrest everyone who was involved with the murder.
Mrs. Pell is on her own now. Her husband is in prison, her house is a mess, but she knows things will get better for her. She’s strong and now that those Klansmen are behind bars she doesn’t have to worry anymore. She could just go with Anderson and he would take good care of her, but she is positive that her place is in Mississippi. Anderson understands, even though he cares for Mrs. Pell. Romantic relationships are hard when you're a working man like Anderson. He told Mrs. Pell his wife left him because he was too busy working all the time. But Anderson and Mrs. Pell can agree on a lot of things, so good news is no one feelings get hurt.
Klansmen are the worst. One of the three boys they killed, James Chaney, they wouldn’t even let him rest in peace. They desecrated his grave. They took the tombstone, leaving the grave unmarked, and threw it in a ditch. Alan Parker had an idea about ending “Mississippi Burning” with a ruined tombstone, but two things would still remain, “1964” and “Not Forgotten”. Alan Parker said it would be as part of a message saying that two men did everything they could to honor those three boys and in the end they won the battle in the year 1964. Of course this film also shares with us the story about Anderson, Ward and the victims, Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman.
My rating on “Mississippi Burning” is five out of five stars
