Mississippi Burning

 

               With the passing of legendary actor Gene Hackman, I decided to pick out some Gene Hackman films that I failed miserably in taking the time to sit down and watch. For any Generation Z, or now, if you grew up in my time of the millennial’s era, your parents would have you watch the only kid friendly movie in Gene Hackman's filmography titled Hoosiers. For which, my parents had a VHS copy of it from the publisher of Feature Films for Families, and literally that was my first introduction to Gene Hackman moreover was my only film of his I ever watched besides Superman, The French Connection and The Quick and the Dead, on cable TV.  And this latest film of Hackman's career is most certainly one of those films that puts a lot of hate in your heart but also gives you a lot of reasons to root for Gene Hackman's character.

                When a group of civil rights workers goes missing in a small Mississippi town, FBI agents Alan Ward (William Dafoe) and Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) are sent to investigate. Local authorities refuse to cooperate with them, and the African American community is afraid to, precipitating a clash between the two agents over strategy.

                Around 1985, screenwriter Chris Gerolmo discovered an article that excerpted a chapter from the book Inside Hoover's F.B.I., which chronicled the FBI's investigation into the murders of Channey, Goodman and Schwerner. And while drafting the first script, Gerolmo brought it to producer Fredrick Zollo, who worked on a previous movie, helped him develop the original script before they sold the script to Orion Pictures. Of all the Gene Hackman movies I've seen and sadly there a small few, this one know doubt is the most intense movie I've seen to date. And sure it's a story about racism in the worst part of America, Mississippi and we've all seen a ton of movies like Remember the Titans or 42, but this was one of those films that if your kid is wanting to go to college and go to the University of Mississippi then you'd better have him/her watch this movie and just make sure what you’re getting into because as Johnny Depp said "I have absolute nothing I want to do in Mississippi". In all mystery style films I've seen you always have to have that cop relationship where one man is above the book and one who knows that lands and wants to do things to bend the rules, and at times you'll shout about William Dafoe's character being such a stickler always feeling like he's not doing is job, but then you come to realization that you have to have that drama between Dafoe and Hackman because that's how you set up the drama in what the best way to approach things especially when it comes to the KKK. And I truly believe when you have a guy like Hackman as the veteran officer at your side, I would defiantly like to have his assist, because he was the main reason why he's such a tremendous actor because he does lend the compassionate side but also can be a scary SOB when you cross him and once we get to like the third act of the film it just feels satisfying when they bring the fear of God into the KKK, and I just loved every minute of it. As great of an actor Gene Hackman was in the movie, the antagonists in the movie are even great, actors like Michael Rooker who played Chick Gandil in the movie Eight Men Out, as well as the infamous Yondu in the first, two Guardians of the Galaxy films, furthermore it takes a lot of courage to play a racist scumbag whose filled with a lot of hate in your heart and really that's something even I'm not sure I can channel that because it’s just something that you have to hate yourself doing on set and I always give actors who play a hard hating southern hillbilly a ton of credit because that's always a hard thing to do, mainly because you have to be that guy you despise a lot on the actors who play the white clan do a great job at that. For the first time even watching this movie it does take a lot of effort re-watching this movie again and I'm not sure I can a side from the fact that yes it's most certainly a great film and I would highly recommend watching the film, but this was most certainly recommend watching the film but it's one of those films that puts a lot of hate in your heart and it's not like 42 or Remember the Titans where you get some satisfaction but with this movie I don't know if I can but maybe in the near future. The film itself is still on Tubi, and I would most certainly suggest not watching this with your kids but assure people to not just treat people equally but most importantly never make race or religion or any different aspect of a person you see a big deal because the only way we can address these issues of today is to treat your fellow man respect and understanding.