Mississippi Burning
Orion / 1988 / 122 Mins / Rated M15+


MOVIE
Mississippi Burning is based on the true story of 3 civil rights workers who go missing in Mississippi during the summer of 1964 and the events that follow that disappearance.

Gene Hackman plays Anderson and Willem Dafoe plays agent in charge Ward. They are the 2 FBI investigators assigned to the disappearance of the 3 civil rights workers. Right from the word go the 2 agents are subjected to intolerance and unhelpfulness from a town that does genuinely hate black people, this is something that Ward has trouble coming to terms with. Anderson on the other hand has seen this before. He was the Sheriff of a small town with the same beliefs, this does cause some strain between the two men.

This is a very hard hitting and disturbing movie at times but is always riveting. Look for great performances from Brad Dourif and the very mean Deputy and R. Lee Ermey as the Mayor of the town.

VIDEO
This is a very ordinary transfer from Columbia/Tri-Star to say the least. The colors were very muted and the transfer is very soft. Shadow detail also was very lacking. This is one transfer that Columbia/Tri-Star should not be proud of.

Several MPEG artifacts were present throughout the transfer and there were also problems with the original film print. There are numerous marks scratches and speckles right throughout the movie as well

Mississippi Burning is framed at 1:85:1 and is 16:9 enhanced.

This is a Single Layer disc. So no layer change occurs.

AUDIO

This is a straight Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack across the board. The soundtracks included are Dolby Digital 2.0 English, French, Italian, German & Spanish. 

This is primarily a dialog movie with most of the sound coming from the front sound stage. There is some casual use of the surrounds, but more often than not it is silent.

The .1 channel was also barely used as well.

EXTRAS
Not much to write home about...

Original Theatrical Trailer: A standard fare theatrical trailer in 4:3 format with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. 

The other extras contain the following:

Cast Notes

The subtitles included on this DVD are

Closed Captioned (English)
French
Italian
German
Spanish
Dutch

An average set of extras.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Great movie. Shocking transfer with average extras.

16:9 ENHANCEMENT DISC RATING

VIDEO:
AUDIO:
EXTRAS:
PLOT:
OVERALL:

REVIEW EQUIPMENT

Display: 48" Sony RPTV.
DVD Player:
Panasonic A350 Player using S-Video Cables.
Receiver:
Pioneer VSX-D508 Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.
Speakers:
Accusound speaker system.

Copyright © 2000 by [Roger Ward].
Revised: 25 May 2000 20:24:04 +1100 .

DVD INFORMATION
Region Coding: Region 4
No of Discs: 1
OFLC Rating M15+
Running Time: 122 Mins
Case Type: Brackley Case
Release Date: 7/12/1999
Catalog Number: D11601
List Price: $34.95
Distributor: Columbia/Tri-Star
DISC SPECIFICATIONS
Disc Format: PAL
Disc Type: Picture Disc
Disc Format: SS-SL
Chapters: 28
Macrovision: Yes
Manufacturer: Sony DVD Center
VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Film Format: 35mm
SOUND SPECIFICATIONS
Dolby Digital:

2.0 Surround

DTS: None
PCM Stereo: None
Other: None
Languages:




English
French
Italian
German
Spanish
Subtitles: Yes
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary: None
Theatrical Trailer: Yes
Teaser Trailer: None
TV Spots: None
Dolby Trailer: None
Documentary: None
Cast & Crew Bios: Yes
Deleted Scenes: None
Music Videos: None
DVD Rom Content: None
Collectable Booklet: None
Scene Access: Yes
Animated Menus: None
Production Notes: None
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INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE INFO
OFFICIAL WEB SITE
NONE
VIEW TRAILER
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