It was complete bullshit from an historical perspective (FBI guys saved the day, local blacks sang hymns in churches) but this Alan Parker film, released just shy of 26 years ago, is absolute aces from a purely stylistic or compositional perspective (excellent photography, exquisite cutting, rumbling score, affecting sense of underlying menace, tasty production design, etc.). And Gene Hackman‘s performance as a good-ole-boy FBI agent is one of his very best. And don’t forget Frances McDormand‘s as a long-suffering wife of an abusive lawman-and-secret-Klansman (Brad Dourif). “Ahh think this is all just some publicity stunt cooked up by that Martin Luther King fella…”
