Murder in Mississippi DVD: Review By Brian Gallagher

I always find it odd when they release these old TV movies on DVD at seemingly random times. This Murder in Mississippi, a 1990 NBC TV movie which is based off true events that happened in 1964, could've easily been released four years ago during the anniversary if these events. Still, like this and others before, I'm glad this was released on DVD because it's a very powerful story that sheds some new light on Mississippi in the 60s.

The film revolves around the Civil Rights Movement, more specifically, the right for African-American's to vote in Meridian, Mississippi. The film opens with James Chaney (Blair Underwood), a young activist who encounters resistance not only from the white community, but also from African-Americans who either don't want to vote, or have been frustrated by the elaborate system designed to stand in their way of the ballot box. With the movement almost at a stand-still, the leader of the movement, Dennis (Andre Braugher), enlists the help of some unusal support: Mickey Schwerner (Tom Hulce) and his wife Rita (Jennifer Grey), a white Jewish couple from New York City empassioned to help the cause. While their presence does lead to progress, it also leads to the rising anger of the bigotted white community and the two sides fight for their beliefs in their own ways... which leads to murder.

The script from Stanley Weiser (who is also writing the upcoming W biopic with Oliver Stone), feels like it could've been more effective in a feature format, but it is quite strong and moving nonetheless. I think they also could've done well with a beginning that empasizes the impact of their death at a powerful funeral scene at the end of the movie, and then going back to tell their story. Either that, or not have the packaging give us who died right on the back. It seemed that something clashed here, either one or the other, and one of them should've been rectified. Still, knowing right away does add an intriguing aspect because you see the events that led up to their demise and why their deaths were of landmark importance.

The acting here is pretty damn good by Blair Underwood as Chaney, a young man bitter at the system holding him down who evolves quite nicely throughout the film. Tom Hulce does a fine job as well (it took me almost half the movie before I realized he was Pinto from Animal House) and Jennifer Grey, although in a role much smaller than I imagined, isn't too bad as Rita. The rest of the acting is surprising, not because of the performances themselves, but because of the early performances here by now-established actors. We get a glimpse at Greg Kinnear in one of his first roles as a reporter, Josh Charles, also in a very early performance, as a wide-eyed young volunteer for the movement, Andre Braugher as the movement's leader, who we don't see much of, and a glimpse of two actors from one of my all-time favorite TV shows, The Shield, in Walton Goggins as one of the prejudiced townsmen and C.C.H. Pounder in a very small role as Blair Underwood's mother. It's just interesting to see them all before their established careers took off, and that they were all a part of this powerful film. To add to the oddities, the film was suggested by an article by Ben Stein (Yes, THAT Ben Stein).

Overall, while we've seen stories about the deep South in the 60s before, this one is quite deep and explores a story that isn't quite as well-known as the rest. It is a powerful story that illuminates a dark period in American history, complete with an immensely towering climactic scene that will send chills up your spine and tears down your cheek. This is something you really ought to see.

Sadly, we get nothing here. I was hoping for some more historical context into the film with the special features, but they are not to be.

The film is a TV movie so it's presented in the fullscsreen format in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

The sound is handled through the Dolby Digital Stereo format.

Some nice work here. They have the three big names in Underwood, Hulce and Grey at the top with a title card, a shot of all three plus Josh Charles with the rest of the cover a shot of a flaming cross. The back has a nice critic quote, a synopsis that still kind of bugs me, some random pics from the movie along with the billing block and tech specs.

With a story this powerful, it still surprises me this was a TV movie instead of a full theatrical presentation. I think this could've even been a better movie if it was done in the theatrical format, but that hardly slights anything from this gripping tale. If anything, it could've been even better, but just having this story on DVD is a damn good thing as well.