Mississippi Burning | 1988
Alan Parker’s fictionalised account of the investigation into the deaths of three Civil Rights workers in the Sixties caused much controversy by placing white – and fictitious – FBI agents at the centre of the story.
The story is based on the murder of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney in Philadelphia, East Mississippi, in 1964.
The film was shot mainly in Mississippi itself, but also in Alabama.
The Mississippi locations are generally in the region of Jackson. James Chaney’s funeral was filmed in Cedar Hill Cemetery (known as known as City Cemetery), 326 Lovers Lane, Vicksburg, Mississippi.
‘Jessup County’ sheriff’s office and the courtroom were Vaiden Courthouse. The town of Vaiden is about 80 miles north of Jackson but, unfortunately, the old courthouse was demolished in the early 90s.
There was more filming at the Ross Barnett Reservoir, to the northeast of Jackson, and at Bovina, east of Vicksburg.
The town square of ‘Philadelphia’, though, is LaFayette, northeast of Montgomery, Alabama, near the Georgia border. The movie theatre was given a $25,000 makeover – it’s been closed since the Sixties and is now actually an auto supply store.
