In this powerful drama from director Alan Parker, Gene Hackman gives a mesmerising performance as a Southern States FBI agent fighting racism with local knowledge and canny psychology. Willem Dafoe is equally impressive, if more restrained, as his rule-obsessed Ivy League partner. Parker's wonderful creation crackles with dramatic tension and simmering violence that often reaches boiling point. Loosely based on a true story and shot with great visual flair (Peter Biziou won the Oscar for best cinematography), this is a gripping evocation of the early days of the civil rights movement.

Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.