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1962 - USA Directed By: Roger Corman. Starring: William Shatner, Frank Maxwell, Beverly Lunsford, Robert Emhardt, Leo Gordon, Jeanne Cooper, Charles Beaumont and Charles Barnes.
Aka
I Hate Your Guts!
Shame
The Stranger
Current Availability
Available as a cheaply priced UK R2 DVD from Stax Entertainment. Despite its budget price the Stax DVD appears to be an exact port of the more expensive and now OOP US R1 DVD release from New Concorde featuring the same decent if slightly ragged in places transfer and the same extras which include an informative retrospective featurette (which reunites both Corman and Shatner), the original trailer and a civil rights timeline. So if you see the Stax DVD for a couple of pounds be sure to snap it up! A more recent US R1 DVD release from Buena Vista is reportedly inferior to the New Concorde/Stax platter.
Recommended?
Highly Recommended. Whilst its bold, hard hitting treatment of racial turmoil will not be for all tastes The Intruder has aged fantastically well and remains a powerful, disturbing and extremely well made piece of low budget cinema featuring a chilling, powerhouse central performance by William Shatner of all people. A triumphant, highly personal departure for the legendary Roger Corman and all in all a truly excellent film.
Review
Arguably the most intensely personal film ever directed by legendary filmmaker and exploitation/B-picture mogul Roger Corman, and certainly one of his most retrospectively praised, The Intruder ranks as one of the first American pictures to tackle the thorny issues of its nations then simmering racial tensions. Based upon a novel by Charles Beaumont (who also penned the screenplay), The Intruder stars a pre-Star Trek and pre-fame William Shatner as a prejudiced troublemaker who arrives in a small Southern town, wins the favour of the predominantly white populace and swiftly succeeds in inciting racial hatred and violent upheaval.
When Corman sought the financial support of producers and studio's for the project, much to his dismay he found himself turned down by every last potential backer including studio giants AIP, the unanimous response being that a film dealing with such a divisive and inflammatory real life issue would be rejected by exhibitors and more importantly by cinema goers themselves. Despite this reaction Corman was determined to see The Intruder reach the screen and thus took the bold move of mortgaging his own house in order to raise a portion of the films estimated $90,000 budget, which eventually came mainly out of his own pocket. Using this small sum Corman set about shooting The Intruder in black and white using a cast of relative unknowns.
Sadly the eventual release of The Intruder proved to be every bit the unmitigated disaster the likes of AIP had predicted. Theatre owners in many regions flatly refused to exhibit the film and eventually The Intruder earned the dubious accolade of being one of the few low budget exploitation pictures of its age not to return a profit at the box office. However, while The Intruder<> was a commercial failure it was for the most part warmly received by most critics with the impassioned performance of Shatner coming in for particular praise.
The latter half of the sixties and the seventies would eventually see a glut of exploitation pictures ranging from cult hero Ted V. Mikel's obscurity The Black Klansman (1966) through to studio giant Paramount's infamously tasteless plantation epic Mandingo (1975) preying openly upon America's racial tensions in order to turn a quick profit. Into this more wilfully exploitative cinematic climate The Intruder was reissued theatrically under the titles Shame and I Hate Your Guts where it went down well with the Grindhouse crowd and shocked the sensibilities of viewers who were now familiar with Shatner via his role as Captain Kirk. As the years have progressed both cult popularity and critical reverence for The Intruder have increased tenfold and today it firmly holds its place as one of the most controversial and highly regarded films in the Corman filmography.
The Intruder stars Shatner as "social reformist" Adam Cramer - a suave yet unashamedly racist political rabble rouser who arrives in the small fictitious Southern town of Caxton, Missouri intent on stirring up trouble. The authorities in Caxton have recently took the controversial step of ordering the integration of black children leading to ten black children learning alongside their white peers at the local high school. Upon his arrival in Caxton, Cramer quickly ingratiates himself to the white townsfolk who for the most part disagree with the integration and by delivering a series of impassioned, racist speeches incites the locals to form a violent lynch mob dead set upon derailing the integration scheme. In between inciting racial hatred Cramer also finds time to seduce both naive schoolgirl Ella (Lunsford) and his new neighbour Vi (Cooper) - the vulnerable, depressed wife of rough mannered but seemingly friendly salesman Sam Griffin (Gordon).
Inevitably the Caxton mob soon becomes a law unto itself as helpless black people are lynched in the street, black pupils on their way to school are forced to run a gauntlet of hate and a Ku Klux Klan orchestrated cross burning ends with a church being blown up resulting in the death of the local black priest. Meanwhile local journalist Tom McDaniel (Maxwell) - as chance would have it Ella's father - speaks out and acts in favour of the integration and is brutally beaten and disfigured for his trouble. Cramer observes the vile actions of the mob he has roused with obvious satisfaction whilst soaking up their adulation, little does he know however that his manipulative ploys are soon to prove his undoing.
Even after a period of almost half a century has passed since its original ill-fated theatrical release The Intruder nevertheless remains a genuinely powerful and disturbing piece of cinema. Looking back it almost beggars comprehension that such a film was ever made at a time when the civil rights movement was at its height and racial; tensions across the Southern States were reaching boiling point. Therefore, it really is not much a surprise to learn that the American viewing public not wanting to hear Corman's message, opted to instead shoot the messenger. How fortunate then that the films cult status has managed to endure despite its unanimous commercial rejection, because viewed today The Intruder remains a highly relevant and compelling example of low budget filmmaking.
For the most part The Intruder hinges upon the character of its central protagonist Adam Cramer. Clad in a symbolic white suit Cramer registers as one of the most hateful players in exploitation history arriving in the small community of Caxton with a warm but false smile and quickly winning over the townsfolk with his message of hate. Cramer's crowning moment (and easily the films most famous scene) is an extended, frightening impassioned speech delivered on the steps of the towns court house in which he wins over the people of Caxton by denouncing the integration of blacks and in a shocking antisemitic flourish dubbing it the work of communist leaning Jews who "hate America" and wish to "mongrelise" it. The hateful connotations of Cramer's speech are more than enough to make any right thinking viewer blood boil in their veins.
However, what really compels about Cramer is not his racism, but in watching the predictable yet engrossing manner in which he gradually comes apart at the seams as the violent mob he inspires become beyond his control. Cramer soon becomes a prime example of the all too familiar rabble rouser who despite his tough words actually does not have as much as a hint of genuine manliness about him and has to dishonestly manipulate others into doing his dirty work. What makes Cramer all the more contemptible is the fact that he is clearly nothing more than a coward, clearly terrified by the realisation that he actually can't do anything to control those he has incited to commit acts of violence against blacks. If this were not enough Cramer is also revealed to be a shameless philanderer, slimily seducing both an innocent young schoolgirl and a closeted nymphomaniac married woman resulting in eventual emotion devastation for both women.
Over the years William Shatner has received a great deal of critical praise for his portrayal of Cramer and quite deservedly so. Certainly Shatner convinces utterly as the evil worm who behind his dashing, gentleman-like outward persona, takes obvious satisfaction from spreading unrest and (indirectly) causing harm to innocents. Whether launching into unnerving impassioned anti-black and antisemitic rants or snivelling like a wretch when he finally comes unstuck Shatner enters a truly vivid performance which should prove sufficient to discredit those who labelled him a talentless ham in the wake of Star Trek.
In fact central characterisation and performances are universally good with hulking, journeyman character actor Leo Gordon making a particularly strong impression as salesman Sam Griffin. Despite initially coming across as a coarse, sex-obsessed ruffian, Griffin eventually confounds the viewers expectations by revealing himself to be a highly moral and formidable man who quickly sees through Cramer's facade. Gordon brings a powerful, authoritive presence to the role and the scene in which Griffin confronts Cramer in the latter's motel room is nothing short of electric. Meanwhile Frank Maxwell is excellent as the troubled journalist who pays a bitter price for supporting the integration as is young Beverly Lunsford as his naive daughter who falls under Cramer's spell.
Watching The Intruder it soon becomes clear that in the minds of both Corman and writer Charles Beaumont the reasons for the actual racism itself are sadly ones inherently endemic to the mindset of Southerners living in small, insular communities. As opposed to the motivations for racism, what Corman and Beaumont really get their teeth into with a magnificent yet saddening realism is the theme of the mob rule. The foolish yet perilous futility of the mob mentality is perfectly captured as the words of a charismatic outsider are enough to tap into deeply ingrained prejudices leading to the majority of a towns population unifying in their violent hostility towards an ostensibly innocent minority within their midst. Those who question the ringleaders words and values are summarily shouted down then brutally silenced and eventually the hostility of the mob intensifies to a level where even its instigator can no longer control its actions. Corman ingeniously milks the constant, uneasy sense that civil unrest could boil over into violent confrontation at the drop of the hat to generate an unrelenting tension.
Despite being widely promoted in certain quarters as an exploitation picture, in actuality The Intruder is actually sensibly restrained in terms of onscreen violence. Scenes of lynching, blacks being set upon in the streets, cross burnings and beatings whilst undeniably ugly and unpleasant in the extreme shy away from explicitness. Instead it is the expressions of blind hatred etched into the faces of the perpetrators which really shocks. This quality is enhanced a good deal by the fact that the crowd scenes all utilised local actors, many of whom give out the highly disconcerting impression that they are not actually doing a whole lot of acting. One respect however, in which The Intruder is decidedly more graphic is in its liberal usage of strong racial slurs. The product of a far less politically correct age, viewers encountering The Intruder today are likely to be shocked by the frequent, aggressive use of racist terminology, in particular the constant use of the word "nigger". However, far from being used to generate sensationalism or to titillate racist sensibilities, The Intruder instead places the word nigger into the hateful, derogatory and humiliating context it warrants.
In addition to providing a shocking insight into the American South's race relations hardships, The Intruder also makes for a fine instructional for any aspiring filmmaker looking to deliver a taut and gripping motion picture within extremely limited means. Corman directs at a brisk pace without ever losing the films unwavering focus and the films stark black and white cinematography proves effective in creating a powerful sense of tabloid-like, semi-documentary realism. This approach also works well in that it ensures a morally objective stance to the events unfurling onscreen, Corman never uses the subject matter as a figurative soap box to preach to the viewer from. Instead the horror of the situations which occur are allowed to speak purely for themselves and The Intruder is all the more powerful for it. Even what few, visible tell-tale signs there are of the films low budget - for example the aforementioned presence of disconcertingly enthusiastic white, local extras in the lynching scenes - instead of taking away from the film actually wind up enhancing its power.
Given its inherently unattractive subject matter and jarringly up front (if sparing) depictions of racially motivated violence and abuse, The Intruder hardly makes for an evenings light entertainment and is probably best avoided altogether by the more easily shocked. Nevertheless, it still remains a genuinely powerful piece of grassroots cinema which deals with its extremely uncomfortable theme with an admirable maturity and without resorting to preachy theatrics, manages to effectively convey a powerful message about not only the harmful futility of racism, but also that of blindly following the herd. In addition it is of no small measure of aid that the film (a few inevitable rough edges aside) is brilliantly made by Corman and well performed, by Shatner in particular who triumphantly proves that he most certainly could act when he put his heart into it. Undoubtedly not a film for all tastes but The Intruder is a powerful, hard-hitting and insightful motion picture without a doubt, which holds up a mirror to the most foul aspects of human behaviour in a way that very few other films have done so either before or since.
Also Try... The Klansman / Mandingo / Drum / Poor Pretty Eddie / The Black Klansman / Black Gestapo.
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