I first took interest in searching this film out after reading brief
descriptions of the plot in film magazines such as Filmfax, if for no
other reason than to witness a strange and lost acting performance by a
young William Shatner. William Shatner, Captain Kirk himself, an
otherwise ridiculed actor infamous for his choppy delivery and over the
top hamminess, playing a white supremicist?! Produced and directed by
Roger Corman?! The description was too good to be true, and after
locating the recently released DVD I was prepared to view some fun,
campy, unintentional low budget laugh-riot. What a got was much much
more.
This is easily the finest film Roger Corman's ever made, not to mention
the finest acting performance of William Shatner's career. Anyone who
makes fun of Shatner's acting ability should see this film, not to
mention most of his early-pre Trek performances in the Twilight Zone and
other early television roles. The man's a superb actor! The film is jaw
droppingly shocking and daring, especially when you consider that it was
released in 1961. No doubt segregation was a touchy topic at the time,
but few directors would have had the balls to release this film, and it
took a maverick like Corman to do it. There's no sugar coating of the
subject of racism here, this is hard raw drama that pulls no punches
with a superb script by Charles Beaumont. The dialogue is powerful and
biting, with racial slurs sprinkled throughout and the violence and
imposing threat are portrayed in a realistic and frightening manner.
Unfortunately, while society has arguably come a long way since 1961,
our "political correctness" of late has so homogenized our acceptance of
challenging subject matter that we try to sweep it under the rug and
pretend it never happened instead. Given the power of this film, it's no
wonder that a fantastic and thought provoking film like this has little
chance of being seen on network or cable television today. Offensive or
not (it's funny but the people who seem to be most offended by this film
are white), this film represents an important part of our American
history, and thus should be preserved and viewed for generations to come
so that we never forget. But for now, The Intruder will have to settle
for the title, "cult status" until modern society is ready to view
descriptions of the plot in film magazines such as Filmfax, if for no
other reason than to witness a strange and lost acting performance by a
young William Shatner. William Shatner, Captain Kirk himself, an
otherwise ridiculed actor infamous for his choppy delivery and over the
top hamminess, playing a white supremicist?! Produced and directed by
Roger Corman?! The description was too good to be true, and after
locating the recently released DVD I was prepared to view some fun,
campy, unintentional low budget laugh-riot. What a got was much much
more.
This is easily the finest film Roger Corman's ever made, not to mention
the finest acting performance of William Shatner's career. Anyone who
makes fun of Shatner's acting ability should see this film, not to
mention most of his early-pre Trek performances in the Twilight Zone and
other early television roles. The man's a superb actor! The film is jaw
droppingly shocking and daring, especially when you consider that it was
released in 1961. No doubt segregation was a touchy topic at the time,
but few directors would have had the balls to release this film, and it
took a maverick like Corman to do it. There's no sugar coating of the
subject of racism here, this is hard raw drama that pulls no punches
with a superb script by Charles Beaumont. The dialogue is powerful and
biting, with racial slurs sprinkled throughout and the violence and
imposing threat are portrayed in a realistic and frightening manner.
Unfortunately, while society has arguably come a long way since 1961,
our "political correctness" of late has so homogenized our acceptance of
challenging subject matter that we try to sweep it under the rug and
pretend it never happened instead. Given the power of this film, it's no
wonder that a fantastic and thought provoking film like this has little
chance of being seen on network or cable television today. Offensive or
not (it's funny but the people who seem to be most offended by this film
are white), this film represents an important part of our American
history, and thus should be preserved and viewed for generations to come
so that we never forget. But for now, The Intruder will have to settle
for the title, "cult status" until modern society is ready to view