The Intruder (1962)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Admirable film.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I watched this film a few days ago and I was stunned! Having seen actual news footage when I was 11 or 12 on TV regarding race riots in the South in the early 60s it was actually like seeing them all over again. Having grown up in a little town in New Hampshire the evil shown in the news footage all came back to me after watching this. I am now 67 and regard this movie as an accurate insight into the insane and dark behavior that humans are capable of. I am not an expert on movie production values but I considered the various roles as having been portrayed very well and William Shatner made the perfect demagogue as I have heard some real fanatics and screwballs during my lifetime and Shatner nailed it in the general sense I believe. I liked the camera work throughout and I thought the audio quality was fine, especially for a low budget black and white film from 1962. Some people might think this movie is over the top but it knocked me for a loop as I had seen this film in another form when I was a 12 year old boy on the TV news.

Adam Cramer (William Shatner) is a young man who arrives in the small Southern town of Caxton, wearing a white suit and a big smile. He claims to be a social worker, but is really a member of a very racist organization dubbed The Patrick Henry Society, which has made it its mission to fight the desegregation of schools. As we can see, Adam is a *beep* disturber par excellence, but there are a select few in town who eventually see through him, and realize that he's not capable of controlling a mob.Shatner does very well in this potent drama from producer / director Roger Corman, Cormans' brother Gene (who executive produced), and author / screenwriter Charles Beaumont. Beaumont was a prominent talent used by both A.I.P. studios and the 'Twilight Zone' TV series, and here he does a fine job of showing the hatred and ignorance of man. "The Intruder" is stark and effectively dramatic, with solid acting all around. Shatner is charismatic and convincing; ultimately we can see how at heart he's really a pathetic coward who will resort to desperate measures if he thinks that he's not getting his way.The supporting cast is noteworthy for including a couple of screenwriters. Beaumont also appears on screen as Mr. Paton, and George Clayton Johnson and William F. Nolan (who co- wrote "Logan's Run") and Leo Gordon ("Attack of the Giant Leeches", "The Wasp Woman") play area locals. Particularly good are Robert Emhardt as local bigwig Verne Shipman, Frank Maxwell as newspaperman Tom McDaniel, Charles Barnes as brave teenager Joey Greene, Mr. Gordon as salesman Sam Griffin, and Jeanne Cooper as Sams' wife Vi. Herman Stein composes the music, and Taylor Byars does the excellent cinematography.This was a rare attempt by Corman to create a Message Movie, and it's also one of the rare instances of one of his movies not being financially successful. It was reissued under other titles in the attempt to turn a profit. It's definitely deserving of another look.Eight out of 10.

We usually associate the name of Roger Corman with cheap exploitation movies, or maybe cheap horror movies with an Edgar Allan Poe theme, but this one isn't at all like his others -- except that it's cheap.William Shatner steps off the bus in a small Southern town whose high school begins its racial integration next Monday. He's handsome, well dressed, charming even. He's smooth, especially when speaking before groups or cozening lonely women or young girls. He even alludes at one point to Socrates, without being pretentious about it. I mean, he's a likable guy.The problem is that he's an agent of The Patrick Henry Society. Kids, Patrick Henry was a well-known orator (that means "public speaker") during the American Revolution and his most famous quote is, "Give me liberty or give me death." This is a logical fallacy known as a false dilemma, but never mind that. Anyway, Shatner considers himself an American patriot and arouses the benighted town with speeches in which he argues that blacks (he used the N word) can't go to school with our white girls -- law or no law -- because pretty soon they'll be sleeping with them. This whole business of integration is part of a communist conspiracy led by Jews.He succeeds is stirring up the town and it almost leads to the lynching of an innocent young black high school student, saved at the last minute by a beefy salesman played by Leo Gordon, who is usually a villain.It's a cheap movie but it's not entirely a thoughtless one. It was shot in a small town in Missouri and the locations are reasonably convincing. It was written by SF writer Charles Beaumont, who penned a lot of Twilight Zone episodes, and in fact this somewhat resembles The Twilight Zone except for the absence of any supernatural element. It's pretty hard hitting and carries a typical Twilight Zone moral message.I applaud the ambiguity of the central character, William Shatner. It's only gradually we realize how thoroughly rotten he is, and how gutless. At the same time, this isn't a very sophisticated movie. Corman has gathered together a group of racist townsmen who really LOOK like they're just off the ridges -- toothless, bearded, wizened, rheumy eyed stereotypes. The African-Americans are all good, polite and suffering. Nobody shows any irritation, not even in receptive company.And the movie completely collapses at the end. Leo Gorden, the traveling salesman, has issues with Shatner. (Shatner seduced his horny wife.) But Gordon has never shown any sign of social engagement. He has no reason to care one way or another about the fate of some anonymous black high schooler he's never heard of. Yet he intervenes at the end, saves the kid, and humiliates Shatner in front of the mob and the town's leaders. Shatner is reduced to the predictable, running around hysterically shouting "Wait! Wait! Listen to me! I can explain!" -- that sort of thing, which you or I could write as well as Beaumont. It's redeemed somewhat because it doesn't end with Shatner's dashing around. It ends on a downbeat, with the not-entirely-unsympathetic Leo Gorden giving the chastened Shatner enough money to leave town quietly.But -- that disillusioned mob, slouching away from Shatner, ashamed of themselves, leaving him a lone and despairing figure. I think if I see another scene like that, even in "To Kill A Mockingbird" or "A Face In The Crowd", I'll -- well, I'll just hold my breath to death.

This is an amazing film--and what's even more amazing is that it isn't seen as a classic today, as it's one of the best films on race Hollywood has ever made. Unlike many of the more recent films on racism, what I loved about THE INTRUDER is that it is not sanitized in the least--with intense language and horrible mob behavior that make this film terrific.The film is a lot like combining ELMER GANTRY with a film about racism. William Shatner is the Gantry-like man who comes to town with the express purpose of stirring up the hatred of the White masses towards the Blacks--coinciding with a court order to desegregate the schools. Why he is doing this is never explained, but you know that Shatner is a man with no scruples whatsoever and he seems to enjoy sowing evil and dissension. As for the town, they respond pretty much like you'd expect. A lynch-mob mentality develops and the crowd is looking ugly. At this point, the film comes to an emotional boil--leading to a wonderful climactic finale.So why did I like the film so much? Well, one reason is that it proved that given a strong and competent director (Roger Corman), Shatner is a good actor and his bigger than life style works well. Mr. Shatner without such strong guidance is a bad thing indeed, as evidenced by films such as IMPULSE (directed by schlock film director William Grefe). Second, Corman really was not afraid to shock the viewer and did not pull any punches. Unlike many other films about race, this one repeatedly used "bad language" (i.e., I must call it this because IMDb does not allow such words on their site--even if it includes mentioning the title of a movie with one of these "bad words" in it). Because of this, it exposed racism for the ugly beast that it is---warts and all. All too often, films take a sanitized view of racism, but in THE INTRUDER it's as ugly and vicious as you can find. I appreciate this because racism is ugly and vicious...duh. Finally, because it is a Corman production from his ultra-low budget era, it was made with minimal expense using exceptional character actors. Because of this, it's like a textbook example of great film making for less money--with a wonderful script, acting and direction.Sadly, when this movie came out, it was one of the only Corman films that lost money. Well, you can't blame anyone for this--it was simply too far ahead of its time and the country was not yet ready for it. It's a shame, as apparently Mr. Corman blamed Shatner for the failure of the film--it was no one's fault. Because of this, it needs to be seen and appreciated as a great allegorical film that was unjustly ignored.Also, in an odd observation, I noticed that Roger Corman was listed as 'Rodger Corman' in the credits. This possibly makes this the only film in which the director's name is misspelled. And, if this review piques your curiosity, the film is in the public domain and can be downloaded and watched for free at sites such as archive.org or other public domain sites.