By Geno McGahee
William Shatner is best known for his over the top acting. He has been spoofed by many and he has fed into this because it made him money. He had a huge career, but there is a secret about him that many people do not know. He is a fantastic actor when he wants to be and in the 1962 Roger Corman film “THE INTRUDER”, we get the best of him. Written by Charles Beaumont and directed by Corman, THE INTRUDER is a masterpiece that plays out in the most sincere sense. Although the topic is racism, it is equally applicable to society on various other topics. This film hits hard and gives the dirty reflection that much of our society had then and have today.
Adam Cramer (Shatner) comes into a southern town on the week that integration begins. He is a smooth character, good speaker, and immediately impresses the majority of the people. He plants the seed that integration needs to be stopped despite the fact that it was now legal and claims to represent something called the “Patrick Henry Society.” Cramer is feeding on the power and is doing many things that are reprehensible behind the scenes, including sleeping with an underage girl, Ella McDaniel (Beverly Lunsford). She is the daughter of journalist, Tom McDaniel (Frank Maxwell), and he becomes the first to start seeing the game played by Cramer.
Cramer holds a town meeting where hundreds of people show up. He begins talking about how the communists and Jews are taking over and how the entire country is going to hell. The people light up with support and Cramer takes it all in. They become his pawns. The mob now has a leader and a cause. They need to stop integration but it soon gets out of control and the black people of the town are now targets for the large white mob. Cramer tries to get ahold of it, leading to an end game for integration but it’s not easy.
When Cramer gets too friendly with his neighbor’s, Sam (Leo Gordon), wife, he makes an enemy that he will later regret. As smart and smooth as Cramer is, Sam sees through him and is the only one in the town that can expose him for the fraud that he is. The confrontations between Sam and Cramer are memorable and compelling.
A black church is burnt down and a preacher is killed, but Cramer’s support is still very high. He admonishes the group and teams up with town big wig, Verne Shipman (Robert Emhardt), as he makes his final move. Tom McDaniel has had enough and begins walking the black teens to school, leading to a vicious beating and leaving Tom in the hospital. Cramer manipulates Ella to cry rape and lead to the mob kidnapping a black student with the plan to lynch him. The mob took a life of its own and Cramer no longer has the control that he craved.
THE INTRUDER is a great example of how the majority can be manipulated through fear to do things that they typically would not do. This does not just apply to racism. This is one of the best films concerning human nature that I have ever seen. It’s raw and intense, amazingly written and acted. This hits so hard because of how honestly and accurately it displays the mob mentality and the biases that can be exploited and increased through the manipulation by the few. This film will sit with you.
I not only highly recommend this film. I think this is a must see. With today’s current manipulation of the public and steering of public opinion, it can be argued that this movie is more important now than when it was first released. I rarely call a movie perfect, but we have one here people. It is incredible.
Rating: 10/10
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