By Melissa Antoinette Garza
The dangers of charisma and good looks in the wrong hands is explored in this 1962 Roger Corman production.
Adam Cramer (William Shatner) is a devastatingly dashing man. He can turn on the charm and slick-talk on a dime. Nearly everyone in the small southern town, who he comes into contact with is captivated with him; and if he were a good person, all would be well with the world. He’s not. He’s a vicious racist hellbent on manipulating people and preying on fears to gain power.
The film begins with the small town of Caxton in the beginning stages of desegregation. Many of the residents are angry and want to stop the progress. Adam comes in as a new resident from Washington D.C. He exploits the unease and blatant racism of the people and uses dangerous and violent rhetoric to push his followers into a frenzied mob.
When he’s not organizing protests against African Americans, who dare want a proper education, he’s romancing teenage Ella (Beverly Lunsford). Ella’s father is Tom McDaniel (Frank Maxwell), a newspaper journalist, who is cautiously optimistic about integration and growingly suspicious of Adam.
Tom’s instincts are proven right when Cramer brings racists together and incites them with vitriolic hatred and slanderous lies. When he loses a bit of control, he even convinces Ella to lie and say that Joey Greene (Charles Barnes), an African American student, attempted to rape her. In reality the little bitch lured him down to a storage facility where he went to help her. She feels guilty afterwards, but still fuck her! She nearly gets Greene brutally murdered by the crazed hillbilly town, so I have zero sympathy for her. Fuck Ella!
The sheep are still following the herder, and most immediately jump on board. He gives a bigoted speech masquerading it as patriotic and value oriented.
This leads to unprovoked attacks, cross-burnings and widespread hysteria.
In the end, Cramer’s hate and prejudice is the catalyst for Tom to rethink his own thoughts on segregation. Whereas in the beginning of the movie, he was against integration and only abiding by the law, he now sees the importance of bringing people together.
This film is cast spectacularly well. The characters are well-written and brilliantly portrayed. Some of the best dialogue is given by a salesman Sam (Leo Gordon), who calls Cramer under the carpet for all his bullshit. When he sees thru it all and figures out what type of guy Adam really is, the truth in Sam’s words stings hard. It’s fantastically glorious and both actors showcase their chops expertly.
William Shatner gives a chilling performance. The beloved campiness one expects from Shatner is absent. Instead, we have a hauntingly unaffected portrayal of a manipulative evil man. Some of the things that Cramer says is strikingly similar to speeches given near the time-frame that this film was released. The topic was a very hot one and kudos to Corman for going balls-to-the-wall and exposing racist scum for what they are.
THE INTRUDER is as relevant to today as it was when released. I live by the mantra of Serve No Masters and this film depicts the reason why. The motives, inclinations and persuasive abilities of smooth-talking politicians have real life consequences. In the political world, few are what they appear to be and fewer say what they really mean. I know which ideals I hold dear and what moral compass I live by, and no one, regardless of how fascinating or amusing, will change that. I won’t follow blindly and I certainly am not impressed with pandering or fear-mongering. When people are taken in by a snazzy style and a sweet tongue, bad things happen.
This is a must watch. It’s currently free on YOUTUBE and also streaming for .99 on AMAZON. After re-watching this, I’m going to commission my husband to draw me a picture of Captain Kirk beating the shit out of Cramer.
Scared Stiff Rating: 9/10
