The Intruder (1962)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

Charles Beaumont (novel)
Charles Beaumont (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 January 1963 (Norway)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

He Fed Their Fears And Turned Neighbor Against Neighbor!

Plot:

A man in a gleaming white suit comes to a small Southern town on the eve of integration. He calls himself a social reformer. But what he does is stir up trouble--trouble he soon finds he can't control.

Plot Keywords:

Integration | White Suit | False Accusation | Mob | Nymphomaniac

Cast

William Shatner	...	Adam Cramer
Frank Maxwell	...	Tom McDaniel
Beverly Lunsford	...	Ella McDaniel
Robert Emhardt	...	Verne Shipman
Leo Gordon	...	Sam Griffin
Charles Barnes	...	Joey Greene
Charles Beaumont	...	Mr. Paton
Katherine Smith	...	Ruth McDaniel
George Clayton Johnson	...	Phil West
William F. Nolan	...	Bart Carey (as William Nolan)
Phoebe Rowe	...	Mrs. Lambert
Bo Dodd	...	Sheriff
Walter Kurtz	...	Gramps
Oceo Ritch	...	Jack Allardyce (as O.C. Ritch)
Jeanne Cooper	...	Vi Griffin

Also Known As:

I Hate Your Guts! (USA) (reissue title)
Shame (USA) (reissue title)
The Stranger (UK)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, language, some violence and sensuality.

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-15 (new rating: 2001) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Charleston, Missouri, USA

Company:

Roger Corman Productions

Trivia:

Producer Roger Corman allegedly blamed star William Shatner's performance for the box-office failure of the movie, and the breaking of Corman's perfect track record of successes. Shatner jokingly suggested years later that the re-release title "I Hate Your Guts!" was probably aimed at him.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning of Adam Cramer's speech in front of the town hall, he unbuttons his jacket twice.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Adam Cramer: [to the little girl he helps out of the bus] There you go... Ma'am.
Little Girl's Mother: Thank you... What do you say to the nice gentleman?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Directors: The Films of Roger Corman (#1.5)" (1999)

Awesome

As a white Northerner at 15, I had no idea in 1960 of what rude realities awaited me as I hitchhiked through the South that summer. In Birmingham I was thrown into the two worlds of black/white; I was escorted out of the black's bathroom at the bus station, kindly - gently - but firmly. I witnessed prayer-sayers at street corners extolling salvation and gateways leading away from oppression, people coerced to sit in the crowded back of the bus... whites throwing epitaphs at anyone black who happened to pass by... By the time I reached New Orleans, I had had a complete education in racial prejudice and hate. I was stunned.

So forty years later I watched the Intruder. It left me cold and I begin remembering that trip to the South so long ago. Sitting here in my easy chair in South Carolina today, I can say that some things have changed and some things haven't.

The movie, at least from my experience, presents a milieu that is faithfully true of the South in the early '60's. Of course, it descends from that point into the murky depths of the manipulation of fear and hatred within the human spirit. It is a raw, dramatic expose - hard to watch at times. And I can't respect enough that this movie is so cutting edge and so truly represents the attitudes and motivations of folks during those days.

For the adventurer who has a curiosity of how life was in that period, and for the psychology buff who is interested in the roots of human nature, this movie is a must.

dnk