The Klansman (1974)

Director:

Terence Young

Writers:

William Bradford Huie (novel)
Millard Kaufman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 October 1974 (West Germany)

Genre:

Action | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Welcome to scenic Atoka County. Pop 10,000. Cross burnings. Rape. Murder. Arson. Its a great place to live...... if THEY let you.

Plot:

An FBI Agent goes undercover in the Ku Klux Klan.

Plot Keywords:

Black Man | Ku Klux Klan | Breasts | False Accusation | Miscarriage Of Justice

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	Sheriff Track Bascomb
Richard Burton	...	Breck Stancill
Cameron Mitchell	...	Butt Cutt Cates
O.J. Simpson	...	Garth
Lola Falana	...	Loretta Sykes
David Huddleston	...	Mayor Hardy Riddle
Luciana Paluzzi	...	Trixie
Linda Evans	...	Nancy Poteet
Ed Call	...	Shaneyfelt
John Alderson	...	Vernon Hodo
John Pearce	...	Taggart
David Ladd	...	Flagg
Vic Perrin	...	Hector
Spence Wil-Dee	...	Willy Washington
Wendell Wellman	...	Alan Bascomb

Also Known As:

KKK
The Burning Cross

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-18 | Norway:15 | Norway:18 (1975) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Oroville, California, USA

Company:

Atlanta Productions

Trivia:

With a budget of $5,000,000 it was the most expensive film ever produced by an African-American (William Alexander) at that time.

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever Part 4 (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Good Christian People

Incredibly brave or incredibly reckless?

The Klansman could be one of two things. It is either a brave exploration of racial hatred and violence in the US Deep South. Or, it is a reckless film which is trying to generate entertainment by exploiting racial tension. I don't agree with the majority of critics who say that this film is violent and trashy rubbish.... in my eyes, it poses enough interesting questions and pushes the audience out of their comfort zone sufficiently to be a worthwhile film. I wouldn't say that it's a great, misunderstood masterpiece, but it is definitely a film that needs reappraisal.

The story is set in Atoka County, Alabama, where race relations are balanced on a knife edge. The rape of a white woman by a negro triggers off a campaign of Ku Klux Klan violence, including the castration of a black youth, which in turn leads to retaliation by black extremists such as O.J. Simpson. Thrown into the struggles are Lee Marvin (the town sherriff who knows that racism is bad but tolerates it in order to cling to a degree of order) and Richard Burton (a landowner who sympathises with blacks, but is haunted by memories of what the Klan did to his grand father).

The film contains at least one unwatchable rape scene and some tasteless dialogue. It also suffers because Burton is so clearly miscast as a southern sympathiser (his accent is dodgy and he seems disinterested in the story). However, it takes a highly chraged theme and deals with it interestingly and provocatively. The violence jolts you out of your chair and forces you to think about the two sides of the argument. The climax is memorable and leaves you feeling empty and sick, especially at the waste of life caused by the single-minded, lethal actions of racist extremists.

A decent film, then, worth seeing for yourself. The critics got this one wrong. Give it a go.