Dir.: Roger Corman
Plot: A small Southern town bubbling with resentment at new racial integration laws boils over after the arrival of a smooth-talking white supremacist who stirs up a frenzy beyond his control.
I don’t know if it was the knowingly provocative subject matter, the gaudy re-titlings or the presence of William Shatner that always made me think that this was a schlocky hixploitation picture bashed out to cash in on the Civil Rights movement. I confess I expected to see at least one corrupt overweight sheriff lean back in his desk chair, shoot a mouthful of tobaccy juice into a spittoon and say “Waaall, I’d sure like to help you, boy. But you see, we folks got a way of doin’ things round here…”. However, having now seen the film (albeit a very battered print), I can confirm that Roger Corman’s The Intruder (released several times under different names in a failed attempt to break even) is by no means a trashy race-hate potboiler. On the contrary, it is a very fine, powerful drama with a documentary feel in its raw, ragged glimpses of white Southern anger.
