The Intruder (1962 film)
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'The Intruder is a 1962 American film directed by Roger Corman, after a novel by Charles Beaumont, starring William Shatner. Also called Shame in US release, and The Stranger in the UK release. The story centers around the machinations of a racist named Adam Cramer (portrayed by Shatner), who arrives in the fictitious small southern town of Caxton in order to incite townspeople to racial violence against the town's Black minority and court-ordered school integration.
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The introduction to Cramer is a simple shot of him stepping off a bus, carrying only a light suitcase, with an attitude of innate confidence, a confidence which throughout the film never diminishes. On an interpersonal level, starting with the first character Cramer meets, the audience sees he is a charmer, but it is soon revealed that the character uses this charm quite professionally, in furtherance of a hard, cunning political effort to incite Caxton's existing racial tension into violence. At the same time, Cramer seeks personal pleasure with every interaction. Cramer's racist, incendiary politics are thereby proven inseparable from his pleasure. By manipulating many of Caxton's citizens on a personal level, Cramer implements a strategic plan for incite violent action, which culminates in a lynch mob, after Cramer manipulates a teenager into making a false claim of interracial rape. A rational, internally secure character named Tom McDaniel, played easily by veteran actor Frank Maxwell [1], having accurately assessed Cramer's nature during a very interesting conversation in Cramer's hotel room while living next to Cramer in the hotel, breaks up the mob using his personal skills and natural presence. Rather than approach Cramer's obviously hopeless sociopathy vituperatively or violently, or take justifiably motivated revenge for Cramer's seduction of McDaniel's clinically depressed and therefore vulnerable wife (who flees), McDaniel without animosity offers Cramer bus fare out of town. This act preserves the film's focus on political manipulation of racial bigotry rather than getting payback for evildoing. A typical payback of the sort found too often in cinema would be too simple and easy a closure to a story situation that is difficult to develop yet unusually mesmerizing in execution, and would have interfered with proper perception of the characters. Arguably, since Cramer is a man of ideas, however destructive to human progress, McDaniel's ending is a uniquely personal form of justice which happens to preserve the film's focus.
Perhaps the most significant moment in the film, is a single line, ostensibly directed towards Cramer, is McDaniel's calm assurance that he would find his wife and get her back despite the mental damage Cramer has done to her. By the time McDaniel says this, the audience feels that if McDaniel can get his town on the path to healing, he's certain to do the same for his wife.
This film evinces strong character development, concern with ideas and innovation, and it certainly offers excellent acting and casting. As presented, however, the story is missing a few emotional links, giving it a somewhat contrived feel. However, the thrust of the film is a disturbing, serious character study in the person of Cramer, matched only by flawless exposition of McDaniel's ennobling decency. The film examines the manipulation of arbitrary racial groupthink as a vehicle for fulfilling one person's political intent, as well as manipulation of bigotry animated by the strength of Cramer's personal, magnetic appeal, an appeal amplified by Shatner's ability to inhabit a character's life so completely and energetically that the audience is left with no doubts as to Cramer's confidence and ability to arouse others, sexually and politically. A legitimate audience hates the fact that, on some level, Cramer's personal appeal is admired, even if the filmgoers truly feel revulsion for Cramer and have no respect for him. Complex fictional parallels can be made with Sinclair Lewis's demagogic preacher Elmer Gantry, but audiences can still like Gantry for reasons other than personal appeal. Not so Cramer.
The film seeks to completely traverse a difficult bridge between an expository offering of evidence in the form of a story versus proving the point by means of characterization. Instead, the film throws onto the screen some exposition for plot, character for the emotional majority, in woven juxtaposition, at the cost to effective drama of moderate contrivance, but the whole is good enough to get at these characters even though the characters are cheated out of the full dramatic, contextual expression a properly integrated whole provides.
No question, "The Intruder" contains William Shatner's best and bravest lead role, played to the hilt, as he disappears into the being of Adam Cramer. It's also pleasant to see Frank Maxwell's strong persona given as much room as it requires in this film, more than enough to make the audience wonder what lead roles Maxwell could or should have played other than the largely supporting roles he drew throughout a lengthy career.
