The Intruder



The Intruder - 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. - Source

One week when I was watching numerous B-rated horror movies directed by Roger Corman - incidentally, the man who gave Jack Nicholson his start - I discovered this film. Produced and directed by Roger Corman, The Intruder was released in 1962, and it stars William Shatner. Surely it was a very provocative and eye-opening film of that era. In truth, though, because Corman was mostly known for his very low-budget, almost silly horror films, The Intruder got largely ignored. But it's a powerful social film, and as time passes, it keeps getting a second look by critics and movie lovers. I certainly recommend it.

In college, I recall seeing images like this, and it shocked me in large part because I wouldn't have expected prim and proper white Southern ladies to publicly display this kind of anger. I could see men doing it, of course, but women?!?!? Just threw me a bit. And so watching The Intruder reminded me that we're all capable - all human beings - of getting swept up with the times, and displaying some of the worst traits imaginable, along with some of the best traits. Although it's intensified in the past few years, for a while I have wondered what life was really like when my parents were growing up, the good and bad. And I wondered what I really would be doing, living in those days, faced with similar circumstances. Who knows? What do they say about hindsight?