Every true Roger Corman fan knows the story of The Intruder: how in 1961, when the Civil Rights movement was just
starting to hit its stride, Roger discovered Charles Beaumont’s gutsy 1959
novel and decided to adapt it for the screen.
Written in 1958, it was a fictional account of a white rabble-rouser who
turns up in a small Southern town to fan the smoldering flames of racial
hatred. Hollywood showed some interest in filming Beaumont’s work, then decided
it was too controversial for its era. When Corman and his brother Gene became
involved, they thought they’d be making their movie for United Artists. Tony
Randall was in negotiations to play the leading role, and the budget was
projected to be $500,000.
Soon, however, it became apparent that the Corman brothers were on their
own. Most of the production costs (in the neighborhood of $70,000) came out of
their own pockets. For reasons of authenticity as well as cost control, the
feature was shot entirely on location, primarily in rural Missouri, near the
Arkansas border. William Shatner, a young Canadian stage actor still lightyears
away from becoming Captain Kirk, was signed to play the charismatic demagogue,
Adam Cramer. Getting other actors to commit to the project wasn’t easy. Author
Beaumont, who adapted his own novel for the screen, stepped in without salary
to play the courageous school teacher, and many parts (including that of the
black high school student who sparks the film’s crisis) were taken by
non-professionals living in the region.
By shooting this story in towns where it could have happened, Corman and
crew were courting real danger. For three weeks they dodged sheriffs, eluded
threats of violence, and sidestepped accusations that they were Communists.
Some of the script’s most incendiary moments remained unfilmed. Still, reviews
were mostly respectful. But the audience stayed away, and Corman—losing money
on a picture for the first time in his career—returned to making horror flicks.
Still, he has always remained
justifiably proud of his one big foray into socially conscious cinema.
Just recently I was sent by Christopher Beaumont, the late author’s son,a new edition of the source novel. It reminded me what an excellent writer
Charles Beaumont was, before he succumbed to a cruel disease at age 38. His
novel uses verbal mastery to paint a vivid and convincing picture of the dog
days of summer in a sleepy Southern town: “Summer had a magic to it, a magic
way of frying the nerve ends, boiling the blood, drying the brain. . . . It was
the season of mischief, the season of slow movements and sudden explosions, the
season of violence.” (Corman’s black-and-white filming doesn’t fully capture
this sense of oppressive Southern heat, though 1967’s Oscar-winner In the
Heat of the Night comes close.)
Beaumont also succeeds in peopling his town with a raft of complex
characters. Most important, he makes us understand where Adam Cramer is coming
from, and why he—an outsider and a Yankee—feels the need to stir up racial
trouble in the Deep South. This, alas, is where The Intruder feels most prescient. It warns that a single ambitious
man can use a culture-wars issue like forced school integration to bend a
community to his will. Here’s Adam’s formula for success: “Play on their ignorance,
underline and reflect their prejudices; make them afraid.” This stealthy march toward fascism is, in
Beaumont’s eyes, easily accomplished: without
concerned citizens and a free press to stop you in your tracks, you can “become
a dictator before the people’s eyes without anyone seeing it happen.”
Big thanks to Chris Beaumont for
supplying me with a handsome new edition of his father’s novel
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| A desperate Roger Corman attempt to drum up audiences for his film |
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| The novel's original cover |
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