External agitators and radical activists hmmmmmm where have I seen this before

External agitators and radical activists hmmmmmm where have I seen this before

a sharp, unsettling slice of american tension, and while its low budget shows, its impact doesn’t. william shatner delivers one of his most chilling performances as a smooth-talking agitator who weaponizes fear and prejudice in a small southern town. the film’s rawness actually works in its favour, the rough edges make the racism, anger, and manipulation feel uncomfortably real. it’s not perfect, sometimes leaning too heavily on speechifying, but its courage and blunt force make it a striking, ahead-of-its-time drama that still hits hard.

a sharp, unsettling slice of american tension, and while its low budget shows, its impact doesn’t. william shatner delivers one of his most chilling performances as a smooth-talking agitator who weaponizes fear and prejudice in a small southern town. the film’s rawness actually works in its favour, the rough edges make the racism, anger, and manipulation feel uncomfortably real. it’s not perfect, sometimes leaning too heavily on speechifying, but its courage and blunt force make it a striking, ahead-of-its-time drama that still hits hard.

It is so interesting that this was Corman directing and producing. Overall, I think its very well made and people weren't wrong, William Shatner gives the performance of his career, but its too much a white savior movie for me to fully give it its stars. Groundbreaking for the time, but for modern times it rings a bit hollow. Lib fantasy of saying "oh these people don't really want to kill that black child, they just want to be led around by a man in power, we can all go back to being chill again." Like its just aggressively and sadly not how this works whatsoever, and as a warning for southerners at the time, they should've really leaned into the evil wickedness that is the KKK and white supremacy.

It is so interesting that this was Corman directing and producing. Overall, I think its very well made and people weren't wrong, William Shatner gives the performance of his career, but its too much a white savior movie for me to fully give it its stars. Groundbreaking for the time, but for modern times it rings a bit hollow. Lib fantasy of saying "oh these people don't really want to kill that black child, they just want to be led around by a man in power, we can all go back to being chill again." Like its just aggressively and sadly not how this works whatsoever, and as a warning for southerners at the time, they should've really leaned into the evil wickedness that is the KKK and white supremacy.

William Shatner is incredible, but the ending is so strange. Are the townspeople meant to be redeemable for what they do at the end? I don’t think they can be, but it seems like that’s what this is angling for. Really it just feels like they all circle back to who they were at the beginning of the film. Every white character in this movie (who remain the focus for almost the entirety of this) at best kinda sucks and at worst is literally evil. 
Maybe Corman and co. are trying to make the point that racism is just so pervasive that it would be idealistic and naive to end it off on a note where all the racist white people actually learn something and do change, but if that’s the case I think you need to show that reality in action. Ending it the way they do doesn’t get that across, instead it seems like they’re acting in a way that signifies some character growth (wow they ignoring the racist guy!!!!!) when common sense says they’re the same people that they were 10 minutes ago. All the racism doesn’t come and go with Adam Cramer

William Shatner is incredible, but the ending is so strange. Are the townspeople meant to be redeemable for what they do at the end? I don’t think they can be, but it seems like that’s what this is angling for. Really it just feels like they all circle back to who they were at the beginning of the film. Every white character in this movie (who remain the focus for almost the entirety of this) at best kinda sucks and at worst is literally evil. 
Maybe Corman and co. are trying to make the point that racism is just so pervasive that it would be idealistic and naive to end it off on a note where all the racist white people actually learn something and do change, but if that’s the case I think you need to show that reality in action. Ending it the way they do doesn’t get that across, instead it seems like they’re acting in a way that signifies some character growth (wow they ignoring the racist guy!!!!!) when common sense says they’re the same people that they were 10 minutes ago. All the racism doesn’t come and go with Adam Cramer

Frightening score. And a character with quite a few parallels to… a more modern person of interest. 

I’m curious how the initial reactions were.

Frightening score. And a character with quite a few parallels to… a more modern person of interest. 

I’m curious how the initial reactions were.