This blog entry is part of my "movie year countdown round #2". Read more about that here.
The Intruder
So I asked my girlfriend, do you want to watch an old movie where William Shatner plays a racist? Apparently it was her favorite quote out of me for the day. That's right, Netflix finally sent me The Intruder.
Many people say this is both Roger Corman's greatest directing effort and also William Shatner's greatest lead acting picture. Now I would necessarily assume either of those qualifications would really make a great movie, but putting them together is at least a movie I certainly wanted to see! If you are amused by Shatner's oratory, the is certainly a film to see. I can imagine this film gives a good impression of some of the atmosphere of the parts of the South in the early sixties. It's hard to say if some of the characters were a bit exaggerated, but there is a surprising amount of complexity to many of the main characters as well.
I don't know if this is Corman's greatest directing work. I haven't seen too many movies he has actually directed. He has a very low budget approach, and I feel like the material in this film could have benefited from a slightly more skilled production. But I think recognition should be giving to Corman for even attempting to put this material up on a screen at the time that he did.
Rating: 7/10