philosopherjack If nothing else, Terence Young's The Klansman has you feeling persistently outraged and repulsed, which seems like the broadly right reaction to a drama about modern-day Southern racism. It's generally a bit unclear to what extent this reflects conscious sociological engagement and illumination, versus tasteless pot-boiling, but the ambiguity isn't uninteresting in itself. It's tempting to credit co-writer Samuel Fuller for what's most interesting in the film - usually when it looks beyond the rather ploddingly ugly foreground drama to explore the wretchedly symbiotic coexistence between white fear of blackness and its economic dependence on it. There's an acknowledgement for instance of how the black population in the county actually outnumbers the white, thus providing constant fuel for voter intimidation mechanisms, and the film is pretty good on how the Klan bastardizes language and religious precepts (in these regards as in numerous others, the film's substance feels less dated than its surface). The plot turns around sheriff Bascomb's attempts to maintain equilibrium in the community when various events, including a white woman's rape and a voting rights demonstration, stir up the perpetually stir-ready Klansmen (that is, basically, the entire local male population) - his concessions are monstrously favourable to the racists who occupy the driver's seat, but of course it's never enough. The film surely spends too much time wallowing in swaggering interactions, and it's hard to look kindly at its relative treatment of white and black female sexuality and its violation - it lacks anything as cinematically or thematically powerful as the central concept of Fuller's later White Dog. Unless that is you react a certain way to the presence of O. J. Simpson as a one-man avenger, essentially occupying his own space within the movie, just as he does in the movie of our lives. Young's film fails particularly in its ending, delivering us merely to inevitable mass violence and destruction, and to a predictably bitter closure lacking in any broader meaning or implication.

HotToastyRag There's nothing more American than racism, and there's no place more racist than the American South. In The Klansman, the age-old drama hits the fan when a black man gets accused of raping a white woman in an Alabaman town.If you actually like these types of movies (Is there anyone who actually likes these them?), this one isn't really the best out there. The music, filming, and script are very 1970s, and there's just way too many evil racist people in the movie. Pretty much every white person is super evil, throwing bad words around like candy (and I think you know which word I mean). Lee Marvin pretends to be a good guy, but if he was really good, he'd do more to help, rather than act a little corrupt in order to keep the peace. Richard Burton isn't racist, but his on-again-off-again Southern accent is pretty bad. I don't know why he was cast in this movie if he can't do the accent, but then again, Lee Marvin doesn't really put on an accent either.

kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS**** Things really start to heat up in Attoka County Alabama when a group of civil rights activists lead by former native Chicago's Loretta Sykes,Lola Falana,in attempting to get the blacks in town to register to vote in the upcoming election. The already explosive situation couldn't get any worse when local woman Nancy Poteet, Linda Evens, is attacked and raped in her car by an unknown and what looked like, in the dark, black masked assailant. With the local population up in arms and thirsting for blood it's up to the town sheriff former Klansman and now middle of the road, in getting the black vote, Track Bascomb, Lee Marvin, to keep the peace and prevent any more bloodshed. As things turn out local angry black man Garth, O.J Simpson,has other ideas and starts a one man war against the Klan polarizing the white and black population in town even farther.In all this violence there's Attoka's royal blooded, his family goes back eight generations, and only white liberal Breck Stancill, Richard Burton, who's really pushing the envelope in allowing local backs to live on his property rent free who's live in girlfriend just happens to be the just assaulted Nancy Poteet. With the voter march about to start Garth takes out, with a sniper rifle, one of the local Klansman that has the rest of the Klan in retaliation kidnap and rape Loretta making it look like a black, not Klansman, did it! Sheriff Bascomb in trying to keep the lid on all this violence and prevent it from blowing a major fuse is forced to confront the entire Klan, that he was once a member of, from burning the hated Stancill, in being against his liberal views, house down together with him and all the black homeless persons living there!****SPOILERS**** Flaming final with Sheriff Bascomb together with Stancill holding off scores of Klansman who are attacking Stancill's home or better yet bunker who's bulky Klan outfits and hoods covering their eyes make them easy targets. Despite doing everything possible to prevent it there's nothing that Sheriff Bascomb could do to keep the Klan on a leash or in line that by the end of the movie had almost the entire Attoka County up in flames with him as well as Stancill and dozens of residences, black and white, never living to see the light of the next day.P.S It was reported that both Lee Marvin and Richard Burton were so drunk during the filming of the movie that years later when they ran into each other at a party they couldn't remember being in it! In fact Richard Burton got so drunk while making the movie "The Klansman" that he was hospitalized for over a month so he can dry out and continue acting in it. Marvin seemed to be able to hold his booze or liquor far better then Burton who reportedly guzzled down as much as three bottles of vodka a day during filming. Burton was so smashed that in many scenes in the film like in the fight with Klansman Butt Cut Cates, Cameron Mitchell, was having great difficulty or even unable to stand on his feet and had to be filmed most of the time either laying in bed of sitting on a couch!

dbborroughs Infamous film starring Richard Burton and Lee Marvin about the rape of a white woman in small southern town. Its decided that the person responsible is a black man played by OJ Simpson. They go after him with an unbridled zeal while Richard Burton (with a bum leg that comes and goes depending upon the shot) and Lee Marvin try to keep the peace. This film came to my attention in one of the Medved's worst film anthologies. I don't know if I would consider it a worst film of all time, however I will say that its one of the most wrong headed. Its the sort of message movie that Hollywood did in the 1960's and which deteriorated quickly into movie of the week on TV. This is a movie of the week with an "A" movie cast. I think this might have worked but the cast doesn't work on any level. Its often as simply as the wrong casting of Welshman Richard Burton as a Southerner. At other times its incredibly silly as it tries to sell us on the evils of racism with David Huddleston as the Mayor of the town and lead Klansman a role that he played for laughs as Olson Johnson in Blazing Saddles the same year (and elsewhere any other times). I admire the film trying to take on an evil straight on but its just all wrong. Its a turkey, yes but not one of the worst films of all time.