Hard-edge social drama centers around racial conflicts and is one of the most strange cinematic forays in this theme. The film begins with a bill captioning : ¨Drive carefully you are in Wallace County¨. This is the tale of a sheriff (Lee Marvin) in an US Southern town and a rich owner (Richard Burton) who protects the black men. Marvin receives a huge amount of hostility from the non-tolerant white establishment making his job very hard and every around has to decide the values really lie. The Ku Klux Klan (comes from Greek, Ku Klus that means band or circle and Klan that means family) pursues and mistreats the black people and the sheriff attempting to keep peace on racial tensions. When a young woman has been violently raped (Linda Evans), the white men immediately declare the culpability an African-American named Garth (O.J.Simson). He flees to the backwoods and wishes revenge. Meanwhile the Klansmen form some lynching party hunts and pursue him. The young on the run because the violent group seek to destroy him. But the racist posse kidnaps a beautiful African-American (Lola Falana) and rape her.This is a horrifying story of racial violence and xenophobia with countless shots of violation , burning crosses and frequent bad taste. Unfortunately, this is another example of a serious movie about xenophobia and racism in which white roles predominate and African-American characters provide background. Terence Young treads a brutal, gory path in this low-powered look at warped , evil white inhabitants of an American town , and the comparatively clean role played by Richard Burton. Big-name cast is wasted as Cameron Mitchell,Linda Evans, Luciana Paluzzi, David Huddleston as the Mayor, they only partially shine. Rumors circulated about Lee Marvin and Richard Burton , both of whom utterly drunk during the shooting. Even the all star cast can't save this movie because is a nightime Soaper and an exploitation story. Lousy cinematography by Lloyd Ahern and Aldo Tonti, as is necessary an urgent remastering. Furthermore notorious conflicts among producers, director, screenwriters (Sam Fuller, Millard Kauffman) and actors made a real flop. Mid-budget production, and the producers would like to thank the citizens of Oroville for their enthusiastic help and cooperation in the making of the film. The picture belongs a period in which made stories is similar style concerning on racial problems , such as ¨Hurry Sundown¨(1967, by Otto Preminger with Michael Caine, John Philip Law, Jane Fonda), ¨The liberation of L.B. Jones¨(70, by William Wyler with Lee J Cobb, Roscoe Lee Browne and again Lola Falana), ¨Tick, Tick¨ (70 by Ralph Nelson with George Kennedy, Jim Brown), and the Oscarized ¨In the heat of the night¨(by Norman Jewison with Sidney Poitier). And in the 8os stands out ¨Missisipi Burning¨ (by Alan Parker with Willem Defoe and Gene Hackman). Rating : 4,5, below average.

There is a lot of opinion out there that The Klansman belongs on the list of fifty worst films of all time. It's pretty bad, but I've seen far worse.Putting it in its proper context, The Klansman is set in the years right after the Voting Rights Act has been in force for a while. It's not lost on any of the people of this unnamed Alabama county that there is a black majority out there who if they start voting now, a lot of the power structure will be radically changed. It's the underpinning of the reason the Ku Klux Klan exists. That David Huddleston is also mayor of the town and Grand Exalted Cyclops of the local KKK chapter is a very typical Alabama story for generations.Lee Marvin is the local sheriff and as he conceives his duty it's also to protect the good name of the town and keep the peace. Bringing criminals to justice is second place in his thinking as you'll see by his actions. Richard Burton is a local landowner whose family has long been opposed to the ways of the area, his great grandfather in fact was a judge who was hung for opposing secession before the Civil War. He has a bunch of elderly blacks he keeps on as rent free tenants which has a certain element of the town worked up.Anyway both their efforts come to naught as there is one bloody showdown in the end.The Klansman falls back on a lot of stereotypes, racial and otherwise, in the film. It also has a very muddled message in the end, you'll wind up scratching your head as to what all of it really means.It also in my knowledge has the only rape scene in the history of film that you might wind up laughing at. Cameron Mitchell is Marvin's deputy and a loyal Klansman. At one point under cover of his badge he arrests Lola Falana and takes her to a warehouse where he rapes her with the rest of the white sheet boys standing around gawking. It's staged so stupidly you might actually wind up laughing. That and the fact that who could take Mitchell's character so seriously with a name like Butt Cutt Bates.Life did imitate art however. O.J. Simpson is in this and he's a black avenger after Klansmen capture and kill a friend of his. He goes around executing the hooded swine. But we well know what happened with O.J. in real life.Samuel Fuller pulled out of directing after changes in his script were made and Lee Marvin wanted to pull out, but couldn't because he'd signed a contract. Richard Burton was doing just about anything at this point, he just sort of saunters through the film with a very cheesy southern accent.Pass this one by folks, pass it by.

The Klansman is a great movie with a good cast including Lee Marvin, Richard Burton, Cameron Mitchell, O.J. Simpson, Lola Falana, David Huddleston, Luciana Paluzzi, Linda Evans, Ed Call John Alderson, John Pearce, David Ladd, Vic Perrin, Spence Wil-Dee! The acting by all of these actors are very good. There are many great scenes in the film and all of the scenes are filmed really well! Some of the scenes I like are when the KKK make their appearances and those are really excellent scenes! When the KKK are battling is something else and it was filmed remarkably well! The action is awesome! The music is very good. Really this is a fantastic film and in My opinion the actors and actresses have some of their greatest performances in this film! If you like any of the actors and actresses I mentioned above and if you like the movie To Kill a Mockingbird (that stars Gregory Peck) then I strongly recommend The Klansman!

I remember this movie when it was on tv. I was a very young girl, just becoming a teen and I watched this made for tv film. It upset me. Decades later, this film is being shown on satellite Networks such as Colours TV just to remind everyone that they used to make and show films like this for there were people out there like this. That was 1974, and sadly, not very much has changed.American History X this is not. No where near its league, but there are little glimpses of this film into why a film like American History X was eventually made, and made well. In a way, you could say, that the grandkids of these folks made it to American History X.Horrid subject matter, horrid judgements by folks who are very ignorant and self centered and don't know better. Would education help? Would togetherness and love help? Any redeeming qualities whatsoever for this town, this thinking, these folks? You'd hope so, you'd think so. But you've gotta be honest with yourself, look deep into your heart and pull out that reality that suggests...hey, we're still fighting that battle here and not very much has changed. Production and script wise, this was your typical slap together movie of the week of the 1970's. Why watch this? Just to see how far we've come, or haven't come in many aspects. Can 20, 30 years wipe away a generation of this kind of thinking? These kinds of actions? Or are we just hamsters running on the wheel of life where this will replay over and over again. You decide for yourself.