L'homme du clan

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.

Awful film altogether about racial tensions in a small southern town that bring the hooded KKK out to terrorize and harrass. There is no chemistry between sheriff Lee Marvin and simple landowner Richard Burton. I don't even know why Burton is in the story, let alone the film.

I must confess a certain amount of guilt in enjoying this movie. It bumbles along at a shockingly easy-to-watch pace and stops well short of making any intelligent moral statement condeming racial prejudice (the dilema inherent in the Sheriff character was an exception). Normally the type to turn this kind of film off I found the way in which it used such serious themes as an excuse to unashamedly descend into an action thriller worryingly entertaining. At times you kind of got the feeling the screenplay writers had scripted a plot and strenuously tried to fit serious racial points around them. At times the violence became good guy/bad guy driven just like that in Dr. No, also directed by Young.

Perhaps this is the genius of the movie - making a profound statement as to the way cinema tends to illicit an emotive response from the viewing public by making entertainment out of serious issues. Somehow I think not.

Klansman (1974)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Sheriff Bascomb (Lee Marvin) tries to keep a small Alabama town calm after a white woman is raped by a black man just days before a group is coming to town to get blacks out to vote. The local Klan doesn't take too kindly to outsiders coming in and much of their hatred goes to Breck (Richard Burton), a man who lives in the mountains and wants peace between the races.

Throughout the 70s there were all sorts of Southern pictures that took pride in their redneck factor. A lot of films dealt with racism and other issues but what's rare and somewhat shocking about KLANSMAN is the fact that it got released by a major company (Paramount), featured two legendary actors and was produced by a black company. KLANSMAN isn't a very good movie as it is certainly flawed but at the same time it does have some entertainment value to it and there's no question that something like it wouldn't be released today.

The cast is certainly the most attractive thing to the picture when viewed today. I mean, you've got Oscar-winner Lee Marvin battling the Klan. Burton, considered one of the greatest actors in history, appearing in a rather strange role. Legend has it that years after this film Marvin and Burton were introduced and neither one remembered meeting each other even though they had worked on this film together! You've also got Cameron Mitchell as a dirty and evil Klan member, David Huddleston, Linda Evans and then there's O.J. Simpson playing a man who decides to kill as many of the Klan members as possible.

The story itself here, co-written by Samuel Fuller, is a mixed bag. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on here but I can't say that it makes for a complete story. Bits and pieces just seem to enter and leave the movie without much thought and the actions of Marvin are often confusing to say the least. The film is certainly very uneven but this is probably due to the studio changing the screenplay at the last minute. Technically speaking the film is well-made and perfectly fits that drive-in era vibe.

KLANSMAN isn't a masterpiece or even a good movie but it's an entertaining film. Just be sure you watch the original theatrical cut, which runs 111-minutes and carries a R-rating for the violence, nudity and language. I've seen the TV cut, which runs 11-minutes shorter and has all the bad stuff edited out and the theatrical version is certainly better.

Lee Marvin is well cast and Richard Burton amusingly MIS-cast in this adaptation of the William Bradford Huie novel. Marvin plays "Track" Bascomb, an Alabama lawman who tries to keep the peace during a period of unrest. Soon a civil rights demonstration will be coming to his town, and the local foaming at the mouth racists will have none of it. Burton plays Breck Stancill, a liberal minded landowner incensed at the activities of Klan members such as Tracks' own deputy sheriff Butt Cutt Cates (Cameron Mitchell). Yes, Butt Cutt is his actual character name.

Although both Marvin and Burton were apparently drinking heavily during production, Marvin comes off a lot better. You see that it can't help but affect Burtons' mopey performance, and any attempts that the actor makes at a Southern accent. Much of the cast does creditable work. David Huddleston is the pompous mayor, Linda Evans a resident who is unfortunately raped within the first quarter hour, Lola Falana a young lady whom Breck took under his wing, and Luciana Paluzzi a civil servant. Other familiar faces like David Ladd, Hoke Howell, Lee de Broux, Jeannie Bell, and Virgil Frye turn up. We also have none other than O.J. Simpson as a black man driven to take matters into his own hands.

Samuel Fuller was the original director, and retains a screen writing credit; he left the project early on. The filmmaker in whose hands this ended up was Terence Young, of such James Bond adventures as "From Russia with Love" and "Thunderball".

This ultra trashy melodrama establishes a certain tone within the first few minutes, and therefore some viewers will find it pretty hard to stomach. It's pretty violent, and tends to discard such things as good taste. But if this sort of approach intrigues you rather than turns you off, you'll find that this IS rather potent and visceral entertainment. If you're anything like this viewer, you can't help but cheer every time a particularly odious character gets what they deserve.

On location shooting in Oroville, California, and a good music score by Stu Gardner & Dale O. Warren definitely help matters. That opening song, "The Good Christian People", is a corker.

The scene of Burton effortlessly manhandling Mitchell is a comic highlight, even if it wasn't intended to be that way.

Seven out of 10.