The Klansman - 1974

Who would have every thought that I'd end up reviewing many films by a well known James Bond director, and the dude that started the franchise, Terence Young?  I previously watched the Charles Bronson vehicle Cold Sweat which would've been a few years before this film.  I guess since this has a budget and actors, Young still had some pulling power?

I don't know dude.  I watched this, in small parts over the course of many days.  That is not my norm btw.  I will be writing two reviews today, as after this I watched another racially charged flick, and I handled that one in one sitting.  But this one, I just couldn't do it.

The Klansman has an all star cast.  Lee Marvin plays Sheriff Bascomb, Richard Burton as Breck, Cameron Mitchell, OJ Simpson, David Huddleston, Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi, and more star in this racial entry.  Early in, it's apparent there's a lot of racial tension in the town in Alabama where this takes place.  There's a big fight the sheriff breaks up, then a white woman gets raped by a black man.  She is ousted from the community, and the Klan members are out for revenge.  Sheriff has to protect every black person in town, and in the meantime he clashes with the local community and political forces, members of both are racist, and it all comes down to a big shootout in the end.

This one was not especially great.  From minute one, there is no lesson, there is no moral, there is no real comeuppance for the klansmen in the film, and in fact there's times where I'd say they're cast in a sympathetic light.  It's not really an effective tool for tension building even!  Much like Cold Sweat, it feels formulaic and sluggish from a viewing standpoint.  Not only is it despicable, it's boring!  The acting is good, and you almost want to give it points for that, and given the amount of drama that went on behind the scenes, basically none of this shows.

All in all, I guess it is self aware in it's approach, and deserves a bit of points for that.  It wallows in it's own grotesque horridness, and 100% if it was made today it'd be going for the culty grindhouse audience.  I found a really well written review that states it better than I can.  But I don't know.  I really find racism to be offensive, and when they drop "nigger" every 4 seconds in this, and when the sheriff literally makes a black woman lie about the white man that raped her, and every other thing that's awful that happens, it made me sick.

I supposed it can have 1 star.  For the cast.