The Intruder William Shatner

William Shatner plays a white racist in this excerpt from the Roger Corman movie "The Intruder." Yes, he can really act. These and other fine clips can be found in the Oxford American Southern DVD 2007 that accompanies its Southern movie issue. Buy the magazine or subscribe at www.oxfordamericanmag.com for the best writing anywhere on Southern culture and life.

More details on the movie can be found here:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2421intr.html

And searching through Froogle, Shopzilla, Amazon, etc. should find you copies.....

What's striking is that the racism that Shatner conveys still resonates as, unfortunately, an effective message even to some of YouTube's viewers....

If you want to fight racism and anti-Semitism today, learn more at the Southern Poverty Law Center's website, http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp

The snake-like evil and rhetorical cunning embodied by Shatner in this role has been followed up in a more sophisticated way by by the GOP's "Southern Strategy," building on themes first promoted by Gov. George Wallace of Alabama before he recanted his racist pandering. For more on the link between the GOP's current policies and its roots in appealing to white racism, see the essential book, "Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights and Taxes on American Politics" by Thomas and Mary Edsall.

Racism, in a variety of forms, is still alive and well.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• William
• Shatner
• Southern
• movies
• Roger
• Corman

[OdinsHenchman]

@ choff56

Yes, and antisemite, holocaust denier, homophobic, islamophobe etc etc etc

If being called names is enough to shut down those who are prepared to speak out then those people do not have the CONVICTION nor the GUTS to speak on behalf of those who DO. If you believe strongly enough in what you say then meaningless labels will not be enough to quieten you, name calling is the refuge of those who are DISABLED by the truth and those who FEAR the truth getting out.

[ArthurHilty]

He wasnt acting.

He was speaking from the heart!

[bmays002]

typical jew

[Catalysis24]

These words fifty years ago were correct, the writer knew it was coming!

Screw the movie/maker/actor, so don't bother to critique, its the WORDS and they hold true today as they did back then.

[ShapeyFiend]

Shatner had laryngitis so they shot all the crowd reactions first (calling out rival football teams to get boos etc.) then did his speech after most of the extras had got bored and gone home. Turned out to be a blessing, a local journalist said they would have started a riot otherwise. Director/actors were very nervous about getting killed when they shot movie.

[setpunk12]

the creepiness of this scene really comes from Beaumont's writing.

the logic of the speech is frightening because it seems to be cornering the listeners.

[TonySteeles]

Shatner plays a racist to perfection...WOW

[Suitsnappy]

5:52 - SAYS IT ALL. {{-_-}}

[Suitsnappy]

5:26 - I SURE DO. {{^_^}}

[herbal1971]

Reminds me of a very good Twilight Zone episode called "He Lives" starring Dennis Hopper who is a similar character to this one. Out of the shadows he gets help from a mysterious person with a German accent.

Check it out.

:)