The Intruder/Shame/I Hate Your Guts/The Stranger (1962) - Corman's impassioned political drama

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A fiery cross is outlined against the serious visage of star William Shatner on this stark poster for Roger Corman's The Intruder

A mysterious stranger arrives in the racially segregated Southern town of Caxton; he is a good-mannered rhetorical figure, promoting 'social reform' while actually spelling trouble, - by inciting a race riot.

The Intruder is written by Charles Beaumont (Night of the Eagle (1962)), adapting his own same-titled 1959 novel, and directed by great Michigander filmmaker Roger Corman (Highway Dragnet (1954)).

William Shatner (The Big Bang Theory (2019, TV-series)) shines in the central part of Adam Crane, and this rare, idealistic, topical issue-driven film impresses as an accomplishment in itself as well as in terms of what it succeeds with: The casting of the town's locals is strong, and central scenes will etch themselves into the audience's memory banks. The Intruder is among the best race-themed American films of all time.

 

Related posts:

Roger Corman: Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (documentary subject)

Philadelphia (1993) - AIDS and homosexuality acknowledged in great drama (actor) 

Galaxy of Terror (1981) - Clark and Corman's delightful space-set gore-fest (producer)

Death Race 2000 (1975) - AIP's dystopic car smash (producer)
The Wild Angels (1966) - Young biker rebels deliver a counter-culture punch in Corman's hands

Dementia 13/The Haunted and the Hunted (1963) - Coppola's Gothic AIP castle horror (producer) 

Creature From the Haunted Sea (1961) - Cheap, fast, amusing spoof/spy thriller/creature feature (producer/director)
Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date

House of Usher/The Fall of the House of Usher/The Mysterious House of Usher (1960) - Corman's exuberant first house of Poeish horror

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 90-100k $

Box office: Unknown

= Unknown but reportedly a flop

[The Intruder premiered 14 May (New York) and runs 84 minutes. Major studios had passed on the adaptation, which Corman and his brother Gene Corman then did on a much smaller budget, partially with their own money. Shooting took place in 3½ weeks in Missouri. The production was careful not to share the script with the locals, fearing getting forced to leave. Still they reportedly encountered threats, sabotage and revoked permissions for shooting due to the film's anti-racism message. Corman later shared that the film, distributed by his own company domestically, was his only film at the time that lost money, which he attributed to its raw 'lesson'. He learned from it to focus instead on entertainment value and relegate themes and messages to subtext. The film was nevertheless also released in at least 14 international markets. Corman returned with Tales of Terror (1962). Shatner returned in 13 short, TV and narration credits prior to his theatrical return in The Outrage (1964). 4.1k+ IMDb users have given The Intruder a 7.6/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Intruder?

Miss Congeniality (2000) - Caine, Bullock and Shatner shine in low-brow romp

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Star Sandra Bullock looks radiant on this poster for Donald Petrie's Miss Congeniality

FBI's agent 'Dirty Harriet' Grace Hart is tasked with infiltrating the Miss America pageant in order to avert an attack from the mysterious 'citizen' killer.

Miss Congeniality is written by Marc Lawrence (Noelle (2019)), Katie Ford (Little House on the Prairie (2005, miniseries)) and Cary Lucas (Pride & Joy (1995, TV-series)) and directed by Donald Petrie (Mystic Pizza (1988).
The high-concept idea that runs Miss Congeniality doesn't have much in terms of unpredictability or plausibility to its credit, and especially the FBI environment it conjures up seems grotesquely improbable. The sincerity of the film's morale and the inevitable kisses are also very slight.
But if you can accept Miss Congeniality with the appropriate low-brow expectations, it offers something besides these deficiencies:
Sandra Bullock (Forces of Nature (1999)) is as endearing as ever, (although some of her comedy misses the mark); Benjamin Bratt (Snitch (2013)) is handsome and fine as her romantic interest; William Shatner (Barbary Coast (1975-76)) is a bowl of laughs as the pageant show's host, a ham part that's not far from Shatner's own celebrity persona. And then there's also Michael Caine (The Wrong Box (1966)), who is phenomenal and hilarious; his scenes are generally the film's best. Miss Congeniality esteems itself as gay-friendly, satirical, decent popcorn-munching fun fare.

Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: 45 mil. $
Box office: 212.7 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.72 times its cost)
[Miss Congeniality premiered 14 December (Hollywood) and runs 110 minutes. Shooting took place from May - July 2000 in Texas, including San Antonio and Austin, and in New York City. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release Cast Away, holdover hits What Women Want and How the Grinch Stole Christmas and fellow new release The Family Man, to a 10 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #3 and spent a total of 6 consecutive weekends in the top 5, grossing 106.8 mil. $ (50.2 % of the total gross). The film's Box Office Mojo international sheet is regrettably incomplete, but its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets appear to have been Germany with 17 mil. $ (8 %) and the UK with 14.1 mil. $ (6.6 %). The film was nominated for 2 Golden Globes, among a few other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Bullock returned as star in sequel Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (2005) with John Pasquin directing. Petrie returned with How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)). Bullock returned first in Murder by Numbers (2002). Miss Congeniality is rotten at 42 % with a 5.12/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Miss Congeniality?

The Devil's Rain (1975) or, The Meltdown!

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It's not saying too much to remark that this incredibly colorful poster for Robert Fuest's The Devil's Rain promises more than the movie delivers

QUICK REVIEW:

A family's patriarch vanishes, and their son goes looking for him. This is somehow connected to a satanical church out in the desolate countryside, whose leader Corbis has lost a highly important book.

The Devil's Rain presents a hardly understandable story, which bounces out by having members of the satanic church melt to death at several occasions. SPOILER The title refers to the rain which melts them all, when their spooky soul-goblet gets smashed in the end.
The film is well photographed, by Álex Phillips Jr. (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)), and it has some scary sounds made as the purgatory lamentations of souls.
But its narrative drives in a kind of neutral gear for too long, and elements like Ernest Borgnine (The Wild Bunch (1969)) playing a goat make the experience more involuntarily funny than frightening. Another such grotesque element is that William Shatner (Big Bad Mama (1974)) has no eyes for most of the film... One hardly notices that John Travolta (Domestic Disturbance (2001)) makes his completely unimpressive debut here as one of the 'melters' - These and other things about Devil's Rain have nonetheless over time given it a notoriety to some as a film so strange it simply has to be seen.
The Devil's Rain is written by Gerald Hopman (Evilspeak (1981), associate producer), Gabe Essoe (The Adventures of Black Feather (1995)) and James Ashton, (whose only credit it is), and directed by Robert Fuest (The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)). Fuest, who had directed 6 features before this, went down with the ridiculed flop the film became and subsequently worked only on TV, except for the erotica Aphrodite (1982).

Watch a trailer for the film from a Danish video here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[The Devil's Rain was released June 20 and runs 86 minutes. The shoot was reportedly shortened from 8 to 6 weeks during production. Real-life satanist Anton LaVey was used as an adviser on the film and has a minor part in it. Borgnine reportedly swore never to be in another film with a satanic topic due to strange accidents during production. The film was panned upon release: Roger Ebert gave it just 1½ stars out of 4, which translates to a note harsher than this review. Australian critic Michael Adams has called The Devil's Rain 'the ultimate cult film', [because]: "It's about a cult, has a cult following, was devised with input from a cult leader, and saw a future superstar indoctrinated into a cult he'd help popularize." (Referring, of course, to Travolta, who is a prominent Scientology member.) The Devil's Rain is rotten at 20 % with a 3.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Devil's Rain?

Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) - Movie recycling, - not so hip

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Santa in his sleigh gets involved on this holiday-targeting poster for Ken Finkleman's Airplane II: The Sequel

The Sequel takes place in the future, where a moon mission gets off course due to a homicidal computer, so that the passenger rocket steers straight for the sun! With a bomb!

The Sequel is basically the original comedy classic Airplane! (1980) all over again, but with less original material, (because most of it is simply recycled here), and no Leslie Nielsen. The ZAZ creators of the original (Jim Abrahams, plus brothers Jerry and David Zucker) had nothing to do with the follow-up, and it suffers in freshness and creativity, - and in its basic story.
Even so, this thin cup of tea attracted stars Rip Torn (The Mouse (1996)), William Shatner (Range 15 (2016)), Raymond Burr (Mallory: Circumstantial Evidence (1976, TV movie)) and most of the rest of the original cast back, and Lloyd Bridges (Winter People (1989)) single-handedly secures the film's third star with his hysterical acting.
It is written and directed by Ken Finkleman (The Newsroom (1996-05)).

Related post:

Airplane! (1980) - Classic deadpan/spoof/crazy-comedy!

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 27.1 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain, likely a box office success (returned 1.80 times its cost domestically alone)
[Airplane II: The Sequel opened 10 December (USA) and runs 85 minutes. Finkleman was also hired by Paramount to write Grease 2 (1982). Shooting took place in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #2, behind The Toy, to a 5.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week. Its gross is down 67 % from the original's 83.4 mil. $ domestic gross, - on a budget that was only 23 % the size as the one for The Sequel. The world gross should nevertheless secure the film profitability. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Finkleman returned with Head Office (1985). Robert Hays (Starman (1986-87)) returned in Trenchcoat (1983), Julie Hagerty (The Winner (2007, TV-series)) in Lost in America (1985), and Bridges in 8 TV credits before he returned to cinemas in Weekend Warriors (1986). Airplane II: The Sequel is rotten at 42 % with a 5.33/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Airplane II: The Sequel?