NOT Available on DVD: ‘The Klansman’

Only in the 1970’s could Hollywood have turned its attention to the subject of racism in the deep south and come up with something so jaw-dropping in it’s political incorrectness as THE KLANSMAN. On the surface the 1974 film is a serious depiction of the bigotry and the racial confrontations that tear apart an Alabama town in the 1960’s, but watching it today THE KLANSMAN comes off at times serious, laughable, mean-spirited, sleazy, and racist. I’m sure the movie wasn’t meant to be racist, but it is filled with characters mouthing so many racist beliefs and committing so many racist crimes that the movie seems to gloat gleefully in its outrageous depiction of bigotry and delivers one ham-fisted, hypocritical message. THE KLANSMAN really has to be seen to be believed but you can’t, because it’s NOT available on DVD!

THE KLANSMAN, from a novel by William Bradford Huie, is set in the years right after the Voting Rights Act has been enacted and tells the story of racial tensions in a small southern Alabama town that has just been rocked by tragedy: a young white woman (Linda Evans) has been raped and beaten. The local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan immediately declares that the attacker had to have been a black man so they find an innocent one, castrate and kill him, then frame his revolution-minded friend Garth (O.J. Simpson) for that murder. The sheriff (Lee Marvin), though a Klan member himself, doubts Garth’s guilt and releases him. Garth dons a KKK robe and starts ambushing and gunning down the white-sheeted rednecks who killed his buddy. Richard Burton plays the wealthy local eccentric who supports the black community and the film climaxes on his farm with a bloody showdown when the Sheriff teams up with Garth against an army of coneheads.

THE KLANSMAN moves at an easy-to-watch pace and is filled with scenes of extreme cruelty, violence and rape. It’s sheer exploitation and doesn’t try to make any astute moral statements condemning racial prejudice. While THE KLANSMAN is no IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, it isn’t the only “Klansploitation” movie from this period. There was the BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH (1976) in which a group of black Vietnam vets battle the Klan and Ted V. Mikel’s THE BLACK KLANSMAN (1969) where a black man passes as a Klansman to seek revenge for his daughter’s death. THE KLANSMAN was produced by Paramount with an all-star cast but it played for years at drive-ins (where I first saw it in 1977) and is considered lowbrow grindhouse fare. In retrospect THE KLANSMAN is more laughable than offensive and there are a lot of memorably stupefying moments: the Klan funeral interrupted by sniper fire, a repugnant scene of a black virgin (Lola Folana) being raped and then her blood being smeared on the rapist’s face, and a hilariously inept karate fight between Burton and an evil deputy with the catchy name of Butt Cut Cates (Cameron Mitchell). Then there’s the spectacle of watching O.J. Simpson on a killing spree offing white people some twenty years before he did so in real life! In one staggering scene he makes an escape while hiding in the backseat of a Ford Bronco!!

Well cast as the lead in THE KLANSMAN, Lee Marvin is solid as a man knows that racism is wrong but tolerates it in order to keep order in his town. Cameron Mitchell oozes hate as the film’s nasty central villain and O.J. Simpson is cool as the hero. But it’s Richard Burton’s performance, one of the worst of his career, that is the most noteworthy. Clearly drunk throughout, his shaky southern accent becomes British as the film progresses and his character’s gimpy leg switches from right to left. Legend is that both Marvin and Burton were so tanked on the set that neither remembers making the film. THE KLANSMAN (I don’t know why the title is singular) was originally a project for director Sam Fuller but he reportedly stormed off the set in a script dispute. Fuller receives a writing credit and would return to the issue of racial violence with his film WHITE DOG in 1980. Brit helmer Terence Young, best known for directing three Connery 007 films (DR. NO, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, and THUNDERBALL) stepped in and did a good job with the action scenes.

THE KLANSMAN has had a tough home video history. Apparently the title fell into the public domain at some point and was released on cheap VHS labels sometimes retitled KKK or THE BURNING CROSS. Problem is, the print used on all U.S. releases was a heavily-edited TV print that has almost ten minutes of the potent violence excised. The word “damn” is cut out but the “N-word” is uttered about three dozen times! Netflix actually carries a DVD-R of THE KLANSMAN but it’s ripped from this edited print and the washed-out fuzzy image quality is atrocious (I’m surprised to see DVD-Rs on Netflix. They also carry ANDY WARHOL’S BAD and Sam Peckinpah’s CONVOY). I will be screening an 18 minute condensed version of THE KLANSMAN on Super-8 sound film on the evening of October 6th at The Way Out club as part of my Super-8 Movie Madness night (I’ll also being showing THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN, another 70’s classic MIA on DVD). This digest version of THE KLANSMAN actually has better color and more violence than the DVD! Stop by the Way Out (2525 Jefferson Ave. in south St. Louis) on the 6th and help cheer on O.J.!