Shame (1961)
One of Roger Corman's most critically acclaimed movies. Based on a true story surrounding events in America during the 50's. This film is one of Corman's many attempts to address important social and political issues. A rabble rousing white supremacist, played by a young William Shatner, comes to a small southern town on the eve of racial integration in the local school, insinuates himself into the community and inflames racial tensions that lead to the bombing of a church and a near lynching. The monster in this case is all to real - and unfortunately, human. The article "Intruder in the South", which described the attempts of Northern rabble-rouser John Kasper to sabotage school integration in Clinton, Tennessee, was published in Look magazine in 1957 and served as the inspiration for Charles Beaumont's novel The Intruder. Corman filmed this movie on location in the towns of Sikeston and Charlston near the Kentucky-Illinois border. Filmed in three weeks, the crew tried very carefully not to inflame the locals. However, the brutal subject matter was hard to hide. William Shatner had this to say about filming his first feature: "We were surrounded by some very emotional people down there. Our lives were threatened…"