The Klansman

The Klansman is set in a small Alabama town in the late 1960s, where a large Black population lives under the control of a white establishment steeped in the Ku Klux Klan. When a white woman is raped, suspicion falls immediately on a Black man, inflaming racial tensions. A sheriff tries to keep order while Klan members take violent revenge on an innocent Black resident, prompting his friend Garth to seek his own justice against those responsible. A progressive landowner who allows Black families to live on his property becomes a target of the town's anger.

Terence Young directed the film, the twelfth in the directing career listed here, following The Valachi Papers. Millard Kaufman and Samuel Fuller wrote the screenplay, and William Alexander produced it for Paramount and Atlanta Productions. Richard Burton plays Breck Stancill and Lee Marvin plays Sheriff Track Bascomb, with Cameron Mitchell, Lola Falana, Linda Evans and Luciana Paluzzi among the credited cast of 33. The production had a budget of 5 million USD.

Released in October 1974 and running 112 minutes, the film is a crime drama and thriller. On TMDB it holds a rating of 5.6 out of 10 from 44 votes, indicating a modest response from those users.