Directed by Terence Young and written by Millard Kaufman and Samuel Fuller, The Klansman had its film rights bought by black film producer William D. Alexander who spent a year putting the movie together. The movie was put together by Bill Schiffrin, Fuller’s agent, and he said the movie was a mess from when Terence Young was hired. Young was picked because of the European investors — the same mysterious people who demand worm sex in Roger Corman movies — and that’s why Luciana Paluzzi plays Southern girl Trixie with Joanna Moore speaking her lines. Yes, Fiona Volpe being voiced by Tatum O’Neal’s mother.

You know who probably didn’t want to be there? Richard Burton, who despite being paid $40,000 a week for ten weeks plus a percentage did most of his scenes lying down because he was so drunk. Years later, he claimed that he didn’t even remember meeting Lee Marvin before when they drank together at a party. Later than that, he did say “I wouldn’t have survived without Marvin.” He was drinking hard, the kind of drinking you do when you’ve lost everything.

When Burton was filming his death scene, Young was happy with the work the make-up artist had done, only for the artist to remark that he had not done anything. Young brought a doctor in to examine Burton and it was determined that he was dying. He was rushed to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica with a temperature of 104 degrees. Both kidneys were collapsing and he had influenza and tracheo-bronchitis. It would take six weeks in the hospital — where it was announced that he and Liz Taylor were divorcing — for him to get better.

After all that, one of the investors failed to come up with the money so Marvin and Burton were not paid their full salary.

Sheriff Track Bascomb (Marvin) has broken up white men assaulting a black woman. He arrests no one. Part of that is racism. Part of that is just keeping the peace.

Despite the fact that he’s part of the system and Breck Stencill (Burton) is a rich liberal who wants to change the South, the two remain friends. But when white Nancy Poteet (Linda Evans) gets assaulted by a black man, the Klan — which includes Deputy Butt Cutt Cates (Cameron Mitchell, somehow not the drunkest person in this movie with Marvin and Burton) — are trying to find the man who attacked her.

The Klan goes into a black bar and attacks a man, castrating him and then shooting him. His friend Garth (O.J. Simpson) gets away and goes to war with anyone who sides with the KKK. They deserve it. One of the things they do is capture Loretta Sykes (Lola Falana) and rape her, leaving her near death from bleeding. Mitchell was so upset by this scene that he burst into tears and brought roses and a letter of apology the next day.

It’s not that good but hey, I enjoyed seeing Burton try to get his lines out.

Don’t have the box set? You can watch this on Tubi.