Though I never heard of any of the actors except the excellent James McEachin, nearly every single player gives a good to excellent performance.
It starts rather badly, and my thoughts were negative about the director, Ted V. Mikels, whose work is apparently mostly exploitative, and the nominal lead, Richard Gilden. But after a few more scenes, everything shifts into a higher gear and actors and director present us with a good movie.
At this writing, March of 2019, the film is 53 years old. Most of the worst aspects of the problem presented by the story have receded. While Ku Klux Klan and similar organizations still exist, they are generally discounted by most of the rest of the population.
Except: the U.S. "news" media and other Democrats and other left-collectivists would have us believe that every problem in these United States derives from "racism" and that most people, especially those who don't buy into the left-collectivist belief system, are "racists."
In addition, among the left-collectivists, including the "news" media, there is a sickening and disgusting emphasis placed on group identity, which is, in fact, what is wrong with such groups as the KKK, but is somehow accepted when it's from Democrat candidates.
In fact, each of us is an individual, no matter what our skin color. And one point made in this film is that the protagonist, with one black parent, looks white enough to be allowed membership in the Klan.
Not stressed in this movie is the notion that one's skin color or ethnicity cannot lead to any particular belief system. But it's a fact.
Yes, one's culture, one's neighbors, one's schooling can certainly bend a person's thinking, but not that person's skin color, not race or ethnicity.
The premise of this mostly very well-done motion picture is excellent, it's timely, even after the decades since its premiere. The acting is first class, its picture of the rituals of the KKK certainly look real, almost, in spots, like a documentary.
I highly recommend this movie, under whichever title, even if the ending is a bit ambiguous. Very, very well done.
