Racial tensions threaten to explode when a black man is elected sheriff of a small, racially divided town in the Deep South.
Acting
Jim Brown's simmering restraint against George Kennedy's volcanic bigotry.
Direction
Ralph Nelson lets silences scream louder than dialogue.
Writing
Dialogue that punches you in the gut without flinching.
Director
Ralph Nelson
Jim Brown
Jimmy Price
George Kennedy
John Little
Fredric March
Mayor Jeff Parks
Lynn Carlin
Julia Little
Don Stroud
Bengy Springer
Janet MacLachlan
Mary Price
Clifton James
D.J. Rankin
Robert Random
John Braddock
Mills Watson
Joe Warren
Bernie Casey
George Harley
Dub Taylor
Junior
Anthony James
H.C. Tolbert
Ernest Anderson
Homer
Karl Swenson
Frank Braddock Sr.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released months before the 1970 election, the film directly confronted Nixon's 'Southern Strategy' and white backlash to Civil Rights gains.
Jim Brown, NFL legend turned actor, insisted on script changes removing his character's romantic subplot with a white woman — studio fought him, he won.
US
