Now that he's getting nominated for Emmys and has become to television drama what Charles Nelson Reilly was to the game show, William Shatner's acting excesses are now slowly fading into the background. The... pauses... for... effect... are apparently forgotten, or become such a source of amusement that they're now viewed with affection.

What was endearing for a few seasons of "Star Trek" is nothing more than a laughable annoyance in "The Intruder", an early effort by Roger Corman to exploit race relation issues in the South. Shatner plays Adam Cramer, a slick, white supremecist who arrives in a small town and immediately begins stirring the pot of frenzy just as a dozen African-Americans are about to be integrated into the local high school.

Cramer gets the townsfolk into a frenzy, eventually convincing young Ella McDaniel to cry rape after getting one of the young, black kids to follow her down in the basement. Wait for Shatner's speech toward the end, you'd swear he crapped his pants, his guttural proclamations are so severe.

Roger Corman films may be interesting to some people insomuch as they are inspirations for other films. However, they don't really stand up by themselves. I'm kind of sick of hearing how much the guy did with so little money. We're supposed to be awed by what the movie could have been.

I'm only interested in what it is, and it's barely better than a high school play.