You've heard of those undercover movies with titles like "I Was a Communist for the FBI" (1951) where somebody infiltrates a secret organization. "Astro-Zombies" director Ted V. Mikels' Blaxploitation epic "The Black Klansman" appropriates this strategy. For the record, the original title was "I Crossed the Color Line," but a title like this is pretty flabby. Whoever renamed this movie was on the right track. "The Black Klansman" marked a turning point in Mikels' cinema because it was the last film he lensed in black & white. When the KKK firebombs an African-American church (like the real Klan did a Birmingham church) and a little girl dies from burns, the estranged father learns the ugly truth and vows to exact revenge on the dastards responsible for this atrocious crime. Like all of Mikels' low-budget classics, "The Black Klansman" presents an audacious premise but the execution is bare-bones at best. Mind you, this Civil Rights era thriller was snatched from the headlines, and it succeeds in some respects as a serious movie. Unfortunately, characterization is sketchy. Jazz musician Jerry Ellsworth (Richard Gilden of "The Unknown Terror") is horrified to learn that his little girl died, so he leaves strife-torn Los Angeles and flies out to his hometown in Alabama to ferret out the guilty parties who killed his daughter. Not only has Jerry's daughter been killed, but also another African-American male was murdered by the Klan. Jerry has a hairpiece fitted for himself so he looks white. Actually, he looks incredibly white, but he claims that he has drops of African-American blood rolling through his veins. Jerry flies back to Alabama and masquerades as California building contractor John Ashley. He has reliable information that real estate agent Rook (Harry Lovejoy of "The Naked Venus") is the head of the KKK in Turnerville. Initially, Rook denies that he has anything to do with the Klan and runs our protagonist out of his office. Ellsworth has concocted a story that Rook doubts. Ellsworth confides in Rook that he wants to form a KKK outfit in Los Angeles to keep the black in line, and he wants to learn everything that Rook can tell him about how to go about creating such an outfit. Rook follows Ellsworth back to Los Angeles after dismissing his suspicions about the businessman. Eventually, Ellsworth learns not only who assembled the bomb, but he also learns who threw it and he avenges his daughter's death. This product of the Civil Rights era qualifies as an interesting but amateurish effort.
Review of The Black Klansman
