The integration of schools in the South was a new and very dangerous idea back in the 1950s. There were so many tendrils of hatred and prejudice that it was extremely difficult to find a way into the subject that didn’t put up a wall of controversy between the reader and the story. But just as Harper Lee seduced an audience into a “political” story by creating Atticus Finch and letting him lead the way, Chuck created Adam Cramer; bright, charming, deeply caring and dangerously seductive. Cramer was a pied piper with a dark agenda hidden from view. He was a character so complex, so rich, so interesting that I couldn’t help but follow him wherever he went.

I was impressed enough that I told Chuck I wanted to purchase the rights and turn the novel into a film. The subject matter was such a “hot button” that I couldn’t get financing from any of my usual sources, despite the success of my other films. So my brother and I mortgaged our houses and put up the money ourselves. I decided to shoot the film in Missouri, thinking it was far enough north to keep us safe. I was wrong. I learned that one didn’t have to go all the way to Alabama or Mississippi to feel the simmering racism that existed in the country at that time. We had to “shoot and run”—filming our scenes quickly and then moving to a new location before the locals learned the subject matter of our story. The danger was real and I remember telling the cast (which included Chuck as the High School Principal) and the crew to pack up early on the last day of shooting. I wanted to be ready to go as soon as we got the last shot. The scene was of a Ku Klux Klan rally through the streets of a small town and the residents were asking some very uncomfortable questions. The moment I yelled “cut!” “print!!” on that last shot, everyone raced to their car and drove, nonstop, all the way back to St. Louis!

The movie turned out to be ahead of its time. It was a critical success—earning great reviews across the country—but not a commercial hit. We all learned how perilous it can be to hold a mirror up to the darker angels of our national character.

But, financial success or not, I remain extremely proud of the film. We stayed very close to the structure and the characters of the novel, and the film worked just as well as I thought it would.