‘Not in This Town’: a Profile in Courage

One citizen really can make a profound difference on society. That’s the inspiring message behind “Not in This Town,” a hopeful and well-made USA Network movie about one woman’s crusade against white supremacists in Billings, Mont.

The strength of the film is rooted in Kathy Baker’s predictably strong portrayal of this real-life heroine. The multi-Emmy Award-winning actress infuses her character, Tammie Schnitzer, with a subtle blend of gentle humanity and fiery passion.

Schnitzer is haunted by melancholy thoughts of her first child, Elliot, who died at birth. But otherwise, she and her husband live a happy and relatively ordinary life with their two young children. A fourth-generation Montana Lutheran, Schnitzer converted to Judaism with a passion after marrying Brian (Adam Arkin), a transplanted doctor who is Jewish.

All is seemingly well in Billings until white supremacist Henry Whitcomb (Ed Begley Jr.) slithers into town and begins to spread messages of intolerance. “Not in This Town” effectively conveys how hate groups manipulate the emotions and fears of the uneducated and downtrodden. Begley aptly plays his character as a shrewd David Duke-type who recognizes that a wholesome image is a far better advertising tool than a hood and robe.

Whitcomb’s chief recruit is Roy Flanders (Brad Tatum in a memorably wicked performance), a bitter young man seemingly looking for a scapegoat for his own troubles. Flanders and his scuzzy pals leave threatening flyers on car windshields outside the town synagogue and paint racist graffiti on the house of an interracial couple.

Uncowed, the outraged Tammie Schnitzer forms an anti-hate group. But the extreme right-wing behavior becomes even more frightening and virulent.

When Tammie Schnitzer finally succeeds in uniting the overwhelmingly white community against racial and religious hatred, it’s hard not to share in her triumph.

* “Not in This Town” airs at 9 tonight and again at 10 p.m. Saturday on cable’s USA Network. The network has rated the film TV-PG (may not be appropriate for young children).