Stigma (1972)

While the trailer for Stigma (1972) makes it pretty clear what the film is about, this isn't immediately obvious if, like me, you come to the film cold.  At first, it looks like it might be some kind of urban-set Blaxploitation movie, with its central character released from jail and hanging out in a sleazy dive bar, full of stereotypical hookers, pimps and homosexuals.  But this is abruptly left behind, as next thing, our hero is on a rural road hitch-hiking, with little success, before teaming up with a fellow hiker, a recently demobbed white Vietnam vet, discovering that they are both heading for the same destination - a remote island off of the California coast.  We also finally get a bit of backstory for our lead character, learning that he is a doctor who served a prison sentence for performing an illegal abortion, but has now been offered a job by a former mentor, to work as his assistant on the island.  Still, though, the film's focus hasn't been made clear.  Arriving on the island and finding himself the only black person in a community of insular and suspicious islanders, it looks like we might be heading for a drama about racial prejudice.  There is, however, another twist when he finds his mentor dead of a heart attack at his home, with the viewer left wondering whether the hostile redneck sheriff will wrongly accuse our guy of murder.  But as he investigates his mentor's most recent work, the true situation becomes clearer - there is evidence of a strain of syphilis running rampant through the island's younger population.

Stigma then settles into being a medical thriller, with the new doctor racing against time to convince the islanders of the severity of the situation in the face of hostility and denial on the part of the sheriff and other leading citizens.  His search for the origins of the outbreak take us through a series of colourful interludes, including testing the women at the local out-of-town brothel, which results in a violent confrontation with some local heavies and a trip to the old lighthouse, which, it turns out, is the site of constant 'love ins' by the local youth.  Finally, wrongly accused of rape by the sheriff's daughter (who, it turns out, is the source of the infection), it all culminates with a confrontation between doctor and sheriff at the lighthouse.  Stigma is one of those unexpected films, drawing in its audience by misleading them into thinking that they might be watching a Blaxploitation piece, but subsequently ambushing them with a tale about the perils of venereal disease.  It's actually quite effective as a thriller, keeping up a decent pace and providing a degree of tension, action and character conflict.  It's biggest weakness is a tendency to descend into preachiness every so often, as we find ourselves treated to lectures on safe sex.  Although even this has a certain novelty value, bearing in mind that the film was released in the early seventies when such subject matter was usually confined to public information films rather than forming the core plot of a faux Blaxploitation movie.

On a technical level, the film, despite a low budget, is very well made, with an authentically gritty feel, with its location shooting giving a realistic edge to proceedings.  The island setting lends the whole affair a claustrophobic feel, despite the proliferation of outdoor locations, while simultaneously emphasising the protagonist's personal isolation as an obvious outsider in a tight-knit community.   While many of the characters are stereotypes, (cheerful madam, happy hookers and redneck sheriff, for instance), the cast are generally pretty decent, although the closest thing to a star is Philip Michael Thomas as the lead, in his first starring role.  David E Durston's direction moves things along at a decent pace, with the rural setting reminiscent of his best known film, I Drink Your Blood (1971), but with a less bloodthirsty scenario.  Overall, Stigma is an enjoyable, but rather curious, attempt to use an exploitation format to highlight a serious public health issue.