Commemmorating the decision of people in Billings, Montana to confront bigots who seek to make Billings an uncomfortable place for anyone not white and Christian, "Not in This Town" shows people that they, too, can stand up to hate-driven thugs. A racist agitator who prefers to let others do his dirty work and some of his followers come to town to harass "non-Aryans" with vandalism and insults against Native Americans, blacks, and Jews who, according to the rabble-rouser, supposedly 'don't belong' in Billings.
Repairing the damage, as with the "union job" performed on the house of an American Indian family desecrated with ugly graffiti, proves not enough. The thugs turn to more violent harassment, including disruption of religious services and property destruction. The worst case is a cinder block thrown into the window of a child's bedroom just because it has the display of a menorah in it. That deed, which could have killed the child, is exposed as evidence of the seriousness of the danger of bigotry.
It's a low-budget made-for-cable movie, intent more to deliver a message than to entertain. It is full of sentimental pathos and has some family conflicts woven into the plot. It's realistic enough to be credible. It does what one expects it to do, making a Western-like divide between innocent people and unqualified bad guys. This time the bad guys aren't cattlemen trying to drive farmers off the range or rapacious railroad builders, and the heroes 'merely' outsmart and discredit the bad guys. That's enough (anything further said is a spoiler).
It delivers its message.
Repairing the damage, as with the "union job" performed on the house of an American Indian family desecrated with ugly graffiti, proves not enough. The thugs turn to more violent harassment, including disruption of religious services and property destruction. The worst case is a cinder block thrown into the window of a child's bedroom just because it has the display of a menorah in it. That deed, which could have killed the child, is exposed as evidence of the seriousness of the danger of bigotry.
It's a low-budget made-for-cable movie, intent more to deliver a message than to entertain. It is full of sentimental pathos and has some family conflicts woven into the plot. It's realistic enough to be credible. It does what one expects it to do, making a Western-like divide between innocent people and unqualified bad guys. This time the bad guys aren't cattlemen trying to drive farmers off the range or rapacious railroad builders, and the heroes 'merely' outsmart and discredit the bad guys. That's enough (anything further said is a spoiler).
It delivers its message.