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The Defiant Ones
Black and white fight and run
"That's a hell of a way to live- you keep quiet all your life and the only time you open your mouth is when you're dying."
Bonding Under Pressure
it doesn't get much more inauthentic than this

The Defiant Ones
Starring: Tony Curtis , Sidney Poitier , Theodore Bikel , Charles McGraw , and Lon Chaney Jr.
Director: Stanley Kramer
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005PJ6T
Release Date: 2001-12-11

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This 1958 variation on Huck Finn's adventures with Jim finds a white convict (Tony Curtis) chained to a black convict (Sidney Poitier) as they both escape their captors. With each man literally stuck with the other, racial conflicts take a back seat to survival. Directed by Stanley Kramer (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), the film's obvious consciousness-raising is mitigated by a pair of raw performances from the stars, memorable appearances by Lon Chaney Jr. and Cara Williams, and Kramer's strong storytelling abilities. The award-winning script was cowritten by blacklisted writer-actor Nedrick Young. --Tom Keogh

Description

Nominated* for nine Academy AwardsÂ(r), including Best Picture, The Defiant Ones broke new ground by delivering its message of racial tolerance through a fast-moving blend of action and suspense. It remains "a raw, powerful film that is as exciting as it is moving, real and literate"(Variety). Joker Jackson (Tony Curtis) and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier) are two convicts on the run. Escaping from a Southern work gang, the two men are bound together by an unbreakable iron chain and separated by an unbridled hatred towards each other. Relentlessly pursued by a posse and bloodhounds, they put aside their differences to survive. But when a lonely woman (Cara Williams) breaks their chain and deliberately sends Cullen to certain death, Jackson must decide what's more important: saving Cullen...or saving himself. *1958: Best Picture, Actor (Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier), Supporting Actor (Theodore Bikel), Supporting Actress (Cara Williams), Director,Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (won), Cinematography (won), Film Editing

Customer Reviews:

The Defiant Ones.......2007-06-26

Another of maverick producer/director Stanley Kramer's consciousness-raising social films, this tale proved a potent metaphor for race relations in 1958. Virtually simultaneous with the rise of the civil-rights movement, this progressive adventure eloquently presented the case for racial harmony in the story of a gutsy prison-break film. Poitier--who at age 30 was set to go where no black actor had gone before--more than holds his own with Curtis, then a big star, who plays the despicable "Joker" to perfection.

Black and white fight and run.......2006-03-28

A black-and-white movie about a hateful pair of black and white convicts struggling for their lives and against each other. During the era of the film in the South, it is amazing that a black man would touch a white -- let alone be chained to him with a defiant attitude. What is more remarkable than the intense hatred and out-and-out fist fight is the bond that forms between this unlikely pair as they flee for their lives after a prison break. Pushing personal differences asside, they must learn to rely upon one another or die trying.

Movie quote: "I ain't gettin' mad, Joker. I been mad all my natural life."

"That's a hell of a way to live- you keep quiet all your life and the only time you open your mouth is when you're dying.".......2005-09-09

The Defiant Ones is one of the great American films. Released in 1958, this starkly filmed story of two convicts on the run for their freedom evokes powerful emotions for the viewer. Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier are wonderful in their roles and display a level of screen chemistry that has been sadly lacking in contemporary films. It is hard to say which one is better due to their very different but equally powerful performance. As one might expect, the two cons start out hating each other, but slowly develop a grudging respect for one another as they learn about the others life and eventually a kind of friendship is formed. The secondary story concerns the posse on their trail and the friction that develops amongst them as the chase goes on. Cara Williams is memorable as the woman that Curtis cares for while on the run and is the character that causes a change in his attitude that leads directly to the bittersweet ending. Theodore Bikel is also very accomplished as the beleagered Sheriff and Lon Chaney Jr. is very good as a townsman who has a special reason for aiding the 2 cons in their escape. The Defiant Ones is a great film that almost 50 years later still prods us with the reminder that YES, WE CAN learn to overcome our differences over race and live with and care for each other. Both Curtis and Poitier are at the top of their game here and each received an Academy Award nomination deservedly. A final note: watch the last scene and decide for yourself- was it an accident or did one friend make a sacrifice for another?

Bonding Under Pressure.......2005-06-04

The Defiant Ones
The opening scenes show a dark and stormy night, and a truck running down the highway. Inside are some prisoners. An accident occurs, and two prisoners escape. The Sheriff arrives at the scene, and some volunteers come to help. One has a modern portable transistor radio. They await the bloodhounds, and the prisoner's laundry for their scent. The dog handler has brought Dobermans to run with the bloodhounds. The Sheriff wants the dogs kept on a leash (SOP).

The two prisoners, white and black, have contending opinions and interests. Chained together, they must learn to cooperate. The actions of the Deputy Sheriff could serve as a tutorial for a manhunt in the wilderness. The pair cross the rapids; no dogs can follow their scent now. But this old, old trick will only delay good dogs as they search the banks. When they rest at night, hunting goes on by other animals. The next night they arrive at a company town, and break into a store. People hear the noise, and capture them. Since one of the villagers was hurt, the townsmen plan to lynch them. A conflict among the townsmen saves their lives; or was it the reward money? For some reason Big Sam lets them go (or the film would end too soon). Their interpersonal conflicts arise again; no stunt doubles were used. A young boy finds them, they find his home, and food from his single mother. A hammer and chisel breaks their bond, but Charlie falls ill. The Sheriff follows their trail to the turpentine camp, but the people there don't know nothing. Like some Big City? The film shows the characters of the rural poor, who can dream of a world they're never seen. The boy's Mom nurses Charlie, then chooses to leave with him. The Mom sends Color to the trackless swamp, but Charlie fights with her over this betrayal. [The son needed more target practice.] They try and fail to board an escape train, and listen to the baying of the hounds. The police trail them to the swamp. The Sheriff goes on ahead to capture them single-handedly (in time for his re-election). They are caught after a long run.

It was a novel film that set a precedent. Its production values are similar to TV dramas of that era. The scenes in the film suggest an origin in a stage play. This monochrome film was produced and directed by Stanley Kramer. Its moral is how different interests can bond together when facing a common foe; nothing radical here.

it doesn't get much more inauthentic than this.......2005-05-29

tonight's primetime movie offering on the local public television station was The Defiant Ones (in the original black and white, thank G_dess ). imagine a bunch of former Ku Klux Klansmen and their bubba buddies from the backwoods of Georgia trying to pull off "Fiddler on the Roof" to get some kind of idea of how howlingly inauthentic this production is. (the bloodhounds did sound real, though.)

nonetheless, i give it 3 stars because this exercise in (supposed) 'social realism' is about something other than sex and violence.

well, at least it isn't about sex.

okay, not explicitly so.

besides, it's always fun to see character actors from that era, like Claude Akins and Lon Chaney, Jr, even with the volume muted to escape the jarringly false-sounding accents of their fellow performers.

of course, Sidney Poitier (with or without audio) makes the other leading players seem like students doing summer stock (not that they needed his help to do so). but then, that's why Sidney Poitier is Sidney Poitier.

and, hey, they all meant well, which is more than can be said for much of today's offerings from popular culture.

Average customer rating:

The Defiant Ones
Black and white fight and run
"That's a hell of a way to live- you keep quiet all your life and the only time you open your mouth is when you're dying."
Bonding Under Pressure
it doesn't get much more inauthentic than this

The Defiant Ones [Region 2]
Starring: Tony Curtis , Sidney Poitier , Theodore Bikel , Charles McGraw , and Lon Chaney Jr.
Director: Stanley Kramer
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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