The Defiant Ones (1958)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Fantastic!

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Even in 1958 this must have been something of a one-trick pony. Okay, it's a novel and/or even 'daring' concept to chain a black prisoner to a white prisoner in the Deep South, contrive to have them escape and become fugitives whilst still shackled to each other but once you've said that there's not much else you can say. It's clear from the FADE IN that the two protagonists are just one more rip-off of Beatrice and Benedek i.e. they are going to begin by despising each other and end up in the metaphorical sack so it's just a matter of how long this will take. On paper there was clearly a lot that COULD have been sad about racial tension but as in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the chance was squandered. It remains worth a look for the casting and standard of acting.

The defiant ones is by far one of the oldest movies i have watched to date and i loved every moment Tony Curtis as the joker was amazing i loved his intense aggression and at the end of the movie he understands and empathizes with Cullen. Sidney Poitier was another stand out cast member of this film with a believable character who is an African American who is trying to live happy but is constantly getting beaten and abused by the whites such a powerful message about equality. overall the story is powerful at times funny but it's a classic which in a era of some great movies The defiant ones is a classic which can be enjoyed by all.

John "Joker" Jackson (Tony Curtis), and Noah Cullen (excellent portrayal by Sidney Poitier), have escaped from prison and are shackled together. The story, well directed by message film director Stanley Kramer (see also the excellent "Ship of Fools", as well as his masterpiece "On The Beach" with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner).At any rate, the film has some good scenes, they are in the brush and swamps of Georgia, trying to escape a pack of bloodhounds, and the Sheriff well portrayed by Theodore Bikel The fact that the way Poitier is treated , simply because he is black, is a time warp as when a woman offers the refugees food, but first asks Curtis if she "should give the other guy some as well". Tony Curtis is good in the role of a desperate malcontent, his accent a bit too NY but his acting usually overcomes this. He is angry at society, that he wants to be a "success". The dated phrase "Charlie Potatoes", humorously shows us the society of 1950's America and its values of what success means. Money, at any cost.The sheriff;s bounty hunter assistant has several bloodhounds and Dobermans "I hope you treat them dogs as go as your grandma" cracks Bikel. The dogs and how they are cared for (better than minorities and the poor) is a point of reference.Bikel as sheriff has a run in with Lon Chaney Jr., a man who lets the prisoners free from a town lynch mob. The seething anger and hypocrisies of small town America are well manifested here. Racism, ignorance, bigotry.This film was made in 1958, an important message. 10/0

The time of extreme racism has long gone, but this chained-together white and black convicts' escaping adventure simply hasn't waned much for its in-your-face impact of genuine thrill and sympathy, director Stanley Kramer's (from SHIP OF FOOLS 1965, 6/10) third feature, gathering Curtis and Poitier as the "impossible pair", the film would successfully pave the way for Poitier and Kramer's prospective Oscar-winner echelon and afford Curtis a splendid career-turn with his only Oscar nomination. One could easily be aware of the shooting condition since clearly Curtis and Poitier have taken their toll in their harsh fugitive surroundings, wrestling with the precipitate torrent, the mud pit under the pouring rain, a perilous marsh and finally a running train. But those are only default set pieces to sustain the film in its narrating procedures, a sharp and sound script does remind me how slowly the civilisation progress we have achieved since only 50 years ago, the world could be utterly colour-sensitive. Curtis and Poitier's two handers are meticulously orchestrated, but among the supporting group, Cara Williams and Theodore Bikel also obtained two Oscar nominations. The former partook in the latter half and induced the most poignant confrontation for Curtis' character, choosing between freedom (even love) and the brotherhood with a black prisoner (mercifully, the finale reciprocates with the same dilemma for Poitier). Meanwhile, Williams exhibits a dooming desperation out of the unsatisfied woman without being sidelined as a cipher in the plot. Bikel, is the Sheriff with a kind heart, whose gritty and congenial persona has re- established the integrity of the police force. Last but not the least, Poitier's a cappella rendition of W.C. Handy's "Long Gone (From Bowlin' Green)" has been repeated three times in the film, the beginning, the middle section (where they are caught by the village people) and the ending, precisely elevating the film's brio and set a great example of how a theme song could generate such an ineffable passion and evocation into a film's texture. ps: the film got two Oscars among its 9 nominations, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY BLACK & WHITE and BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY.