The Defiant Ones (1958)

The United States of the 1950’s was not a racially harmonious place.   Americans were living in a panic and worried about the growing African American culture that was being assimilated into its society.    As a result many States in the US (especially in the south) had openly racist policies concerning segregating the African American population from the White populace.  

Hollywood’s policy of having no black movie stars and heroes in their films served to enhance this terrible divide between people.    Some Hollywood producers and directors tried to mitigate this by producing socially conscience and at the time controversial films concerning racism.  Stanley Kramer was one such filmmaker and his film “The Defiant Ones” was the result.  

One of the accomplishments of the film was the creating of Black America’s first true movie star.    And what a star he was.  Jamaican born Sydney Poitier was not only black but held a powerful aura of charisma and intelligence.   He could also act.   

The film follows the escape of two prisoners from an overturned prison van taking them to the penitentiary.  The warden as punishment to Joker (Tony Curtis playing with a convincing southern accent), chains him up to the black prisoner Cullen (Poitier who steels every scene he is in).   They escape by foot chained to each other.  Joker hates black men and Cullen because the way they treat him, hates white men.    It is telling that Cullen is given very real and understandable reasons for his feelings, while Joker is only a racist.   It seems that in those days most white Americans were the same.  

The predicament of the two escapees forces them to get to know each other and actually depend on one another for survival.  

At one point the movie tells us that it is not out of the ordinary for a black man to be lynched by a white mob.  Even in the 1950s.   Of course this is a 1950s Hollywood movie and as such never really dwells into the real issues.   Scenes seem to stop before they get to controversial and as such dampen the effect the movie should have had.  

The acting and chemistry between the two protagonists is first rate and there are some scenes of tense suspense, such as the crossing of the high rapid river and the entrapment of the two in a large construction hole full of mud.  

After seeing such strong recent films that deal with the same subject, this one feels a bit dated and I would have preferred to have seen a little bit more gritty realism.   Still the movie should be commended for its bravery and efforts and served as an influence to many later films (mostly bad), concerning the partnering of a white racist with a black bad ass.  48 hours is one example but there are many more.   

Poitier’s performance makes all of the rest of the movies shortcomings worth ignoring as he conveys the anger and pain of his character to great effect.  He was one of those actors who always seemed to be mad which fit most of his roles to a tee.   His acting led me to identify and care about his character.  

For many years he was the only main American actor of color who was allowed to carry a film on his own and this movie is the beginning of his illustrious career.  For that reason at least, “The Defiant Ones” is worth watching.