Although an advance on Hollywood's usual treatment of racial themes, the script is too message-laden and the direction (by do-gooder Kramer) too single-minded and naively optimistic to really work.
Comment
11/07/07
The Defiant Ones (1958)
86 %
Reviews Counted: 14 Fresh: 12 Rotten:2 Average Rating: 7/10
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Synopsis: Two escaped convicts -- one black (Poitier), one white (Curtis), and both shackled in the same pair of handcuffs -- battle the elements and each other as they travel Southern back roads eluding the ever-approaching posse. Though the device of binding two racial antagonists together for... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Lon Chaney, Charles McGraw
Director: Stanley Kramer
Screenwriter: Nathan E. Douglas
Producer: Stanley Kramer
Composer: Ernest Gold
Screenwriter: Harold Jacob Smith
Screenwriter: Nathan E. Douglas
Producer: Stanley Kramer
Composer: Ernest Gold
Screenwriter: Harold Jacob Smith
Reviews
1 - 15 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top Critic
The suspense of the manhunt in the swamps never really overcomes the dead weight of Kramer's 'message', but pleasures are to be found in the supporting roles of McGraw and Chaney.
01/26/06
Top Critic
Top Critic
Kramer was never much of a director, but there's still power in some of the performances, especially Poitier's.
11/07/07
Given the era of this movie, it was a controversial topic and a theme that Kramer handles courageously. He does a good job of showcasing Poitier and Curtis in their prime and the film's Oscar-winning cinematography is crisp and outstanding.
03/16/04
Top Critic
Poitier and Curtis are great. Whoever thinks Curtis is just a pretty face should see his gripping performance.
08/20/02
With two superb performances and palpable tension, the film has a strength that rises above the simplicity of the storyline.
01/01/00
Click to read the article
01/01/00
1 - 15 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
IGN RSS Feeds