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The Defiant Ones (1958)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Release Date:
27 September 1958 (USA)
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Tagline:
One of the great ones! more
Plot:
Two escaped convicts chained together, white and black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Convict
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Police
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Escaped Convict
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Chain Gang
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Prison
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Awards:
Won 2 Oscars.
Another 13 wins
&
19 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(10 articles)
Poitier Awarded Medal of Freedom
(From The Wrap. 12 August 2009, 2:42 PM, PDT)
Interview: Legendary Star Tony Curtis Likes it Hot in His Life, Career
(From HollywoodChicago.com. 31 March 2009, 10:26 AM, PDT)
(From The Wrap. 12 August 2009, 2:42 PM, PDT)
Interview: Legendary Star Tony Curtis Likes it Hot in His Life, Career
(From HollywoodChicago.com. 31 March 2009, 10:26 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Cellmates and Soulmates
more (44 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast) | Tony Curtis | ... | John 'Joker' Jackson |
 | Sidney Poitier | ... | Noah Cullen |
 | Theodore Bikel | ... | Sheriff Max Muller |
 | Charles McGraw | ... | Capt. Frank Gibbons |
 | Lon Chaney Jr. | ... | Big Sam (as Lon Chaney) |
| King Donovan | ... | Solly |
| Claude Akins | ... | Mack |
| Lawrence Dobkin | ... | Editor |
| Whit Bissell | ... | Lou Gans |
| Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer | ... | Angus (as Carl Switzer) |
| Kevin Coughlin | ... | Billy |
| Cara Williams | ... | Billy's mother |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
97 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
Norway:16 |
New Zealand:PG |
Australia:PG |
Finland:K-16 |
Sweden:15 |
UK:U |
USA:Approved (PCA #18985) |
West Germany:12
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Tony Curtis was very keen to make the film as he saw it as an opportunity to break out of the mindless, pretty boy roles he was usually assigned. Director Stanley Kramer initially had some misgivings but ultimately relented.
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Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: As John and Noah are swept downriver together, a person is seen on the shore moving into the top of frame, watching the two men.
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Quotes:
John 'Joker' Jackson:
Cullen, I can't make it.
Noah Cullen: [Holding out his arm as if they are still chained together] Come on, man, you draggin' the chain.
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Noah Cullen: [Holding out his arm as if they are still chained together] Come on, man, you draggin' the chain.
more
Soundtrack:
Long Gone
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FAQ
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There is this story going around that Robert Mitchum refused the part Tony Curtis eventually played because he did not want to work with a black man. The actual story is that Mitchum who did spend time on a southern chain gang said there was no way that back in the day a black and white man would have been chained together in the first place. In fact Stanley Kramer must have taken the critique in stride because sheriff Theodore Bikel has a line of explanation saying the warden had a sense of humor.
Though the film dates a bit, it's still quite dramatic even now. Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier chained together have an unplanned jail break while being transported. Curtis has all the attitudes typical of his time and Poitier doesn't take nothing off anybody. Still joined at the hip as they are, they do need each other and find eventually there's more that unites than divides them.
Besides Theodore Bikel in a strange role for him as a laconic southern sheriff, look for good performances from Lon Chaney, Jr. who runs a turpentine work camp who saves Curtis and Poitier from a lynching and Cara Williams as a trampy white trash farm lady whose needs haven't been met for a while.
Tony Curtis in an incredible act of generosity insisted on equal billing for Sidney Poitier since due to the nature of the film, they are on screen together for most of it. That act of generosity may have cost him an Oscar for both he and Poitier were nominated for Best Actor, but lost to David Niven for Separate Tables. An act that rankles Tony Curtis to this day because at the drop of a hat he will insist Niven got 'his' Oscar.
Despite the sour grapes, The Defiant Ones though dated is still a good bit of cinema.