The Defiant Ones (1958)

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writers (WGA):

Nedrick Young (story) (originally as Nathan E. Douglas)
Harold Jacob Smith (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 September 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

One of the great ones!

Plot:

Two escaped convicts chained together, white and black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture.

Plot Keywords:

Campfire | Freight Train | Chain Gang | Ethnic Slur | Bloodhound

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 19 nominations

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harold Jacob Smith	...	Prison truck driver (uncredited)
Nedrick Young	...	Prison guard in truck (uncredited)

Directed by
Stanley Kramer

Writing credits (WGA)
Nedrick Young		(story) originally as Nathan E. Douglas
Harold Jacob Smith		(screenplay)

Produced by
Stanley Kramer	....	producer

Original Music by
Ernest Gold

Cinematography by
Sam Leavitt		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Frederic Knudtson

Production Design by
Rudolph Sternad

Art Direction by
Fernando Carrere

Set Decoration by
Joseph Kish		(as Joe Kish)

Makeup Department
Don L. Cash	....	makeup artist (as Don Cash)

Production Management
Clem Beauchamp	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paul Helmick	....	assistant director

Art Department
Art Cole	....	property master

Sound Department
Walter Elliott	....	sound effects
Jean L. Speak	....	sound engineer (as James Speak)

Special Effects by
Alex Weldon	....	special effects

Stunts
Ivan Dixon	....	stunt double: Sidney Poitier (uncredited)
Robert F. Hoy	....	stunt double: Tony Curtis (uncredited)
Boyd 'Red' Morgan	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
James Almond	....	chief gaffer
Al Myers	....	camera operator
Morris Rosen	....	company grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Joe King	....	costume supervisor

Other crew
John Franco	....	script supervisor
Stanley Kramer	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Curtleigh Productions Inc.
• Stanley Kramer Productions (as Lomitas Productions Inc.)

Distributors

• United Artists (1958) (USA) (theatrical)
• CBS Television (1967) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Compañía Española de Propaganda, Industria y Cinematografía S.A. (CEPICSA) (Spain) (dubbed version)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1999) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

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:

Between Piru & Fillmore, Southern Pacific Railroad, California, USA

Company:

Curtleigh Productions Inc.

Trivia:

The young man with the transistor radio is played by Our Gang graduate Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer; this was Switzer's final screen appearance before his untimely death in a shooting incident.

Goofs:

Continuity: Near the end of the film after Jackson falls in the mud trying to catch up to Cullen there is thick mud all the way up his front over his shoulders. In the next shot his right shoulder is suddenly unmuddied.

Quotes:

Noah Cullen: [to John] Go on, tell me all that big talk about Charlie Potatoes, when the chains off and nobody chasing you. Come on. You can't, can you? You can't because you're nothing. You're not even a man! You're a monkey on a stick. That cracker mob back there, they pull the string and you jump.
[John punches him]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Red Dwarf: The Inquisitor (#5.2)" (1992)

Soundtrack:

Long Gone

Another Stanley Kramer great.

A great job by Stanley Kramer on this film. Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier turn in stellar performances as two convicts who get an unexpected shot at escape but are held together by a length of chain. They must learn to overcome their racial dislike of each other in order to survive and gain their freedom. But will they? The film is shot in black and white and had it been shot in color it would not have been as good. A remake was done some years later which was passable but didn't match this original version.