ridiculous rating

Brilliant and touching

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

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.

Given this was a Stanley Kramer film, I expected a much heavier handed social message movie. Instead, "The Defiant Ones" is spare and lean, and it eschews righteous speeches about the evils of bigotry for commentary that is more potent because it is allowed to emerge organically from the situations and the way the characters respond to them. I'm thinking of how ahead of its time this film was when it was released in 1958. Almost 10 years later "In the Heat of the Night" would galvanize audiences with the image of Sidney Poitier slapping a white man; in this film, not only does a black man punch and spit on white men, but a white and black man share a cigarette and snuggle for warmth. This film was mentioned in the James Baldwin documentary "I Am Not Your Negro," and Baldwin held it to task for what he believed was its cop-out ending that only existed in order to make whites feel better about the racial divide. I get where Baldwin is coming from, but I would challenge him on his point. Like it or not, "The Defiant Ones" wasn't made for a black audience. It was made for a white audience, a vast majority of whom came into the movie with preconceived notions about black people based on limited experience. Would Baldwin have rather the movie reinforced stereotypes about blacks or offered its white audiences an alternative to challenge their perspective? Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis give terrific performances, as do Theodore Bikel, as the humanistic sheriff tracking them down, and Cara Williams, as a single woman who gives the men shelter and emerges as perhaps the most vile representative of a kind of white racism rampant then and still rampant now. All four were nominated for Oscars, and the film also received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Stanley Kramer), Best Original Story and Screenplay (which it won), Best B&W Cinematography (which it also won), and Best Film Editing. That this film lost Best Picture in the same year that "Gigi" won should tell you all you need to know about white indifference to racial turmoil.Grade: A

A prison truck is transporting a group of convicts when it runs off the road and crashes. Two convicts escape - Johnny (Tony Curtis), a white man, and Cullen (Sydney Poitier), a black man. They loathe each other, especially as Johnny is an ignorant racist. However, they are chained together and have to rely on each other to escape and survive. Meanwhile, the State Police plus the local Sheriff and a ragtag bunch of deputies, assisted by tracker dogs, are hot on their trail...Excellent movie. In the 1950s this would have been incredibly revolutionary, socially progressive and a great moral tale. Even today, with society more tolerant, it is a wonderful story of friendship and tolerance with a powerful anti-prejudice message.While it might seem obvious where the story is going, how it gets there is never predictable, or dull. Director Stanley Kramer weaves a great story, filled with red herrings, detours and setbacks. Much symbolism in some of the smallest of gestures and acts and the dialogue is filled with some powerful, quotable lines.Balancing the drama is the lighter side of the story - the police. Scenes involving them are often funny, not to make them seem like buffoons or make light of their attempts to track the convicts, but really just to lighten the mood.Great work by Sydney Poitier as Cullen. Tony Curtis is less convincing (the accent!), but does okay. Both picked up Oscar nominations for their efforts. Theodore Bickel is great as the Sheriff - his laid- back way of doing things made for some great comedy. He also got an Oscar nomination, as did Cara Williams.Somehow this movie did not win the 1959 Best Picture Oscar. In one of the worst decisions in Oscar history, the award went to the incredibly weak and dull Gigi, one of the worst ever Best Picture winners. Maybe the Academy was just into musicals that year...

"The Defiant Ones" gave me a whole lot more than I had expected. I always had thought this was a semi-sensational action film that exploited racism to attract notoriety. It actually is a poignant story of two men on the run who must cooperate in spite of their mutual animosity. The original screenplay by Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith won the Oscar for 1958, and I am hard-pressed to think of a script more deserving of every accolade possible. Joker Jackson (Tony Curtis, a revelation) and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier, fierce and fatalistic) are chained together and are in flight from a posse of local deputies led by Sheriff Max Muller (Theodore Bikel) and State Trooper Capt. Frank Gibbons (Charles McGraw). The ongoing quarrels between the two pairs of mismatched partners throughout the film paints a vivid picture of life in the rural South of the 1950s. Bikel is simply stunning in his offhand performance as the humanitarian leader of the manhunt, and McGraw is unyielding in his determination to bring in the escapees swiftly and by any means necessary. Claude Akins is intimidating in a small role as the inhabitant of a work camp the prisoners stumble across. Lon Chaney Jr. dominates the screen during this passage, as we learn that he has good reason to empathize with Joker and Cullen (as Curtis calls Poitier). The duo ultimately seek refuge at the modest farm of an unnamed and abandoned single mother and her child. This portion of the film becomes a vignette straight out of a Tennessee Williams play, and the heat radiating from Cara Williams could warm an entire Arctic outpost.I cannot stress enough how fine the acting is by the entire cast. I have never seen Tony Curtis do such good work, and Poitier is excellent as always, with a a haunting mix of melancholy and mirth that is best displayed by his boisterous rendition of William C. Handy folk song "Long Gone" at key points in the movie. Cara Williams is riveting every second she is on screen, and Lon Chaney Jr. acts as a counterbalance to the casual prejudice of the other Caucasian characters. The various Southern accents are underplayed but lend authenticity to the dialogue, as do sundry colloquialisms they use. Stanley Kramer, a well-known social activist, directs the film without judgement, as the actions of the players speak for themselves. I cannot find a single flaw in "The Defiant Ones", and I have no choice but to give it the Highest Recommendation possible."I fill it up wit' dreams."