The Defiant Ones

John “Joker” Jackson (Tony Curtis) and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier) are two prisoners who break away from a Southern chain gang while chained together. The racist Jackson and the proud Cullen must stave off killing each other long enough to break the chain and make it to freedom. Meanwhile, a pack of hunting dogs and a wily sheriff (Theodore Bikel) are in relentless pursuit.

Stanley Kramer was his generation’s premier director of “message” movies, a distinction which won him as much scorn as it did praise. This award-winning 1958 offering provides support for both views. To start with, it’s very well-acted. Yes, Curtis’ Bronx accent creeps up every now and then (and Bikel as a Southern sheriff is a real stretch), but the roles are played with conviction. A young Poitier is angry as Cullen, but he brings a sense of cynical bemusement to the role as well, singing at inappropriate times to mock his oppressors. Curtis plays Joker as a hard-bitten realist when it comes to race relations, but a head-in-the-clouds optimist about his own affairs. These are some complex convicts and the nuance the actors bring to the characters elevates them above the level of props in an afterschool special about tolerance.

That isn’t to say this movie isn’t preachy. The script is littered with indignant and self-pitying riffs on race, place, class and justice. Kramer’s intent was probably to shame and shock a nation. He may have succeeded with 1958 audiences, but in 2010, this stuff is old hat. The inevitable grudging respect Joker and Cullen develop for one another seems predictable, as does the sheriff’s benevolence toward them as the film progresses.

Shot in black and white, The Defiant Ones picked up an Oscar for its cinematography. Landscape – particularly, a harsh and dreary swamp – is used effectively here. At a mere 97 minutes, the film doesn’t do much meandering, though it does start to lose steam toward the end.

Like many films which have been imitated and parodied, it becomes difficult to separate the original from what it inspired. In the case of The Defiant Ones, you get the sense that this was a once-great film that is increasingly failing the test of time.

7.25/10