The Defiant Ones

Infobox Film | name =The Defiant Ones
caption =original film poster
director = Stanley Kramer
producer = Stanley Kramer
writer =Nedrick Young (story)
Harold Jacob Smith
starring =Tony Curtis
Sidney Poitier
Theodore Bikel
Cara Williams
cinematography = Sam Leavitt
music =
editing = Frederic Knudtson
distributor = United Artists
released = July 1958 at
Berlin International Film Festival
runtime = 97 min
language = English
budget =

"The Defiant Ones" (1958) is a film which tells the story of two escaped prisoners who are shackled together, one white and one black, who must co-operate in order to survive. It stars Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Cara Williams, Charles McGraw, and Lon Chaney Jr.

The movie was adapted by Harold Jacob Smith from the story by Nedrick Young, originally credited as Nathan E. Douglas. It was directed by Stanley Kramer.

It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Tony Curtis), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Sidney Poitier), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Theodore Bikel), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Cara Williams), Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture.

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, of the "Our Gang" comedies, has a small role. It was his last before his death.

Plot summary

Two prisoners in the American South, African-American Noah Cullen (Poitier) and racist John "Joker" Jackson (Curtis), escape from a chain gang. Despite their mutual loathing for each other, they are forced to cooperate, as they are chained together. Gradually, they begin to respect and like each other.

Finally, they run into a young boy named Billy. They make him take them to his home and his mother (Williams), whose husband has abandoned his family. The escapees are finally able to cut off their chains. When they spend the night there, the lonely woman is attracted to Joker and wants to run off with him. She advises Noah to go through the swamp to reach the railroad tracks, while she and Joker drive off in her car. The men agree to split up. However, after Cullen leaves, the woman reveals that she had lied - she sent the black man into the dangerous swamp to die so she could have Joker to herself. Furious, Joker runs after his friend.

The posse led by humane Sheriff Max Muller (Bikel) gets close, the escapees can hear the dogs hot on their trail. But they also hear a train whistle and run towards the sound. Noah gets onto the fast-moving train and holds out his hand to the flagging Joker. Joker grabs it, but is unable to drag himself aboard. Noah refuses to let go and both men tumble to the ground. They wait for their pursuers.

Cast

*Tony Curtis as John "Joker" Jackson
*Sidney Poitier as Noah Cullen
*Theodore Bikel as Sheriff Max Muller
*Charles McGraw as Captain Frank Gibbons
*Lon Chaney, Jr. as Big Sam
*King Donovan as Solly
*Claude Akins as Mack
*Lawrence Dobkin as Editor
*Whit Bissell as Lou Gans
*Carl Switzer as Angus
*Kevin Coughlin as Billy
*Cara Williams as Billy's mother

Remakes

"The Defiant Ones" was remade several times:
* in 1972, with gender reversal, as "Black Mama, White Mama", starring Pam Grier and Margaret Markov
* for television in 1986, as "The Defiant Ones", starring Robert Urich and Carl Weathers
* Homage is paid to the film in the 1992 Quantum Leap episode "Unchained". Protagonist Sam Beckett lands in the body of a white Mississippi road gang worker chained to a wrongly convicted black man, and the two must escape together or be murdered by the corrupt warden.

Parodies

* A 1961 Warner Brothers "Merrie Melodies" cartoon, "D'Fightin' Ones", featured Sylvester the Cat and Hector the Bulldog, who escape from a dogcatcher's truck while chained together.
* The movie provided much of the plot for "The Simpsons" episode "The Wandering Juvie."
* An episode of the Pokémon anime featured Meowth and Pikachu attached to each other with a cord, forcing to work together despite their longtime rivalries.

ee also

* Magical negro

External links

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