Rent The Defiant Ones (1958)

More important than good? - The Defiant Ones review by RJ

The interview with Kim Newman on the Blu-ray (which I watched after watching the film) helped to put The Defiant Ones into context for me, because - despite flattering myself that I'm reasonably well informed about films - it exposed yet more gaps in my knowledge. I didn't know a thing about Stanley Kramer, apart from gathering via Wikipedia that he was known as a director of 'message' films. Newman's way of putting it is that Kramer was 'more important than good'. Thankfully, The Defiant Ones seems to be regarded by many as one of Kramer's best. I enjoyed it and whilst it certainly isn't a subtle film I didn't find it too heavy-handed or overly preachy.

It's a simple story with good performances from Curtis and Poitier. Newman's interview also made some useful points about where Curtis and Poitier were in their respective careers at this point in time - Curtis looking to be taken seriously and Poitier not yet typecast as the 'dignified negro'. I thought they were both good in a film in which the script tries with variable success to portray them both as believable characters and as ciphers for the film's message about mutual understanding and cooperation (specifically between races but also more generally). There's great support from the likes of Theodore Bikel and Lon Chaney Jr. which helps to add a bit of colour and interest into the otherwise less-than-thrilling and episodic pursuit of the convicts. It also had a satisfyingly bleak ending, which Newman posits was due to the demands of censorship at that time - if that was the case, then I'm grateful to censorship on this occasion.

The film looks stunning (it was no surprise to discover it won an Oscar for best black and white cinematography) and, cleverly, there is no non-diegetic music used. This heightens the realism of the film by allowing us to hear the rain pouring down, the sounds of the birds and bugs, and the squelching of footsteps as both convicts and pursuers make their way through the swamps and bogs. Often with films of this period and earlier, the overwrought musical scores are my least favourite aspect, so this was a welcome relief.

I think I am happy to accept the consensus that, overall, Kramer was 'more important than good' - but I think in this film the balance between important and good was fairly even, and I found it a solid, enjoyable watch.

Raw Prison Break Film - The Defiant Ones review by GI

Multi award winning and the first to receive an Oscar nomination for a black actor. This is a prison break drama that uses its story as a powerful indictment of racist America and it's ahead of its time in shining a full light on the issue of racial intolerance. Tony Curtis, breaking away from his 'pretty boy' roles, and Sidney Poitier play two prisoners, Johnny and Noah, chained together and on the run in southern USA. Johnny is a typical bigoted redneck and Noah raised under the boot of the white south. Both have an unbridled hatred for one another but must unite if their escape is to succeed. Director Stanley Kramer was never afraid to raise controversial themes in his films and this one is influential, highly acclaimed in it's writing, cinematography, and performances it's one of the key social dramas that looks almost microscopically at the deep seated racism of 50s America, with the use of the 'N' word, calling Noah 'Boy', lynch mobs, and the sheer indoctrination where white people are afraid of allowing the black character to use the same plates and cutlery etc. There's a powerful scene where sharing a cigarette Johnny tears off the end to avoid putting the same bit in his mouth as Noah. Additionally Kramer injects the film with a despairing look at the state of the country questioning the 'American Dream', with scenes of poverty, of desperation highlighted in the scenes with Cara Williams, a 'poor white trash' character prepared to have sex with Johnny to enable her escape from her worthless life, even abandoning her young son to achieve it. Ultimately this is a story of friendship as the two men bond together each making sacrifices for the other even when the manacles have gone. A raw and tense drama that is one of those films you need to make sure you see at least once.