The Defiant Ones
(1958)
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Two escaped convicts -- one black (Poitier), one white (Curtis), and both shackled in the same pair of handcuffs -- battle the elements and each other as they travel Southern back roads eluding the ever-approaching posse. Though the device of binding two racial antagonists together for survival may be rather obvious, the performances make the result compelling. Watch for Chaney, Jr. along the way. |
A solid remake of Stanley Kramer's 1958 racial drama, with Robert Urich and Carl Weathers in the roles originally created by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier. As a story about black and white, the plot offers few grey areas, dealing with two escaped criminals shackled to each other and to each other's prejudices. In 1958, Kramer's picture anticipated the civil rights movement, yet it hectored its audience constantly; the remake lacks the original's power, but is still gripping. The screenplay is by James Lee Barrett, who once wrote the ultra-right wing The Green Berets for John Wayne.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Schematic melodrama with a moral, impeccably done and with good performances.