The Defiant Ones (1958)

7.5	Rating (135 ratings)
7.6	IMDB rating

Add to favorites

Edit page

Buy at Amazon

Directed by

Stanley Kramer

Starring (View all)

Tony Curtis
John 'Joker' Jackson

Sidney Poitier
Noah Cullen

Theodore Bikel
Sheriff Max Muller

Charles McGraw
Capt. Frank Gibbons

Lon Chaney Jr.
Big Sam

King Donovan
Solly

Claude Akins
Mack

Lawrence Dobkin
Editor

Written by

Nedrick Young

Lists

497 votes

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (1001 items)
list by upidipi

Published 13 years, 9 months ago

874 comments

130 votes

6,006 Movies For a Post-Covid World... (6013 items)
list by ToonHead2102

Published 11 years, 8 months ago

14 comments

123 votes

My Brilliant and Witty 2013 Movie Diary (203 items)
list by Severin Severin

Published 10 years, 1 month ago

40 comments

114 votes

Finnish translations (174 items)
list by Kankku

Published 13 years, 5 months ago

55 comments

87 votes

Total Film's 50 Movies That Shook The World (50 items)
list by AFIoscar

Published 11 years ago

View all The Defiant Ones lists (93 more)

The Defiant Ones Videos

Movie Trailer - The Defiant Ones (1958)

58 Views

Added 9 years ago

The Defiant Ones (Sydney Poitier, Tony Curtis) clips

45 Views

Added 14 years ago

View all The Defiant Ones videos

Cover art, photos and screenshots

8 votes

6 votes

View all The Defiant Ones pictures (61 more)

Reviews

The Defiant Ones

2 years, 9 months ago at Apr 19 21:08

JxSxPx

James Baldwin famously derided this as white liberal wish fulfillment, and he wasn’t off the mark. Stanley Kramer’s cinema at its most essential elements is just that, well-intentioned if sanctimonious liberal guilt/fantasy. The Defiant Ones is another entry in that canon as it literalizes elements of racism by shackling the races together in a chain gang. Never mind reality when there�... read more

View all The Defiant Ones reviews

Description: Set in the deep south, two escaped convicts (Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier) are separated by their color, but bound by their desire for freedom and a 29-inch steel chain. Two escaped convicts -- one black (Poitier), one white (Curtis), ... Full Descriptionand 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 Lon Chaney, Jr. along the way. ... (more)

Release date: 14 August 1958
UPC: 027616869364

Tags: Prison (7), Racism (6), Escape (6), Drama (5), 1958 (4), 1950s (4), Friendship (3), Chain Gang (2), Race Relations (2), Confrontation (2), Usa (2), Racist (1), Racial Slur (1), River Rapids (1), Pit (1), Convicts (1), Burglary (1), Odd Couple (1), Campfire (1), Blues Music (1)

My tags:

Add tags

Update feed

Georgini voted for an image 1 month, 1 week ago

Anautix added this to a list 1 month, 2 weeks ago

Anautix' Movie Diary 2022 (138 movies items)

"18.12.2022 my rating: 7,5"

Georgini voted for an image 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Kyle Ellis added this to a list 6 months ago

Best Movies With Owls In 'Em (11 movies items)

Kandi voted for 2 images 8 months, 1 week ago

SA-512 posted 2 images 8 months, 1 week ago

samira added this to a list 8 months, 2 weeks ago

Every Movie Ever! (13121 movies items)

sinaia16 posted 2 images 9 months, 3 weeks ago

SA-512 posted a image 10 months, 3 weeks ago

SA-512 voted for an image 1 year, 1 month ago

johanlefourbe added this to a list 1 year, 1 month ago

My Queue 2 - Movie backlog (1505 movies items)

johanlefourbe added this to a list 1 year, 3 months ago

My Queue (416 movies items)

SA-512 posted a image 1 year, 5 months ago

SA-512 added this to a list 1 year, 7 months ago

Movies Watched (2021) (142 movies items)

mhthehammer added this to a list 1 year, 9 months ago

Best Picture Nominees (in Ten Sentences) (478 movies items)

Dj Levels voted for an image 1 year, 12 months ago

Dj Levels voted for 3 images 2 years, 1 month ago

hulkargh voted for 7 images [View All] 2 years, 4 months ago

Kandi added this to a list 2 years, 7 months ago

50's Movies I Want To Watch (55 movies items)

JxSxPx posted a review 2 years, 9 months ago

The Defiant Ones

“James Baldwin famously derided this as white liberal wish fulfillment, and he wasn’t off the mark. Stanley Kramer’s cinema at its most essential elements is just that, well-intentioned if sanctimonious liberal guilt/fantasy. The Defiant Ones is another entry in that canon as it literalizes elements of racism by shackling the races together in a chain gang. Never mind reality when there’s an elaborate metaphor to explore racial tensions during the civil rights movement. It’s a long-form fable that starts out like The Fugitive, car crash that leaves two prisoners chained together on the run with the law in hot pursuit, before providing a series of moralizing episodes that explore a host of issues. Some of them are great and some of them are heavy-handed in their treatment, more” read more

JxSxPx posted a image 2 years, 9 months ago