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Review of The Defiant Ones

© David Macdonald

The Defiant Ones (1958) stars Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier, in a very unique sort of action film; a film which blends intense action set-pieces, humour, and social commentary.

The two actors play criminals, chained to each other as they are transported to another prison. The truck sideswipes off the road, allowing the two to escape into the countryside. Yet the police are soon behind them every step of the way, and it will take the criminals' ingenuity, not to mention their tolerance of each other, in order to get out of the authorities' reach. The two escapees` problems with each other stems from the fact that one criminal is white, the other black, and neither one has much regard for the other.

The tension between other races was a relatively new subject matter for the movies in this decade. Films dealing with anti-Semitism (Gentleman`s Agreement), and racism against blacks (No Way Out) were introduced to the public at the turn of the 1950`s, but what makes this film unique is how it makes its social commentary in the midst of a genre picture. If race were not a factor in this story, it would still hold up as a tense, straightforward action flick. As well, the subject matter does not feel out of place, because the situation of two angry and disadvantaged criminals forced together by chains demands that there will be tension. The fact that one is white and the other black only heightens the pressure.

Curtis`s character is the one whose weaknesses are more pronounced, and this is deliberate, as we are meant to see, of course, that just because he is white doesn`t mean that he is any better than a black man. It is Curtis who finds himself less able to withstand the terrain. It is Curtis who receives the most serious injuries. As well, he is filled with self-loathing, as is noticed in Poitier`s response to Curtis`s racial slurs. He says that this is just the way things are, and since he can call a black man a "boy", because that`s what he is, people can call him a "honkey" because that`s all he is too.

Poitier`s character finally has the chance to let out his frustrations at the society in which he as a black man lives. He is stuck with an equally angry, as well as more narrow-minded, man, and tries to make the best of it, by teaching him some lessons, especially about the tradition of bigotry, and the pain of a black man constantly being told to keep quiet, to not rattle the chains of the system.

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