Product Details

• Actors: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Charles McGraw, Lon Chaney Jr.
• Directors: Stanley Kramer
• Writers: Harold Jacob Smith, Nedrick Young
• Producers: Stanley Kramer
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: January 5, 1999
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304196903
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,631 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

This 1958 variation on Huck Finn's adventures with Jim finds a white convict (Tony Curtis) chained to a black convict (Sidney Poitier) as they both escape their captors. With each man literally stuck with the other, racial conflicts take a back seat to survival. Directed by Stanley Kramer (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), the film's obvious consciousness-raising is mitigated by a pair of raw performances from the stars, memorable appearances by Lon Chaney Jr. and Cara Williams, and Kramer's strong storytelling abilities. The award-winning script was cowritten by blacklisted writer-actor Nedrick Young. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "That's a hell of a way to live- you keep quiet all your life and the only time you open your mouth is when you're dying.", September 8, 2005

By 

Matthew Romanchuk (Westwood, N.J. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Defiant Ones (DVD)

The Defiant Ones is one of the great American films. Released in 1958, this starkly filmed story of two convicts on the run for their freedom evokes powerful emotions for the viewer. Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier are wonderful in their roles and display a level of screen chemistry that has been sadly lacking in contemporary films. It is hard to say which one is better due to their very different but equally powerful performance. As one might expect, the two cons start out hating each other, but slowly develop a grudging respect for one another as they learn about the others life and eventually a kind of friendship is formed. The secondary story concerns the posse on their trail and the friction that develops amongst them as the chase goes on. Cara Williams is memorable as the woman that Curtis cares for while on the run and is the character that causes a change in his attitude that leads directly to the bittersweet ending. Theodore Bikel is also very accomplished as the beleagered Sheriff and Lon Chaney Jr. is very good as a townsman who has a special reason for aiding the 2 cons in their escape. The Defiant Ones is a great film that almost 50 years later still prods us with the reminder that YES, WE CAN learn to overcome our differences over race and live with and care for each other. Both Curtis and Poitier are at the top of their game here and each received an Academy Award nomination deservedly. A final note: watch the last scene and decide for yourself- was it an accident or did one friend make a sacrifice for another?

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Before Richard Kimball, There was Noah Cullen & John Jackson, April 14, 2002

By 

Ace-of-Stars (Honolulu, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Defiant Ones (DVD)

*
''The Defiant Ones'' is one of those rare films which after having been seen only once had the ability to stick with me for an entire lifetime! (Other such gems having had a similar effect on me include Chaplin's first 'talkie,' ''The Great Dictator,'' the original ''Night of the Living Dead,'' the cheesy and awful but fun sci-fi cult flick ''Laserblast,'' and Orson Welles' ''Citizen Kane.'') I've just had the opportunity to purchase the DVD and view this film for only the second time, and it was every bit as good and intense as I remember from that first time!

''The Defiant Ones'' teams up the legendary Tony Curtis and the equally legendary and talented Sidney Poitier as convicted felons John ''Joker'' Jackson and Noah Cullen who, as a result of a racially sparked physical scuffle between the two of them, partly contribute to the road accident their transport vehicle becomes involved in. The resulting crash gives these two chained together prisoners an opportunity to escape on foot.

But this is pre-1960s southern USA, so when the arriving law officers responsible for tracking the prisoners down learn that the two chained together escaped cons are of different racial backgrounds they become somewhat lax in their pursuit, erroneously assuming that the two escapees would likely kill each other out of racial hatred before they'd even get five miles.

Forced to cooperate despite the racial tensions between them, Joker and Noah do not take their predicament lightly and are constantly on the move to stay as far ahead of their pursuers as possible. In the days that follow both men form something of an uneasy camaraderie, and the conversations they strike up between themselves actually seem to help smooth over some of those racial tensions they exhibit toward each other, to where each man gains a certain amount of respect for the other. Joker is also made to confront some unpleasant realities, such as being forced to admit in his heart that Noah is the more rational of the two and, especially, having to come to terms with the fact that his white skin is no safety net when he is an escaped criminal on the run.

There is also a 'human interest' story in the subplot of the film, some of it just somewhat ahead of its time: The County Sheriff becomes the catalyst which keeps the chase from becoming a reckless and disorderly ''Good Ol' Boy'' guns, dawgs & testosterone party, and one of the townspeople, portrayed by the legendary Lon Chaney Jr., keeps a town's citizenry from becoming an emotionally irrational lynch mob.

The cinematography is excellent for a movie of its time, although some of the sets could have been better constructed and arranged (for example, there's one set where the city lights of Los Angeles shine in the background beyond the studio lot). It is also nice to hear actors talking with southern accents that don't sound like ''Foghorn Leghorn'' rejects.

To even consider ''remaking'' this classic film would not only be a terrible mistake, but it would also be a virtual impossibility ... so hopefully no one in Hollyweird, or anywhere else for that matter, would ever think of doing such a thing, and thus let this great piece of movie making history stand on its own and to continue to stand the test of time.

* * *

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Black and white fight and run, March 27, 2006

By 

K. Williams (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Defiant Ones [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A black-and-white movie about a hateful pair of black and white convicts struggling for their lives and against each other. During the era of the film in the South, it is amazing that a black man would touch a white -- let alone be chained to him with a defiant attitude. What is more remarkable than the intense hatred and out-and-out fist fight is the bond that forms between this unlikely pair as they flee for their lives after a prison break. Pushing personal differences aside, they must learn to rely upon one another or die trying.

Movie quote: "I ain't gettin' mad, Joker. I been mad all my natural life."