Product Details

• Actors: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, Sidney Poitier, Mildred Joanne Smith
• Directors: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Writers: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Lesser Samuels, Philip Yordan
• Producers: Darryl F. Zanuck
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: February 3, 1998
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0793903343
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,032 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unbridled racial strife, July 31, 2005

By 

Cory D. Slipman (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: No Way Out [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Joseph L. Mankiewicz's able direction accurately chronicles the ugliness of racism as seen through the eyes of the characters in the flick "No Way Out".

Sidney Poitier is his first starring role plays dedicated and idealistic physician Dr. Luther Brooks. Poitier is working the prison ward of the county hospital when Ray Biddle played by Richard Widmark and his brother Johnny are brought in. They both had been shot in the leg by cops during a gas station heist.

Widmark, a hellacious bigot, balks when he and his brother are examined by a black doctor.

Poitier becomes suspicious that brother Johnny Biddle is in much more dire straits than from just a leg wound. Fearing brain damage he performs a spinal tap but the patient expires during the procedure. Widmark immediately blames Poitier for killing his brother. Poitier with full support of his boss Dr. Wharton played by Stephen McNally, requests an autopsy to prove the suspected presence of a brain tumor. Widmark however refuses.

The brother's ex-wife Edie played by Linda Darnell is coaxed by the doctors into changing Widmark's mind. The plot plays out with the despicable Widmark using a third brother to mobilize their lowlife racist friends to attack the local black neighborhood. A racial riot ensues and the hospital becomes full of victims but an unsatisfied Widmark is still out for blood.

"No Way Out" is a very disturbing look at the 1950's version of racism. The picture is not a very pretty one. Both Widmark playing the mad dog racist and Poitier the moralistic physician gave very effective performances.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Way Out, May 29, 2006

By 

Steven Hellerstedt "SH" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: No Way Out (Fox Film Noir) (DVD)

There's nothing much subtle about NO WAY OUT. Two men, two brothers, are injured by the police while committing a petty crime. The men are transported to the prison ward of the county hospital, where one of the brothers dies while being treated by a young intern. The surviving brother vows mortal vengeance. The doctor needs the approval of a family member to conduct an autopsy to prove his competence and relieve his conscious.

It's a suitably sturdy set-up for what could have been an unspectacular urban melodrama. Trouble is NO WAY OUT is pretty spectacular. For starters, the young doctor is black and the surviving brother is a virulent racist. The talent behind the movie is, to put it mildly, impressive. It begins with the amazing producer Darryl Zanuck, the motor behind such thinking-person movies as The Grapes of Wrath & The Snake Pit, and who seemingly was incapable of making a bad movie. Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote and directed this movie, and though nominated for an 1951 Oscar for Best Director lost out to himself when he won it for another, much different, classic, All About Eve.

Message movies have a tendency to collapse under their moral weightiness. NO WAY OUT is a movie with a social conscious, but it, for the most part, steers clear of the pulpit. Richard Widmark is perfectly cast as the racist Roy Biddle, who is quite possibly the most loathsome major character in film history. Sidney Poitier, in his first movie, brings just the right blend of intelligence and dignity to his part as the young physician under the gun. Rounding out this unusual triangle is Linda Darnell as the ex-wife of the dead brother.

NO WAY OUT is an uncomfortable movie to watch. Roy Biddle is a vocal racist, and he uses just about every ugly name in the book, loudly and often. There are some scenes of the Beaver Canal group, Biddle's cronies, preparing to attack the black part of town, that are nightmarish. Linda Darnell, the car-hop girl who thought she'd crawled away from Beaver Canal, comes across as an almost tragic figure. This is an intelligent, driving movie, with some scenes that might not be appropriate for young children. The Warner Brothers print is in very good condition, and, as always, the man who can name every actor in history, and has anecdotes to back him up, Eddie Muller's commentary track enhances the experience.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SIDNEY POITIERS' FILM DEBUT PACKS A WALLOP !, April 2, 2006

By 

Kenneth Kapel "Leftist American" (Chicago,Il, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: No Way Out (Fox Film Noir) (DVD)

Any film noir starring Richard Widmark and Linda Darnell, with script and direction by Joseph Mankiewicz is sure to rate atleast 4 (out of a possible 5 ) star rating.Add the great Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee to the cast and your edging closer to a 5 star rating, and makes this film is the quiet, understated performance by Sidney Poitier, in his film debut.The three leading players Linda, Widmark (never better as a ugly racist] and Poitier come to life vividly under Mankiewiczs'expert direction.Wonderful commetary by Eddie Mueller,who is also a great fan of the of that forgotten treasure LINDA DARNELL.Great to know Fox is releasing two great noir films on June 6-2006-"I WAKE UP SCREAMING", and "HOUSE OF STRANGERS", (also directed by Mankiewiczs).Another Fox noir "BOOMERANG" will be released the same day.TO me "BOOMERANR" is not up to the same level as the other two.