The Defiant Ones
(1958)

Director: Stanley Kramer

Key Cast : Sidney Poitier, Tony Curtis, Theodore Bikel, Charles McGraw, Lon Chaney Jr., King Donovan, Claude Akins, Lawrence Dubkin, Whit Bissell, Carl Switzer, Kevin Coughlin

Rating: Approved

Genre(s): Drama, Crime, Thriller

Nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture, The Defiant Ones broke new ground by delivering its message of racial tolerance through a fast-moving blend of action and suspense.  It remains “a raw, powerful film that is as exciting as it is moving, real and literate” (Variety).

Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier) and Joker Jackson (Tony Curtis) are two convicts on the run.  Escaping from a Southern work gang, the two men are bound together by an unbreakable iron chain and separated by an unbridled hatred towards each other.  Relentlessly pursued by a posse and bloodhounds, they put aside their differences to survive.  But when a lonely woman (Cara Williams) breaks their chain and deliberately sends Cullen to certain death, Jackson must decide what’s more important:  saving Cullen…or saving himself.

• Sidney Poitier’s first nomination for a Best Actor Academy Award was for his role in The Defiant Ones.  He didn’t win.  But, five years later, he was nominated again and won the Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Lilies of the Field. (Another Top 100 BlackClassicMovies.com Film.)

• The director of this movie, Stanley Kramer, also directed Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, another Top 100 BlackClassicMovies.com Film.

• Won a 1959 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture.

• Nominated for five additional 1959 Golden Globe Awards:  Best Film Promoting International Understanding,  Best Motion Picture Actor (Sidney Poitier), Best Motion Picture Actor (Tony Curtis), Best Motion Picture Supporting Actress (Cara Williams) and Best Motion Picture Director (Stanley Kramer).

• Won two 1959 Academy Awards:  Best Cinematography, Black & White and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.

• Nominated for seven additional 1959 Academy Awards:  Best Picture, Best Actor (Sidney Poitier), Best Actor (Tony Curtis),  Best Supporting Actor (Theodore Bikel), Best Supporting Actress (Cara Williams), Best Director (Stanley Kramer), Best Film Editing

Buy The Defiant Ones Movie DVD
"The Defiant Ones" stars Sidney Poitier and
Tony Curtis in roles that resulted in both of
them being nominated for Academy Awards.

This was the first movie that Sidney Poitier
starred in that resulted in an Best Actor
Academy Award nomination. He didn't win,
but he did go on to win the Best Actor Academy
Award for "Lilies of the Field."

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for purchase details.  

The Defiant Ones Movie Poster
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