Film Friday: The Defiant Ones (1958)
In honour of Tony Curtis's 91th birthday, which is today, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you the film that gave him the only Academy Award nomination of his career. Directed by Stanley Kramer, The Defiant Ones (1958) begins when a truck transporting chain gang convicts crashes on a rainswept Southern road and two prisoners escape: Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier), a black man who reacts violently to racial insults; and John «Joker» Jackson (Tony Curtis), Southern white bigot. Despite their mutual loathing, they are forced to cooperate, as they are chained together. Meanwhile, Sheriff Max Muller (Theodore Bikel), a humane lawman, is pressured by the governor to organize a posse to capture the escapees. He also must contend with an agressive state police captain, Frank Gibbons (Charles McGraw), and a deputy, Solly (King Donovan), who values his bloodhounds more than the lives of the convicts. Arriving at a small company town, Joker and Cullen are captured by its residents, who f...