DVD REVIEW: The Defiant Ones
DVD REVIEW: The Defiant Ones
Shock Entertainment
1 April, 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8/10
A severe diatribe against the institutionalised racism that poisoned the heart of America in ‘50s and ‘60s (and still resonates today), The Defiant Ones sees Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier as chained together prison escapees on the lam.
The antagonistic pair are entirely believable thanks to the chemistry and skills of these two actors, and the message, of course, is repeatedly hammered home through overt and suggestive means, not least a lynch mob and the repeated treatment of Poitier’s Noah Cullen as less than human.
When a young woman helps them break the chain that binds them together, then seduces Curtis’s Joker Jackson and sends Cullen to certain death to cover her own back, Jackson is forced to confront his own loyalties and sense of right and wrong.
Powerful and incendiary, the two lead actors deliver stunning performances in what is effectively a chase movie with a undertone of moral redemption, there is excellent backup provided by Theodore Bickel, Lon Chaney and Claude Akins, not to mention Cara Williams’ duplicitous unnamed temptress.
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Category: Movie & Theatre Reviews