TRIBUTES AND RETROSPECTIVES
Escapes |
The Defiant Ones
Stanley Kramer
1958 - United States - 1h36
Screenings :
wednesday 24 - 10:15 pm - Pathé - 1
friday 26 - 4:30 pm - Pathé - 1
When the truck that is transporting convicts has an accident on the road, inmates John “Joker” Jackson and Noah Cullen, who are chained together, escape. They hate each other but they need to help each other to succeed in going north to jump on a train and reach freedom.
Independent director and producer in the heart of the Hollywood system, Stanley Kramer has always treated social subjects with a progressive vision. The Defiant Ones is no exception to the rule, and joins together two prisoners, one black, the other white, quite literally as they are chained together in a manhunt across hostile lands. Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis play the two socially constrained characters with genuine sociological acuity. Apart from exploring racial segregation at a time when it was a burning topic, The Defiant Ones is also an incredible adventure film, a spectacular “survival” combined with a moving friendship story.
CAST AND CREW
Cast : Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Charles McGraw, Lon Chaney Jr.
Screenplay : Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith
Cinematography : Sam Leavitt
Editing : Frederic Knudtson
Music : Ernest Gold
Production : Curtleigh Productions, Stanley Kramer Productions
French distributor : Park Circus