The Defiant Ones

Director: Stanley Kramer

1958 / 96min / 35mm

​​The recently departed Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis co-star as odd-couple escapees from a chain gang—one Black, the other a white racist—who, still bound together by shackles, are forced to cooperate in making their way across the Deep South one step ahead of pursuing police. Kramer’s well intentioned if dated address of the “race problem” made the film a critical favorite, while the undeniable charisma of the two leads—both performing most of their own stunts in what was a gruelingly physical production—made it a popular hit, and give it an enduring, visceral charge.