--- title: "The Defiant Ones" year: 1958 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-defiant-ones" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 71 critics_reviews: 7 published: "2026-09-20T03:25:06.433244+00:00" updated: "2026-09-20T03:25:06.918026+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Defiant Ones (1958) Directed by Stanley Kramer · 1h 36m · MPA NR · Crime, Drama, Adventure, Thriller **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 71 from 7 reviews *In a sentence:* Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier spend an hour and a half trying to walk in different directions > Stanley Kramer’s chase film chains a white convict to a black one and runs them through the swamps of the South. The message is spelled out more than once, but the running is fierce and Curtis and Poitier make the chain feel real. ## Synopsis Somewhere in the American South, on a wet night, a prison truck swerves off the road and rolls over. Two of its passengers walk away from the wreck chained together at the wrist: John ‘Joker’ Jackson (Tony Curtis), a white man who talks too much, and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier), a black man who has learned to say little. They loathe each other and they have one chain between them, so they run in the same direction. Sheriff Max Muller (Theodore Bikel) gathers a posse of townsmen and dogs and follows at a walking pace, to the irritation of Capt. Frank Gibbons (Charles McGraw), who would rather push. The first day takes the two men down into a rain-filled clay pit and across a fast river, still shackled, still arguing about whose fault it is. ## Review Stanley Kramer’s film begins with a crash and never quite stops moving. A prison truck goes off a wet road in the American South, and two of the men inside walk away from it chained at the wrist: John ‘Joker’ Jackson (Tony Curtis), white, mouthy and certain the world owes him something, and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier), black, watchful and expecting nothing. They cannot stand each other. They have one chain and no choice. That is the whole idea, and Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith’s script tells us so, more than once, in words. The chase is good enough that we forgave the lesson. Curtis plays Joker with a two-day beard and a grudge against everyone who ever had more than him, and it is the best thing we have seen him do. He whines, he bargains, he picks fights he cannot win, and slowly the whining stops. Poitier gives Cullen a stillness that does most of the work. He sings a song about a man who got clean away, in a low unbothered voice that drives Joker mad, and saves his anger for the two or three moments when it will land. Between them they make the chain a third character. Sam Leavitt shoots it in black and white, and the first reel is all rain and mud, two men slithering through it with the light behind them so they are shapes before they are faces. In daylight he lets the sun come in hard and flat, and the men look as tired as they say they are. The clay pit is the sequence we will keep. The two are at the bottom of a steep wet pit, and every time one gets a handhold the chain drags him back down onto the other, and the film simply watches them try. We held our breath, and then noticed our hands were clenched, and then noticed the film had told us everything about these two without a line of dialogue. Frederic Knudtson cuts between fugitives and posse without fuss; the pace comes from the men’s exhaustion rather than the edit. Theodore Bikel’s Sheriff Max Muller is the film’s conscience, a large soft-spoken man who wants the pair brought back alive and keeps the dogs on their leads. Charles McGraw’s Capt. Frank Gibbons, the state man, would rather let them loose, and their argument runs alongside the chase as a second, quieter one. Bikel is good, but here the writing puts its thumb on the scale: Muller says the decent thing so plainly that we can feel ourselves being asked to nod. Lon Chaney Jr. turns up later and gives the film a surprising few minutes of quiet. The film shows its age in the mouth. Joker and Cullen argue about race in speeches, and the speeches were written to be quoted. Cullen is asked to be patient, wise and forgiving; Joker is allowed to be wrong and to grow, and the film’s sympathy sits with the man who changes rather than the one who was right all along. That nagged at us, though it does not sink the picture. The last third brings in a woman living alone (Cara Williams) and her boy Billy (Kevin Coughlin), and the pace sags while everyone sorts out what they think. Ernest Gold’s score is loudest under the titles and the dogs; the film is at its best when it leaves the music to Poitier. Rudolph Sternad has little to build, since nearly all of it happens outdoors; the few interiors are bare boards and a lamp. Kramer went on to make bigger and worthier things, [*Judgment at Nuremberg*](https://film.one/film/judgment-at-nuremberg) (1961) and *Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner* (1967) among them, and most of them now play as long debates. This one wears better because there is a chase under the argument, and when the argument runs out the chase keeps going. Watch it for the two men, the pit and the river. Forgive it the speeches, which were probably necessary in 1958 and are merely audible now. It carries a U certificate, runs 96 minutes and does not waste many of them. *Fi1m score 74, published 20 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews lean firmly positive, with six of seven recommending it. The praise clusters around the two leads: Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier, shackled together and on the run through the South, are called strong, tough or intense by nearly every critic, and several credit Stanley Kramer’s direction with handling the racial antagonism between them both forcefully and sensitively. Most agree the film still carries some force as a plea for common humanity, and that it moves at a brisk pace. Where they part is on how well the message has worn. The older reviews take the social drama at face value; the later ones treat it as a period piece rescued by its performances, with Time Out saying it would be a musty museum piece without them. Empire goes furthest, finding it works better as a high-concept thriller than as a statement on race, and Eye for Film notes an imbalance in the racial dynamics. Nobody dislikes it. ### Reviews we read (7) - **The New York Times**, Bosley Crowther (90/100, inferred): The film powerfully visualizes the idea of men of different races bonded by misfortune into brotherhood through a dramatic social drama. It highlights the intense performances and Kramer's forceful handling of racial conflict and resentment. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1958/09/25/archives/screen-a-forceful-social-drama-the-defiant-ones-has-debut-at.html) - **Radio Times**, Tony Sloman (4/5): The critic calls this still powerful drama a superb cinematic strike for racial equality in its day. Two convicts shackled together highlight strong performances from Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier, marking it as one of Stanley Kramer's finest humanitarian movies. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-0ptd21/the-defiant-ones/) - **The New Yorker** (70/100, inferred): The film grimly depicts two chained convicts of different races escaping in the South while confronting racial antagonism, ultimately showing that common humanity can overcome hatred. It moves at an exciting pace with solid performances from Poitier and Curtis. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1958/10/04/1958-10-04-158-tny-cards-000062229) - **Time Out** (70/100, inferred): The review notes that without the tough, memorable performances by Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis, this allegory about race relations might feel like a musty museum piece. Most of Kramer's message movies have not aged well, but this one still packs something of a wallop. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/the-defiant-ones) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): The film explores how lack of knowledge between men leads to division, but understanding fosters respect and comradeship, shown through two chained convicts of different races escaping together. It praises the strong performances by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier along with Kramer's sensitive direction. [Read](https://variety.com/1957/film/reviews/the-defiant-ones-1200419029/) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (50/100, inferred): The film works better as a high-concept thriller than as a heavy-handed statement on race relations. The physical sequences of the chained convicts navigating obstacles stand out as the strongest elements. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/defiant-ones-review/) - **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film works well as an adventure story with strong performances from the leads, but notes an imbalance in the racial dynamics portrayed. It praises the thrilling action and its importance as a breakthrough for Poitier while remaining enjoyable today. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-defiant-ones-1956-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## Details - **Director:** Stanley Kramer - **Director:** Stanley Kramer - **Writer:** Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith - **Cinematography:** Sam Leavitt - **Editor:** Frederic Knudtson - **Music:** Ernest Gold - **Production design:** Rudolph Sternad - **Producer:** Stanley Kramer - **Cast:** Tony Curtis as John 'Joker' Jackson; Sidney Poitier as Noah Cullen; Theodore Bikel as Sheriff Max Muller; Charles McGraw as Capt. Frank Gibbons; Lon Chaney Jr. as Big Sam; King Donovan as Solly; Claude Akins as Mack; Lawrence Dobkin as Editor - **Runtime:** 1h 36m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 24 September 1958 - **Genres:** Crime, Drama, Adventure, Thriller - **Budget:** $778,000 - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRWvcpX4xag ## Where to watch in the US - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd *Checked 2026-09-20.* Also available in: CA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1959: Best Actor (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Supporting Actor (nominated); Best Supporting Actress (nominated); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (won); Best Writing, Original Screenplay (won) - BAFTA Film Awards 1959: Best Film (nominated) - Golden Globes 1959: Best Film Promoting International Understanding (nominated) - United Nations Awards 1959: United Nations Awards (won) - Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film 1958: Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film (nominated) - Golden Globes 1958: Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (nominated); Best Director (nominated); Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (nominated); Best Motion Picture – Drama (won) ## If you liked this - *I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang* (1932), Fi1m 85: The chain gang film that came first, angrier and faster than its descendants. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/i-am-a-fugitive-from-a-chain-gang.md) - *The 39 Steps* (1935), Fi1m 88: Hitchcock handcuffs a man to a woman who thinks he is a murderer; she thaws. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-39-steps.md) - *The Hidden Fortress* (1958): Kurosawa’s two bickering peasants on the run, from the same year and a different country. - *In the Heat of the Night* (1967), Fi1m 85: Poitier back in the South, this time as the detective, with a sheriff who must learn. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-heat-of-the-night.md) - *Midnight Run* (1988), Fi1m 88: Two men who cannot stand each other, shackled by circumstance, and much funnier about it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/midnight-run.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-defiant-ones