The Defiant Ones

Name: The Defiant Ones
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: September 27, 1958
Duration: 96 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer, Charles McGraw, Claude Akins, King Donovan, Lawrence Dobkin

1958

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

See All

7.5

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7.5	Your Score
7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

The Defiant Ones

Now Playing: The Defiant Ones

Movie Details & Credits

United Artists | Release Date: September 27, 1958 | TV-PG

Starring: Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer, Charles McGraw, Claude Akins, King Donovan, Lawrence Dobkin, Lon Chaney Jr., Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Tony Curtis, Whit Bissell

Summary: Two escaped convicts chained together, white and black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture.

Director: Stanley Kramer

Genre(s): Drama, Crime

Rating: TV-PG

Runtime: 96 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Staff (Not Credited)

The performances by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier are virtually flawless. Poitier captures all of the moody violence of the convict, serving time because he assaulted a white man who had insulted him. It is a cunning, totally intelligent portrayal that rings powerfully true. Read full review

Bosley Crowther

A remarkably apt and dramatic visualization of a social idea—the idea of men of different races brought together to face misfortune in a bond of brotherhood — is achieved by Producer Stanley Kramer in his new film, The Defiant Ones. Read full review

Christopher Machell

The Defiant Ones combines Stanley Kramer’s trademark liberal politics with a picaresque adventure that is deftly entertaining, tense and heartfelt. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Nearly a decade before the supper-table racial detente of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Kramer mined the subject matter of racial divisiveness in the groundbreaking The Defiant Ones, which paired Curtis and Poitier as hunky prison escapees unhappily bonded to each other by means of metal chains and the mutual need to survive. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Kramer was never much of a director, but there's still power in some of the performances, especially Poitier's. Read full review

Kim Newman

Uncomfortable viewing which isn't afraid to engage with race-related violence. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The suspense of the manhunt in the swamps never really overcomes the dead weight of Kramer's 'message', but pleasures are to be found in the supporting roles of McGraw and Chaney. Read full review

SEE ALL 8 REVIEWS

Write a Review

Negative:

No reviews yet.