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The Defiant
Ones (1958)
In Stanley Kramer's social-conscience film:
- the scene of escaped, shackled-together convicts
Johnny "Joker" Jackson (Tony Curtis) and Noah Cullen
(Sidney Poitier) talking together while fugitives, with Poitier
bringing poignancy to his strident role (Jackson: "I'm just
tellin' you the facts of life" Cullen: "I don't wanna
hear it. I've been listenin' to that stuff all my life. From my
wife: 'Be nice.' They throwed me in solitary confinement and she
said: 'Be nice.' A man shortweight'd me when I turned in my crops.
She'd say: 'Be nice, or you get in trouble.' She'd teach my kid
that same damn thing")
- the classic image of the clapsed white and black
hands of the two desperately trying to help each other board a speeding
train - Cullen reached back to pull Jackson up, but couldn't save
him and sacrificed his own freedom by jumping off
Race for the Train
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- in the conclusion, Noah's singing of the blues song "Long
Gone" - with the wounded Jackson lying in his arms, before
the two were apprehended by Sheriff Max Muller (Theodore Bikel)
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Johnny Jackson (Tony Curtis) and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier)
Singing "Long Gone"
Sheriff Max Muller (Theodore Bikel)
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