Review of The Defiant Ones (1958) by Dedrick G — 30 Jan 2008

I watched this movie because Desmond Tutu referred to it as one of the influences in his upbringing. There are two very moving scenes: 1. As the black is pulled out the river by the chained white inmate, he thanks the white man, to which the white man replies 'for what I didn't pull you out, I prevented me being pulled in.

' 2. As they are freed from each other, they have become bound by soul. As the white inmate falls down, urging the black fellow to move on without him, the black inmate holds out his arm saying 'com'on you're holding up the chain'.

The two main actors display an excellent classic performance. It's a movie from 1958 and while it attempts the emancipation of race, it also documents a shameful stereotype of gender. As the two prisoners reach a single woman's home, she immediately falls in love with the white prisoner, then becoming hysterical etc.

Race before gender, but classic race movie.