La Chaîne

Original title: The Defiant Ones

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

19K

YOUR RATING

Nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture, Stanley Kramer's THE DEFIANT ONES broke new ground by delivering its message of racial tolerance through a fast-moving blend of action and suspense. It remains a raw, powerful film that is as exciting as it is moving, real and literate.

John "Joker" Jackson (Tony Curtis; The Vikings, Some Like It Hot) and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night) are two convicts on the run. Escaping from a Southern work gang, the two men are bound together by an unbreakable iron chain and separated by an unbridled hatred towards each other. Relentlessly pursued by a bloodthirsty posse, they must put aside their differences if they are going to survive.

Highly acclaimed upon release for its directing, writing, cinematography and acting, (Sidney Poitier won numerous awards for his role, including the coveted Silver Bear for Best Actor) THE DEFIANT ONES remains one of the most influential films of its era, and Eureka Classics is proud to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK in a special Dual Format edition.

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Crime Drama

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

Director
- Stanley Kramer
Writers
- Nedrick Young
- Harold Jacob Smith
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

19K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Stanley Kramer
Writers
- Nedrick Young
- Harold Jacob Smith
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 2 Oscars
- 16 wins & 21 nominations total

Big Sam
(as Lon Chaney)

King Donovan

Solly

Claude Akins

Mack

Lawrence Dobkin

Editor

Whit Bissell

Lou Gans

Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer

Angus
(as Carl Switzer)

Kevin Coughlin

Billy

Joe Brooks

Townsman
(uncredited)

Jack Clinton

Townsman
(uncredited)

Jimmy Dime

Townsman
(uncredited)

Clem Fuller

Search Party Member
(uncredited)

Ned Glass

Doctor
(uncredited)

Mickey Golden

Search Party Member
(uncredited)

Director
- Stanley Kramer
Writers
- Nedrick Young
- Harold Jacob Smith
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The young man with the transistor radio is played by Our Gang/The Little Rascals graduate Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer in his final screen appearance before his untimely death in a shooting incident.

Goofs
Twice they are soaked to the skin in water and mud, but come up with dry cigarettes and matches.

Quotes
Noah Cullen: I ain't gettin' mad, Joker. I been mad all my natural life.

Connections
Featured in Precious Images (1986)

Soundtracks
Long Gone
Adapted from "Long Gone (From Bowlin' Green)" (1920)
Music by W.C. Handy (as William C. Handy)
Words by Chris Smith
Sung a cappella by Sidney Poitier (uncredited) several times

User reviews108

Featured review

8/10

Chains Unchained...

... but no Charlie Potatoes: like the races they represent, two escaped cons battle through the swamps, and their prejudice, to demonstrate there's so much more to who we are than the colour of our skin.

Sydney Poitier and Tony Curtis are outstanding!