The Defiant Ones

Thanks again to Al for the invite to the Lounge, and for everyone who commented.  For my last post, I thought I'd mention Sidney Poitier.  A lead character in the 1955 j.d. film Blackboard Jungle, Poitier became both a focus of segregationist ire (Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver proclaimed that if integration occurred "blackboard jungles" would emerge across the South), playing on fears of desegregation and delinquency.  Meanwhile, the NAACP Youth Director Herbert Wright countered by inviting Poitier to lead a Youth March for Integrated Schools in New York in 1958, showcasing black teenagers who had survived racist violence in places like Clinton, Tennessee.  Though few saw the march outside of New York, many more witnessed Poitier in The Defiant Ones -- released that same year -- this time with Poitier chained to a white racist.  As the prisoners flee police, they gradually overcome their mutual contempt, only to be caught by sheriffs in the end.  An intriguing contrast to the common story of southern whites colluding with racist police in the South during the 1950s, the Defiant Ones is also a curious counterpoint to the civil rights movement itself, literally a story of liberation through criminal enterprise.  The film won an Academy Award in 1959 for best screenplay.  Any other civil rights related films (from the 1950s and 60s), come to mind? 

Comments

[Alfred Brophy]

Anders--it was great having you sit with us for a while; I hope you come back soon.