The Defiant Ones
United Artists | Release Date: September 27, 1958 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
VarietyStaff (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
80
CineVueChristopher 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
80
The New York TimesBosley 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
80
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Though the political lesson drives the movie, the action is also effective as the odd couple flees from their oppressors. This is an engrossing depiction of racial tensions and an oppressive penal system. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie 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
63
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Kramer was never much of a director, but there's still power in some of the performances, especially Poitier's. Read full review
60
EmpireKim Newman
Uncomfortable viewing which isn't afraid to engage with race-related violence. Read full review
50
Time OutStaff (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
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