Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

The Defiant Ones Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 10, 2018

Stanley Kramer's "The Defiant Ones" (1958) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British label Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive new interview with critic Kim Newman and vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The fugitives

This classic film from director Stanley Kramer won two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay in 1959 and since then has inspired a couple of copycats, the most recent one being Kevin Hooks’ Fled with Stephen Baldwin and Laurence Fishburne. Burt Brinckerhoff also worked on a TV project named Jailbirds in which the two fugitives are females.

During a terrible rainstorm, a truck transporting inmates and armed guards crashes after the driver loses control of it. In the ensuing chaos, two inmates, Joker Jackson (Tony Curtis) and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier), manage to get away. However, because they are shackled together they find it incredibly difficult to move as fast as they should.

The men’s journey to freedom becomes even more complicated when they quickly realize that they can barely stand each other because the color of their skin is different. Jackson, who is white, can’t believe that he must drag alone a black man and maybe even trust his instincts, while Cullen declares that he won’t tolerate being treated like a servant and is ready to fight. The men then exchange a few heavy punches just to make sure that the other really gets how deadly serious their frustration is. Meanwhile, Sheriff Max Muller (Theodore Bikel) organizes a giant posse of policemen and ambitious local headhunters and they begin tracking down the fugitives.

The film is a curious time capsule that uses the hunt as a façade to channel some quite good observations about racial tension in the United States during the 1950s. Much of the exchanges between Jackson and Cullen, for instance, deliberately highlight all sorts of awful stereotypes that were responsible for the division, as well as the violence that they could easily unleash in a ‘proper’ environment. Unfortunately, Kramer’s desire to produce crystal clear contrasts also infuses the film with a very heavy dose of old-fashioned melodrama that has a significant negative impact on its authenticity. Some of the crucial segments in the second half literally look like the type of material that a theater troupe would produce after a number of long and exhausting rehearsals. There is an obvious theatricality in the mass speeches and even some very odd comic overtones that emerge in the discussions between the hunters that enhance an entirely different Hollywood identity and not the one that Kramer likely sought.

Curtis and Poitier do a lot of very impressive physical work together, and some of it most likely was a nightmare to greenlight and shoot. The violent outbursts also look good and for the most part ooze the proper kind of intensity.

After The Defiant Ones Kramer and cinematographer Sam Leavitt collaborated again on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, which also went on to win two Academy Awards.

The Defiant Ones Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Stanley Kramer's The Defiant Ones arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The release is sourced from an older master that was likely prepared by MGM some time ago. However, the majority of it is rather good. The daylight footage typically boasts nice depth and clarity is never seriously compromised. Where source limitations become more pronounced the two areas that are impacted are usually density and sharpness (see screencapture #1). During the darker footage these types of limitations are further exacerbated and in some cases they flatten the grain quite dramatically (see screencapture #10). The grading is good. There are no serious stability issue, though a few slightly uneven transitions are present. There are no large cuts, damage marks, warped or town frames to report, but some tiny flecks and even minor vertical lines as well as some blemishes remain. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Defiant Ones Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is very clear and stability is excellent. Dynamic intensity is good as well, though as it is the case with these types of early period films the limitations of the original sound design are quit obvious. There are no distracting pops, cracks, or newly introduced digital distortions to report in our review.

The Defiant Ones Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for The Defiant Ones. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Interview with Kim Newman - in this new video interview, critic Kim Newman offers an excellent analysis of The Defiant Ones and rightfully points out why many of its very obvious flaws. There are also wonderful observations about Stanley Kramer's political beliefs and the environment in which he conceived the film. The interview was conducted exclusively for Eureka Entertainment in 2018. In English, not subtitled. (20 min).

• Sleeve - reversible sleeve.

The Defiant Ones Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The style of The Defiant Ones and the social messages that are channeled through it do not come together particularly well. I agree with Kim Newman that there is a certain cartoonish element in the film that hurts its authenticity, and even alters its identity in a way that almost certainly does not reflect Stanley Kramer's original vision for it. I also think that Newman's speculation that a different pair of 'rougher' leads likely would have delivered a far better film is spot on. Eureka Entertainment's new Blu-ray release of The Defiant Ones is sourced from a good organic master, but there is room for some meaningful improvements.