The Defiant Ones

Desmond Tutu was in town last weekend. He had been invited to speak at a Catholic university but was disinvited when the president heard that Tutu had once made a remark that the president's one Jewish friend told him could be interpreted as being (gasp!) anti-Semitic. When the Jewish Protection Association heard about it they said, "Who?" "Tutu?" "Forgetaboutittu." The Catholics tried to reinvite him but by then it was too late and Tutu spoke in a parking lot in what passes for the "inner city" in Minneapolis and became the forum for peace, truth, and reconciliation. In honor of Desmond Tutu being in Minnesota, a South African won the Masters in Augusta on the same day. A white South African, so in recognition of past deeds he wore a black shirt and white trousers. The jacket was green. (note to other golfers: winners do not wear plaid pants). In honor of a black South African and a white South African in the news on the same day I watched The Defiant Ones with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis.

Stanley Kramer directs and Tevye plays a Southern sheriff for which he got an Oscar nomination. Poitier and Curtis got nominatons, too, but they both lost since Curtis insisted that Poitier receive equal billing. Curtis' name comes first in the opening credits but it was still signifcant for 1958 that anyone would insist a black man get equal credit with a white actor of equal drawing power. Has it happened since? I loved this movie. I wanted to see it since last winter when Deborah sent me a magazine devoted to Southern movies and this one was on the cover. The story is based in the South (though it could almost be Syracuse, NY, based on an experience I had there in 1970) but filmed in California.

The idea of a black man and a white man handcuffed together was odd since, of course, as many PC-people have pointed out, O Brother Where Art Thou (which was filmed in the South) did not have an integrated leading cast and should have since, of course, there must have been black people on the chain gang somewhere and how could the Coen Brother's not cast an African-American as one of the three hokey Homerites. But, of course, chain gangs were segregated (also in upstate New York in 1970) and it would have been odder had the Coen's integrated the gang.If they had paid attention when they watched The Defiant Ones then they would have had a very good explanation and one worth hearing Tevye explain. It is worth noting that Robert Mithcum was originally offered Tony Curtis' role (and Marlon Brando, later) but he turned it down since he had been on a chain gang and said it was too unbelievable to have it integrated even with the explanation.But, of course, this is not a movie only about a black man and a white man chained together (and later not-too regrettably remade with a black woman and a white woman), it's also a movie about a black man chained to a gay Jew and winding up in each others arms and both having significant smoking issues. Talk about deep inhalation. There's a new rating guideline based on smoking taking place in the movie. This one needs an R. And how did they get waterproofed cigarettes and matches?OK, enough. This is a great movie about two people suffering from loneliness, one from hatred and the other from the effects of hatred. The color issue really is only a way to tell the story. There's a lonely woman whose character could appear to be too stereotypical and pathetic to be serious but I saw her role as another way to show the human condition of loneliness. The ending is wonderful. The whole movie, while being ripe for ripping off due to some interesting casting, is well worth the time to watch.

There's a character played by a grown-up Alfalfa which will make you see the point of an iPod with good ear buds.Stanley Kramer had his share of people mad at him for not being anti-HUAC enough (but nowhere near Elia Kazan who has a three-vowel, four-letter first name famous for being an answer to a crossword clue and a last name famous for some people turning into a four-letter word). Kramer made some great movies. When I was growing up I remember loving It's a Mad, Mad, World maybe because it made me feel grown up. High Noon is supposed to be an anti-HUAC movie and he produced The Juggler (made in my birth year) which starred Kirk Douglas and was the first full-length feature film made in Israel. Kramer also did Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. It's not clear if Kramer is Jewish although he grew up in Hell's Kitchen but Dustin Hoffman is and played in the sequel to Meet the Parents which was a remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and who also starred in Kramer vs. Kramer. And that takes us from Kramer to Poitier and back again.Sorry, I just had to play the Six Degrees of Separation game which got started with Sidney Poitier. There you go. Go see The Defiant Ones.