Anyone here see "Django Unchained"? You recall all the controversy over the excessive use of the 'N' word and the blatant racism in that picture? I counted the 'N' word seventy seven times myself in Django but I'm sure I was distracted and missed a few. But now here's "No Way Out" from 1950 - that's over sixty years ago and I have to wonder what movie audiences were saying about it back then. I know I heard Widmark use the 'N' word repeatedly, along with a host of other colorful racial slurs like boogie, coon, black boy and sambo. I can't say that I've seen any film that predates this one to tackle racism on this scale so dramatically and effectively.
There's another possible connection to 'Django' that I'd like to bring up, but this one might be a stretch. Remember who King Schultz and Django were tracking at the beginning of the story? - it was the Brittle Brothers and there were three of them. Brittle - Biddle? I'm probably way out on a limb here, but it could have been buried in Tarantino's subconscious somewhere.
Well enough of that. Making "No Way Out" was a gutsy move for all the parties involved. Twentieth Century Fox head Darryl Zanuck decided to personally produce the film because of it's controversial nature. He got this young kid Sidney Poitier to portray the role of Dr. Luther Brooks, brand new intern at a county hospital prison ward. Poitier had been signed to do a Broadway play when this part was offered, so using that as leverage, tried to renegotiate his salary to do the play. No dice they said, thinking it was a bluff, and so a movie career was born that's lasted a half century.
Complementing Poitier in his breakout role include Richard Widmark as the uber-racist Ray Biddle, and Linda Darnell as a waitress from the wrong side of the tracks trying to make a better life after escaping a stormy marriage with Johnny Biddle, who's death triggers the conflict of the story. Now Edie Johnson, she marks her upward mobility by proclaiming "I used to live in a sewer. Now I live in a swamp".
Getting back to the racial component of the story, not only was it the language that jolts the viewer, but the actions of the characters as well. Widmark's character blows cigarette smoke in Poitier's face at one point while being treated for a gunshot wound, and later in the story just after a full scale race riot, an elderly white woman spits in Poitier's face in retaliation for her husband's injury. Man, I would have loved to been around for the decision making process to see how these scenarios were argued.
Personally, my favorite Poitier film is 1967's "In the Heat of the Night", but you can see how the template for his better known films was introduced here. Often cast in roles where he had to overcome bias and racial hatred, his characters have come to represent the best aspects of humanity by transcending stereotypes and blind prejudice. In that respect, "No Way Out' was somewhat a misnomer for this talented black actor.
There's another possible connection to 'Django' that I'd like to bring up, but this one might be a stretch. Remember who King Schultz and Django were tracking at the beginning of the story? - it was the Brittle Brothers and there were three of them. Brittle - Biddle? I'm probably way out on a limb here, but it could have been buried in Tarantino's subconscious somewhere.
Well enough of that. Making "No Way Out" was a gutsy move for all the parties involved. Twentieth Century Fox head Darryl Zanuck decided to personally produce the film because of it's controversial nature. He got this young kid Sidney Poitier to portray the role of Dr. Luther Brooks, brand new intern at a county hospital prison ward. Poitier had been signed to do a Broadway play when this part was offered, so using that as leverage, tried to renegotiate his salary to do the play. No dice they said, thinking it was a bluff, and so a movie career was born that's lasted a half century.
Complementing Poitier in his breakout role include Richard Widmark as the uber-racist Ray Biddle, and Linda Darnell as a waitress from the wrong side of the tracks trying to make a better life after escaping a stormy marriage with Johnny Biddle, who's death triggers the conflict of the story. Now Edie Johnson, she marks her upward mobility by proclaiming "I used to live in a sewer. Now I live in a swamp".
Getting back to the racial component of the story, not only was it the language that jolts the viewer, but the actions of the characters as well. Widmark's character blows cigarette smoke in Poitier's face at one point while being treated for a gunshot wound, and later in the story just after a full scale race riot, an elderly white woman spits in Poitier's face in retaliation for her husband's injury. Man, I would have loved to been around for the decision making process to see how these scenarios were argued.
Personally, my favorite Poitier film is 1967's "In the Heat of the Night", but you can see how the template for his better known films was introduced here. Often cast in roles where he had to overcome bias and racial hatred, his characters have come to represent the best aspects of humanity by transcending stereotypes and blind prejudice. In that respect, "No Way Out' was somewhat a misnomer for this talented black actor.