"No Way Out" is an outstanding film starring Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, and Linda Darnell, which deals with prejudice in a community hospital and the community in which it stands. Richard Widmark plays a wounded criminal whom the police bring to the hospital along with his brother. When his brother dies, Widmark blames the black doctor, Poitier, in what is apparently his first screen appearance. I can only say, what a debut. In an attempt to get an autopsy that will clear him of any wrongdoing, Poitier and his boss, played by Stephen McNally, appeal to the brother's ex-wife, Linda Darnell, to talk to Widmark and convince him to consent. When Widmark's version of the story gets out, the seething community explodes, and a race riot breaks out.
The liberal use of the N word is a little hard to take in this movie, and the blatancy of Widmark's hatred and prejudice is shocking. Widmark, who used to help out Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee in their various charity events, gives an astonishing performance as a wounded man both physically and emotionally, a man possessed by hate, rage, and bitterness. Poitier is excellent as a young doctor dealing with race in his profession, though he's fortunate to have a color-blind boss. It's interesting to note that a black worker in the hospital intimates that in order to succeed as a resident, Poitier had to take tests the whites didn't have to, etc. Poitier orders him to knock it off.
Although a star from the late '30s, Linda Darnell is only 27 in this film. She's deglamorized but beautiful, and "No Way Out" was made at a time when she was getting her best roles. She's marvelous as a down and out, frightened woman.
Although the genre has evolved since "No Way Out," this is a tough, tense, well directed movie that is well worth seeing.
The liberal use of the N word is a little hard to take in this movie, and the blatancy of Widmark's hatred and prejudice is shocking. Widmark, who used to help out Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee in their various charity events, gives an astonishing performance as a wounded man both physically and emotionally, a man possessed by hate, rage, and bitterness. Poitier is excellent as a young doctor dealing with race in his profession, though he's fortunate to have a color-blind boss. It's interesting to note that a black worker in the hospital intimates that in order to succeed as a resident, Poitier had to take tests the whites didn't have to, etc. Poitier orders him to knock it off.
Although a star from the late '30s, Linda Darnell is only 27 in this film. She's deglamorized but beautiful, and "No Way Out" was made at a time when she was getting her best roles. She's marvelous as a down and out, frightened woman.
Although the genre has evolved since "No Way Out," this is a tough, tense, well directed movie that is well worth seeing.