No Way Out (1950)
When Richard Widmark and his brother are shot in a robbery gone wrong, they are rushed to the hospital. Both are pretty racist and not afraid to show it, so when young doctor Sidney Poitier attends to their injuries, they verbally abuse him. Sidney thinks the stream of hatred is due to a brain tumor, but in his diagnosis and treatment, one brother dies. Richard Widmark believes Sidney murdered his brother on purpose, because racism in the hospital runs rampant on both sides, and he tries to get even. There’s “no way out” of the hospital, but also no way to escape the hatred in the air.
Not only is this one of the great shocking films of the 1950s that deals with racism, but it marks Sidney Poitier’s film debut! It was quite a break for him, although he had to lie about his age to get the part, and he gives the first of many performances that break the color boundary in acting. You’d be hard pressed to see a movie that cast a black actor as a doctor in the 1940s. Both leads put their whole hearts into their performances; you’d never believe they were friends offscreen. Dick actually felt so terrible about saying racial slurs to Sidney that in-between takes, he would often apologize—it just goes to show you sometimes actors who get typecast as the bad guy are actually nice in real life!
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Sidney Poitier movies here!
More Richard Widmark movies here!
Not only is this one of the great shocking films of the 1950s that deals with racism, but it marks Sidney Poitier’s film debut! It was quite a break for him, although he had to lie about his age to get the part, and he gives the first of many performances that break the color boundary in acting. You’d be hard pressed to see a movie that cast a black actor as a doctor in the 1940s. Both leads put their whole hearts into their performances; you’d never believe they were friends offscreen. Dick actually felt so terrible about saying racial slurs to Sidney that in-between takes, he would often apologize—it just goes to show you sometimes actors who get typecast as the bad guy are actually nice in real life!
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Sidney Poitier movies here!
More Richard Widmark movies here!