The Defiant Ones

Remake of the old classic about two convicts on the run chained together,

one black one white.

Never compared it to the original just see as an brilliant film in its own right, two brilliant underrated actors Carl weathers and Robert urich are both great actors. Grew up watching this over and over again and only recently found the DVD and re watched it after 5 years.

Love the film but like I say a lot of people don't rate it mainly because they compare it to the original.

The last 10mins of the film are brilliant

This is a remake of the famous film of 1958 starred by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier, i.e. a white and black men who hated each other but at the end both understood that their reason and means to escape are the same and it did not matter with the skin color. Weathers although not Poitier as an actor was close in his performance to Sidney. I cannot say the same about Robert Urich who was very far to be at the same level as Tony Curtis. Again here color and photography were much better than the version of 1958, but nothing else.

Defiant Ones, The (1986)

** (out of 4)

Carl Weathers and Robert Urich take over the roles originally played by Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis in this made for TV remake. If you've seen the original film then this one really doesn't offer anything new plot wise. There are a few minor changes made to the story but everything is basically the same. I found this to be somewhat better than I expected due to the performance of Weathers but it's in no way, shape or form on the same level as the original, which I feel is one of the greatest films ever made. Weathers gives a very strong performance in his role but Urich is only so-so but the two do have good chemistry together. The supporting cast is decent but they really bring the film down, which wasn't the case for the original, which featured some terrific supporting performances. The music score is also pretty annoying as it goes for a semi-hard rock sound, which really doesn't do the film any justice.

This is the remake of the original 1958 movie and you know what? I liked it a lot. The cast is a great pick. I realized that the original movie was well studied and improved in this one. Some gaps are filled and some exaggerated parts are removed. For example, a prison scene is added to the opening section and the mob lynching scene is much shortened. In addition to the beautiful cinematography, a variety of scores play in the background that remind of western, techno, horror and rock music. Overall, this is a must-see if you liked the original movie.