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Rating:  - No Way Out
A tense, hard-hitting social drama that earned an Oscar for Best Screenplay in 1950, Mankiewicz's pioneering film looks squarely at the ramifications of racial hostility while keeping audiences on the edge of their seat. Poitier is magnificent in his debut role, the epitome of coolheadedness and quiet self-regard, while Widmark seethes in a typically explosive role. Mankiewicz builds suspense inside and outside the hospital, and the effect is riveting. Keep an eye out for actors/civil-rights activists Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, playing Luther's brother and sister-in-law in a tandem debut. A potent powder keg of a film that hasn't lost its bite--or its relevance.
Rating:  - Not Film Noir but not bad.
Far too often DVDs of 1940s & 1950s films are labeled as being Film Noir only to help sell the product. Such is the case here. There is no way that "No Way Out" qualifies as "dark cinema," however, it still rates as a very good movie. Controversial when released, some of the drama seems forced at times but the story still entertains. The acting is first rate, especially by Sidney Poitier in his first role (and a starring one at that). Also making their debuts were Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Rating: - Strong Dialogue & Characterizations Are Still Compelling Today.
"No Way Out" raised the bar in the social conscience film trend a few years after "Crossfire" and "Gentlemen's Agreement" received multiple Oscar nominations for condemning anti-Jewish prejudice in America. This is an assuredly heavy-handed polemic on racism that nevertheless stands the test of time. Luther Brooks (Sidney Poitier) is a young black doctor who has resisted his family's pressure to go into private practice in order to get more experience at the county hospital. One fateful evening, he replaces a sick intern in the prison ward. The intensely racist Biddle Brothers, Ray (Richard Widmark) and Johnny, are brought in for treatment of gun shot wounds to the legs. But Johnny is confused, unresponsive, and clearly suffering from some neurological malady. When he dies during Dr. Brooks' attempt to diagnose him, Ray accuses Brooks of murdering his brother and determines to muster all the racial hatred in his neighborhood to avenge Johnny.
"No Way Out" is sometimes called "film noir", but I take issue with that classification, because this is not even a crime film. And Dr. Brooks, though trapped by unfortunate coincidences and events beyond his control, is too squeaky clean to be a noir protagonist. But I do think that the "noir" elements help "No Way Out" overcome its dated proselytizing and idealized conceptions of Dr. Brooks to remain truly compelling even 60 years after it was made. This was Sidney Poitier's first film, so he was not given billing above the titles in spite of his starring role. Richard Widmark and Linda Darnell are no less the stars of "No Way Out", though. They have the best lines and pivotal scenes. Richard Widmark took the role of racist Ray Biddle reluctantly, as he was leaning toward leading man roles at this point in his career. But Widmark played some of the most memorable villains in cinematic history. Vile, vicious, and supremely manipulative Ray Biddle is no exception. Widmark's ability to convey uncertainty and insecurity with just his eyes is extraordinary.
Linda Darnell plays Johnny Biddle's ex-wife Edie whom Dr. Brooks and the Chief Medical Resident (Stephen McNally) implore to convince Ray to allow an autopsy on his brother. In some sense, this is her film, as Edie is the character who has an arc. She's white trash from the rough Beaver Canal neighborhood who has moved only one step up and out, always in danger of succumbing to her roots. Darnell looks great and spouts some terrific hard-boiled dialogue. The dialogue in "No Way Out", co-written by Lesser Samuels and director Joseph Mankiewicz, vacillates between the hardened, cynical repartee of film noir and loaded speech that the actors struggle to deliver with credibility. There is more than one social ideology represented: The ideas that Edie can overcome her roots and that Ray is a product of his environment join the calls for racial equality. But the dialogue and characterizations of "No Way Out" are so compelling that we don't mind the lack of subtlety in the social message.
The DVD (20th Century Fox 2006): Bonus features include a "Publicity Gallery" of 15 b&w ads for the movie, a "Photo Gallery" of 44 production and publicity stills, 2 short "Fox Movietone News" segments, a theatrical trailer (2 1/2 min), and an audio commentary by film noir historian Eddie Muller. The "Fox Movietone News" segments are coverage of Linda Darnell selling tickets to the New York premiere of the move (30 sec) and of Richard Widmark imprinting his hands in cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood (20 sec). Eddie Muller leaves more "air" in his commentary than usual so that we don't miss the dialogue that was so controversial in 1950. It's a good commentary that discusses actors, performances, and themes scene-by-scene but is not as packed with information as Muller's commentaries sometimes are. Subtitles are available for the film in English and Spanish.
Rating:  - No Way Out
That movie was horrible!!! Nowhere in the reviews did it inform the consumer that it was a film about such hatred!!!!! It should've said something like:
WARNING: The following movie contains ONE of the most offensive words spoken!!! And it was used 26 times!!!
This movie offered no redeeming value whatsoever. I hated it!!!!
Rating: - No Way Out
There's nothing much subtle about NO WAY OUT. Two men, two brothers, are injured by the police while committing a petty crime. The men are transported to the prison ward of the county hospital, where one of the brothers dies while being treated by a young intern. The surviving brother vows mortal vengeance. The doctor needs the approval of a family member to conduct an autopsy to prove his competence and relieve his conscious.
It's a suitably sturdy set-up for what could have been an unspectacular urban melodrama. Trouble is NO WAY OUT is pretty spectacular. For starters, the young doctor is black and the surviving brother is a virulent racist. The talent behind the movie is, to put it mildly, impressive. It begins with the amazing producer Darryl Zanuck, the motor behind such thinking-person movies as The Grapes of Wrath & The Snake Pit, and who seemingly was incapable of making a bad movie. Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote and directed this movie, and though nominated for an 1951 Oscar for Best Director lost out to himself when he won it for another, much different, classic, All About Eve.
Message movies have a tendency to collapse under their moral weightiness. NO WAY OUT is a movie with a social conscious, but it, for the most part, steers clear of the pulpit. Richard Widmark is perfectly cast as the racist Roy Biddle, who is quite possibly the most loathsome major character in film history. Sidney Poitier, in his first movie, brings just the right blend of intelligence and dignity to his part as the young physician under the gun. Rounding out this unusual triangle is Linda Darnell as the ex-wife of the dead brother.
NO WAY OUT is an uncomfortable movie to watch. Roy Biddle is a vocal racist, and he uses just about every ugly name in the book, loudly and often. There are some scenes of the Beaver Canal group, Biddle's cronies, preparing to attack the black part of town, that are nightmarish. Linda Darnell, the car-hop girl who thought she'd crawled away from Beaver Canal, comes across as an almost tragic figure. This is an intelligent, driving movie, with some scenes that might not be appropriate for young children. The Warner Brothers print is in very good condition, and, as always, the man who can name every actor in history, and has anecdotes to back him up, Eddie Muller's commentary track enhances the experience.
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