Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
- School Teacher
- (uncredited)
- Woman
- (uncredited)
- Wife
- (uncredited)
- Woman
- (uncredited)
- Telephone Operator
- (uncredited)
- Telephone Operator
- (uncredited)
- Orderly
- (uncredited)
- Officer Ed Kowlaski
- (uncredited)
- Doctor
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Lesser Samuels
- Philip Yordan(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRichard Widmark was apparently very uncomfortable with some of the racist comments his character, Ray Biddle, made, especially given his friendship with Sidney Poitier. As a result, after some of the takes involving particularly venomous remarks, Widmark apologized to Poitier.
- GoofsAfter Dr. Brooks retrieves the spinal tap tray from the cabinet and heads back to the ward where Ray and John Biddle are being treated, the shadow of the boom microphone can be briefly seen on the wall upper left on the screen.
- Quotes
Edie Johnson: It's none of your business what I do. It's a respectable job and I pay my own way.
Dr. Dan Wharton: And you are not living in Beaver Canal anymore?
Edie Johnson: Yeah I've come up in the world. I used to live in a sewer and now I live in a swamp. All those babes do it in the movies. By now I ought to be married to the governor and paying blackmail so he don't find out I once lived in Beaver Canal.
- Crazy creditsThe 20th Century Fox logo appears without its familiar fanfare. Instead, the film's music theme begins when the logo is displayed.
- ConnectionsFeatured in 20th Century-Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
In "No Way Out," Richard Widmark plays an absolutely vile racist who spews the most hateful language I've heard in a narrative film in a long time. I found myself actually wincing every time he used some sort of racial epithet, which is frequently. His target is Sidney Poitier, the doctor who he thinks killed his brother while pretending to try to save his life. This specific story of racism plays out against the backdrop of a larger story of racist violence that occurs between a black neighborhood and the white trash enclave that has sworn vengeance against it.
This is a harsh, angry, bitter pill of a movie, and deserves to be rediscovered in our current climate of renewed racial outrage. I'd like to think Widmark's character is a bit of a caricature, but after hearing and seeing some of the people living in our country today, it would seem not. Poitier plays his role the way he played every role he was ever in, while Linda Darnell, as Widmark's former sister-in-law, creates the film's most fascinating character, a woman whose actual experience with black people doesn't jive with what she's been taught to think about them.
What I liked most about "No Way Out" was the way it refuses to condescend to black people and portray them all as too good to be true noble sufferers, the way other movies from the time period do. The scenes set in Poitier's household portray them as just normal people, painfully aware at all times of the burden of being black in America, but otherwise just wanting to go about their lives. The character of a black maid who works for a white doctor was one of my favorites in the movie. She has a warm employee/employer relationship with the doctor, and he even treats her at times like one of the family, but a word or glance she throws out here and there make clear that she never forgets the difference between them, even if he thinks he does.
"No Way Out" brought Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Lesser Samuels an Oscar nomination for Best Story and Screenplay in the same year that Mankiewicz won the awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay for "All About Eve." Good year for him.
Grade: A
- evanston_dad
- Aug 12, 2020
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Der Haß ist blind
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 46 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1