Visiting Film Noir: No Way Out

1950 Film Noir
From 20th Century Fox
Directed by Joseph Mankiewicz

Starring
Richard Widmark
Sidney Poitier

Linda Darnell
Stephen McNally

Mildred Joanne Smith

Harry Bellaver

Ruby Dee

Ossie Davis

Amanda Randolph

Stanley Ridges

Not to be confused with the 1987 Kevin Costner-Gene Hackman Washington DC crime caper of the same name, this is a highly-lauded, intense and powerful film about race relations.  It broke racial boundaries in squeaky clean 1950 and it swirled in enough controversy to cause southern theater owners to not show it.

Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, may have made a mark with Betty Grable musicals but there was no doubt that he had carved out a special niche at the studio for stories with progressive ideas.  He addressed anti-Semitism in 1947's Gentleman's Agreement and while it won a best picture Oscar, it soon became rather dated.  He made Pinky in 1949 which starred Jeanne Crain as a black woman posing as white (never mind, I guess, that the actress really is a white woman) but it turned out to be rather tepid.  Zanuck felt he still hadn't hit his stride until No Way Out and this time it was neither tepid nor dated and still packs an impact when viewed today.

Poitier, in his first film, has the central role as a new doctor in an urban county hospital who is assigned to treat two white racist brothers, both of whom have been shot in their legs after a botched gas station robbery.  While treating the one brother in the prison ward, he unexpectedly dies causing the other brother (Widmark), in a bed next to him, to scream out that the doctor murdered him.  He vows revenge on the doctor and the entire black community.

Widmark's extreme racism is revealed when he says he doesn't want someone like Poitier touching him and hurls nasty racial epithets at him throughout the film.  That is astonishing to hear in 1950 since it had never been done before to this degree and obviously it's just as unsettling hearing it today. 

Poitier asks the head doctor (McNally) to get an autopsy so he can prove that he didn't do anything wrong but is told that permission must be granted from a relative.  They go to Widmark who refuses to allow anyone to cut up his brother like a log.  Poitier and McNally then track down the dead man's wife (Darnell) to find that she's not only uncooperative but an ex-wife and therefore unable to give her permission.

Darnell nonetheless decides to visit Widmark (with whom she had an affair) in an attempt to get him to okay the autopsy but it doesn't go well.  In fact the visit revives Darnell's own racism as Widmark gets her to help him start a racial skirmish in the community.  She visits Widmark's white cronies to encourage them to start problems with  blacks.  But they receive a warning about the impending riot and turn the tables on the whites with the end result that many end up at the hospital.

In the meantime, the head of the hospital okays the autopsy which completely vindicates Poitier.  Widmark still doesn't believe that the doctor didn't kill his brother and he escapes from the hospital.  He makes his way to McNally's home (he is gone) and lures Poitier there, claiming to be McNally, where he intends to kill him.  At the same time Darnell learns of the plot and heads for the doctor's home as well.

Darnell observes the two men facing off and makes her presence known as she's realizing she been on the wrong side of things.  She sees Widmark's hateful racism and realizes that Poitier is a fine doctor and a caring individual.  But the two men get into a fight and the doctor is shot and Widmark's wound opens up.  Darnell is able to get the gun as the injured Poitier treats Widmark.  She is astonished as Poitier says he can't kill a man just 'cause he hates me.  

To provide some relief from all the tension, Mankiewicz, who also co-wrote the screenplay, takes us into the loving home the doctor shares with his wife (Smith) and his brother (Davis, also making his film debut) and Davis's wife (Dee) and others.  There is another lovely scene with Darnell and McNally's wise housekeeper (Randolph).  Mankiewicz had a soft spot for African Americans and their plight and in this film he makes the lead black actors the sympathetic ones, the heroes.

This was a good time for Mankiewicz.  No Way Out was sandwiched in between A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve, two films in which he won Oscars for both directing and writing.  He was also nominated for best writing for this film.

Mankiewicz took credit for discovering Poitier, at least for the movies.  He saw raw talent and something decent and honest in the 22-year old that would make him the perfect protagonist for this blistering story.  The film launched Poitier's model of respectability that would propel him into being the most important black actor in the history of movies.  It is a wonderful role for him.

What is too bad is that he is fourth-billed although it's understandable to a degree as the studio needed top names to help sell the film and in 1950, Poitier was not that name.  Nonetheless, in my cast-listing above, I raised him a couple of notches.

Widmark called Poitier retiring, shy and gentle... in fact, one of the shiest men I've ever met.  The Widmarks had the Poitiers over for dinner to forge a friendship which ended up lasting a lifetime.  They socialized as much as their schedules permitted and made two more films together, The Long Ships (1964) and The Bedford Incident (1965).

Widmark did not want to make this film because he hated the words he had to say (few actors were less like this character than Widmark) and he was tired of playing sleazy hoods.  He would, however, play a couple more before his Fox contract ended in 1954.  He could not stop apologizing to Poitier throughout the production for the vile things he said to him although the younger actor constantly reassured him that it was all in the script and he was not bothered.  With all said, Widmark is riveting in the role.  What a shame he never won a competitive Oscar.

For my money, the best in the film, surprisingly, is Darnell.  In fact, she's never been so good.  She's deglamorized, gets slapped around, beaten with a chain, drinks too much, has a couple of crying scenes and as she said, is a bum.  Not that she hadn't turned in good performances before but many of her roles were little more than decorative.

She was pleased to be working together again with Widmark.  They had co-starred together a year earlier in a mediocre drama, Slattery's Hurricane.  She was at the tail-end of a long, romantic relationship with Mankiewicz although both of them were married.  She had one of her best roles in his A Letter to Three Wives so it would seem he was the man to coax good performances from her.  During production she was involved in a fiery car crash that almost killed her.  Sadly, 15 years later she would die in a house fire.

McNally, more often that not the villain in films, has a nice guy role here.  As the token good white guy, he probably stood in for Mankiewicz and uttered words the director would have.  Bellaver turns in a good performance as a deaf-mute and Randolph is a delight as McNally's housekeeper.  This is also the first of several films real-life marrieds Davis and Dee appear in together.

No Way Out was a daring film for its time and although it certainly brought about some controversy, it is important and still should be seen.  Of course, the fact that Mankiewicz gave it his film noir touch was certainly not lost on me.

Here's a trailer:

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A fine director