Issue Date: March 5, 2006
DVD Insider
Up from bigotry
A civil rights historian on the integration drama "No Way Out"
This 1950 racial melodrama is out on DVD Tuesday.
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THE PLOT: Sidney Poitier makes his debut in this 1950 film as Dr. Brooks, a young African-American physician at a large, metropolitan hospital. When two white hoodlum brothers are wounded during a robbery, they're admitted to the hospital prison wing. One of them dies under Brooks' care, and the other, a nasty racist (Richard Widmark), vows to seek vengeance.
Insider's credentials: Juan Williams is an NPR senior correspondent and Fox News analyst. He won an Emmy for TV documentary writing.
OVERVIEW: "The film's a bit dated in spots but full of powerful moments in which characters articulate racial attitudes in a way almost never put on-screen."
Scene 11: Tonight is Johnny's Night -- In retaliation for their friend's death, a group of whites organizes a riot in a black neighborhood.
"This scene is a window into white working-class resentment. These men are just a storehouse of hostile, hateful emotions. In modern movies, you never see people presented so badly. Think about "A Time to Kill:" The white racists are presented as mindless, stupid reprobates. But here, you see their lives are difficult, that they have grievances, and they feel they've been ignored."
Scene 15: More Like Me -- When cleared of wrongdoing, Dr. Brooks thanks his mentor, Dr. Wharton (Stephen McNally), for sticking by him.
"Brooks should be grateful, but he's sometimes awfully 'canine' in his feelings. The big difference between 1950 and today is the attitude of blacks. In the film, there is only one other black person at the hospital, an orderly. Today, Brooks would hardly be alone, and he wouldn't feel like he had to dance to anybody else's tune."
-- Jamie Malanowski
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