No Way Out

In Sydney Poitier’s first feature film role, he plays Luther Brooks, a young black intern whose first patient after passing the state board medical exam is violent racist Ray Biddle (Richard Widmark) from the all-white, working-class neighborhood of Beaver Canal. When Brooks performs a spinal tap on Biddle’s brother Johnny in the next bed, Johnny dies, giving Biddle the license he’s always wanted to seek revenge against the black population. As the deceased brother’s ex-wife, Edie, Linda Darnell is victimized in her own way by the racial tensions, which escalate to a full-blown race riot that director Joseph Mankiewicz handles with brilliance: rather than showing the actual carnage, he shoots the Beaver Canal gang fashioning makeshift weapons out of scrap metal in the local junkyard, over-powered by their bloodlust. (The sound design and long dolly shot make this scene explode off the screen.) It’s not all bleak: the scenes of Dr. Brooks’ family are touching, notably when his wife (Mildred Joanne Smith) cradles his sleepy head, whispering words of encouragement as if singing a lullaby. Still, the racist language is disturbing and omnipresent; just remember this was a long time ago, when hospital patients smoked cigarettes in bed. “Enough crying, white boy. You’re gonna live.”