Its always impressive and cool to look back on the beginnings of famous actors and actresses. Despite many people growing fondness of these celebrities usually some time into their acting career, most of the time people will know someone from a later film as opposed to their earliest, mainly because their first films might not be overly ambitions or show off their talents in the strongest manner as they are just starting out. That wasn’t entirely the case for famous actor, Sidney Poitier, as the film of discussion today, No Way Out, was more than just a first for one of the most celebrated actors of all time, it was one that wasn’t afraid to show things that would have been considered very ‘’controversial’’ at the time. In an urban country hospital, Dr Luther Brooks (played by Sidney Poitier) is the first African American doctor in the establishment where he is being trained by the chief resident Dr Wharton (played by Stephen McNally) and has proven himself to be one of the hospital’s best. Obvious problems arrive when two brothers are brought in after failing a robbery and getting shot in the leg. One of the brothers, Ray (played by Richard Widmark) throws constant racist remarks to Luthor while he operates on his brother, and after suspecting something more than a leg injury, Luthor attempts a deeper procedure which accidently gets the brother killed. Believing It to be cold-blooded murder, Ray promises revenge on Luthor and refuses to allow an autopsy on the body which would determine whether or not Luthor’s findings and procedure were founded. With rising tensions surrounding Ray’s gang who want revenge and the black community Luthor comes from, its up to the two doctors to get this autopsy done and have to try and convince the brother’s widow, Edie (played by Linda Darnell) to make sure the truth comes to light. Arguably one of the first films to allow an African American lead (let alone talk about the touchy subject of racism in an open manner at all), this movie acted as a starting point for a long and successful career for Mr Poitier (as well as other famous names of color) and with a well-realized d concept, very good acting and a mature stance and portrayal of awkward themes, it proves to be a great film all these years later.

Despite the movie being defined as fitting in the genre, the movie doesn’t necessarily feel like a film-noir in the most obvious sense. While it definitely captures the gritty cynical nature and cinematic appeal, it doesn’t feature many of the familiar cliches and tropes that are associated with the film type, it honestly feels more focused on portraying something uncomfortably real, and a lot of people at the time weren’t ready for what the movie had to show. While the movie was definitely seen as a good film and was acknowledge by the academy at the time, its insistence in showing truly gruesome levels of racism on a more inner verbal level as opposed to strictly physical was pretty new at the time and was one of the main reasons the movie was such a controversial picture, even some places in America censoring out certain phrases. The concept is a great set-up for not only exploring these topics in a composed, but also realistic manner, but also entertaining on a level that isn’t solely based around tackling these issues, it does stand on its own and act as an engaging struggle to prove a man’s innocence in a workplace where it’s so easy for the outside world to be against him. It’s also aware of how far it can step its boundaries to make it work as something that is portraying the African American crowd in a less negative light. It unfortunately is hogtied with its need to push for a positive message when its act of leading down a confused direction can’t be done because of it, it limits the potential for them to be an actual mystery when its pretty obvious they aren’t going to make Sidney Poitier’s character actively murder a dying man on a hospital bed. This thankfully doesn’t ruin the film too much as the directing by popular name, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, keeps things nice and interesting until the final moments through good pacing, tight writing and well laid out scenes.

One of the things Mankiewicz was also well-known for was helping elicit career performances, and this movie had a decent mixture of old and new talent. The movie limited its characters to a relatively small roster and those of focus are given a decent amount of screen time. It does slightly suffer because for a film and genre that usually revels in the twisted morally ambiguous spectrum for its leads and side characters, a lot of the roles in this film are pretty straightforward black-and-white (ironically). Luthor, for example, is basically just a good guy who does good things, there isn’t much else too him outside of that aspect, it hints at him being nervous of inexperience, but it isn’t exactly felt. Other characters are either overly good or overly bad and even the one that does switch acts as that basic role, it doesn’t have a lot of complexity in these characters. What saves it is that not only are all these characters pretty memorable from short side characters to bigger parts, but from the really stellar acting. Everybody in this movie is very effective and keep your attention throughout the whole picture, even some performances convince you there is more to them than what is written out. Side parts like Amanda Randolph, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Mildred Joanne Smith and Stanley Ridges are very effective, Linda Darnell plays the widowed wife whose swayed very convincingly with great facial expressive, Stephen McNally acts as a basic, but friendly face in the film, Richard Widmark is pretty chilling and full of conviction playing this hysterical racist nutcase, and Sidney Poitier brings so much grace, sophistication and general pleasantry to a straightforward role, it’s a fantastic cast all around.

The usage of the locations in this movie stands out a lot more than was probably intended. In a movie that is using a noir-type genre, it instead uses shadows and lighting in certain locations as opposed to overly dramatic camera angles and steely musical scores to get across its point, it wants to play things more realistically in that manner. The hospital is treated as a respectable place where Luthor is welcomed and treated respectfully, but the people that enter the hospital can have that ugly trait come with them, the only view of the white place of resident in the film is shady and aggressive, whereas the black community is portrayed lively and open, even the house the main character lives in looks really nice. Some of the lighting choices help set the mood for certain scenes; scenes that heavily feature light are safe and secure, scenes with a lot of shadows and no lighting are going to be uncomfortable, but even then, the movie is smart enough to change that formula up as it keeps going to keep people out of their comfort zones. The movie’s script by Mankiewicz and Lesser Samuels is pretty well written and while the dialogue (mainly the racist language) can be pretty forward and confronting, it feels like it serves a purpose and it doesn’t feel like its throwing those words out haphazardly. It shows that not all the African American population is willing to stand by and be assaulted and it shows that some of the white community isn’t for the obvious racist agenda that the main threat for the movie has, it feels pretty well-rounded and handles this touchy subject in a more mature and subtle way than most modern movies do it.

No Way Out wasn’t just a pretty solid movie all around, but its also a great starting place for Sidney Poitier. As he would go onto bigger roles and become a icon that will be remembered throughout cinematic history (the first African American and Bahamian to ever win the Academy Award for Best Actor), its nice to see that even his early work showed off his strengths and proved to the world that he was going to be someone worth continually checking up on. What could have been an uncomfortable sit that messily handled this serious topics in a manner that would have been expected of the times, it managed to create a film that balanced its themes and purpose alongside a ton of other successful elements to make it worth a watch all these years later. With a good concept, very good acting, memorable characters and visuals and writing that will leave you wincing in the right way, No Way Out provides a sturdy movie with a grandiose actor and delivers something that speaks volumes without being too loud.

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