Black History Month – Thurs, Feb 27, 7pm Past Images: Taking Action NO WAY OUT

Thurs, Feb 27, 7pm
No Way Out (1950), Black and White, 106 min
Sidney Poitier (Luther Brooks), Richard Widmark (Ray Biddle), Linda Darnell (Edie Johnson), Stephen McNally (Dr. Dan Wharton), Sidney Poitier (Dr. Luther Brooks), Mildred Joanne Smith (Cora Brooks), Harry Bellaver (George Biddle). 

Chatham 14 Theaters, 210 West 87th Street, Chicago, IL – (773) 322-1450
Admission : $6
FREE PARKING

No Way Out is a 1950 black-and-white American film noir[ directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, and Sidney Poitier. No Way Out is the feature film debut of Sidney Poitier, who portrays a doctor tending to slum residents whose ethics are tested when confronted with racism, personified by Richard Widmark as the hateful robber Ray Biddle. No Way Out, an American film noir, was among the first movies to deal directly with racism. The film was nominated for 1951 Academy Award for Best Story and Screenplay and Writer’s Guild of America Robert Meltzer Award (Screenplay Dealing Most Ably with Problems of the American Scene

The taut narrative focuses on Ray Biddle (played by Richard Widmark), a bigoted white small-time crook who accuses an African American doctor, Luther Brooks (Poitier), of intentionally killing his brother Johnny while both brothers were being treated for gunshot wounds following an attempted robbery. Brooks claims that Johnny’s death was the inadvertent result of a spinal tap he had administered to treat what he believed was an undiagnosed brain tumour, and he requests an autopsy to quell both Biddle’s rage and his own self-doubt. The hospital administration, however, denies the request, not wanting to draw undue attention to the case. As word spreads among both the black and white communities in town, a race riot erupts. Eventually, Brooks decides to turn himself in to the police in order to force an autopsy to be performed, and the coroner’s findings exonerate him hours later. Meanwhile, however, Biddle escapes police custody and concocts a scheme to lure Brooks to his death. Arriving at the house of his mentor, who he believes wants to see him, Brooks instead finds an armed Biddle

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