On this day in 1950 NO WAY OUT OPENS Sidney Poitier made his screen debut August 16, 1950 in Joseph Mankiewicz’s tough drama about racism and medical ethics, No Way Out. Poitier played Dr. Luther Brooks, a young internist under whose care a racist thief dies. Brooks agonizes over the course of treatment he administered, wondering if his own anger over his patient’s racist jabs may have led him to subconsciously sabotage the man’s care. Unlike many African-American actors in Hollywood who began their careers playing criminals, Poitier embraced positive, transformative roles from the start. Not only was he playing a doctor in this film, he was playing a doctor attempting to diagnose his own potentially race-based behavior. Still, the relationship dynamics in the film were part of an established sub-genre at the time, one that both acknowledged the racism of American society while also distancing it from the everyday viewer.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 15:41:34 +0000
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