Join Charles Coleman, FACETS Film Program Director, for an introduction and post-screening conversation.

Nominated for the Best Writing, Story, and Screenplay Oscar® at the 1950 Academy Awards, No Way Out is an intense drama about racial hatred that pulls no punches.  

When a white patient in a hospital dies under the care of a black intern (Sidney Poitier), the victim’s racist brother (Richard Widmark) seeks to destroy the doctor’s career. Although the hospital’s idealistic Chief Resident (Stephen McNally) tries to diffuse the escalating tension, the victim’s ex-wife (Linda Darnell) seems to go along with the vengeance-seeker—until she realizes she’s on the wrong side.

This screening is a part of FACETS’ March 2022 series, A Tribute to Sidney Poitier.

Programmer’s Notes

by Charles Coleman, FACETS Film Program Director

“This taut and riveting film noir was one of the first Hollywood features to confront the reality of anti-black racism in America. Poitier made an auspicious and compelling screen debut in this breakout role, as the idealistic Dr. Luther Brooks, the first Black doctor employed at a county hospital. At just 22 years of age, Poitier’s performance not only announces him as a new screen presence, but also establishes Brooks as the kind of composed, dignified character that signified a turning point for the kinds of roles available to Black actors. In this explosive, controversial portrayal of 1950s America’s repressed racial hostilities, No Way Out (1950) was controversial at the time. Conservative groups like the Catholic Legion of Decency pressured cities to ban the film. The studio executives knew that No Way Out would not be shown in Southern theaters, but they were angered that it was also banned in Chicago because, according to a police official, it ‘might cause more racial unrest than we have now,’ ignoring the blatant violence depicted in the popular crime movies and Westerns at the time.”