MovieChat Forums > The Defiant Ones (1958) Discussion > What sucks about movies from this era...

What sucks about movies from this era...


It sucks that because of "The Code", you know the bad guys can't get away. If someone breaks the law, you know they are going to have to get killed or punished somehow for it.

This took a lot of the fun out of this movie; the whole time you knew there was no chance they might get away, even though you wanted them to.

The worst of The Code, however, was in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents show where many of the episodes were about someone commiting the perfect murder. The whole point of the twist at the end would be how they pulled it off successfully and eluded the police. Then at the very end, Hitchcock would appear and say something like "However, the very next day he was apprehended."

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There have been films where the bad guys have gotten away, though. Not many. Some do get captured, some die trying, and some get away only to get killed later, like twenty years later. I root mostly for the bad guys, though. I like how they try to elude the good guys/do-gooders.

I found this movie very enjoyable. Yeah, I did anticipate that Cullen and Jackson wouldn't make it to freedom, but it was fun thinking along with them on how to get ahead. Unfortunately their attitudes led to their eventual capture.

I know I saw an episode or two of AHP but I don't remember that. That's a major let-down. It shouldn't be criminal to idealize the bad guys.

Perry: "You, stop multiplying!"

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At least "The Code" would have prevented use of the phrase "suck". It is a very unintelligent way of expressing disapproval.

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Would "creates a vacuum" be better, Poindexter?

This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.

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Nothing sucks. You knew from the start they'd be captured so it doesn't suck at all. It's a dayum good movie fifty-five years after it was made.

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I don't think that the code really mattered much in this case, because I never saw the two characters getting away to begin with. But I do agree that it stunted creative expression in other films (the Alfred Hitchcock example is a good one) and is a dark cloud over Hollywood's golden age.

It's fair to say that it just sucks.

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I root for the villains unless they do what I consider unforgivable which is killing an innocent person, even if by accident as a result of their crimes. Another unforgivable crime for me is extreme evil like rape, child abuse or horribly exploiting vulnerable people.

BUT.... As long as they are only robbing banks or robbing trains or robbing armored cars or screwing over the government in some way, "honorable crimes" then I root for them. They can kill too if their victims are A holes who kind of deserve it anyway, like when Alec Baldwin killed the slezo guy in THE GETAWAY.

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