No Way Out

In this noir drama, which marked Sidney Poitier's first major role — and launched his film career — a young black doctor is called to treat two brothers wounded by the police during a robbery. When one of them dies, the survivor (Richard Widmark), a white supremacist who had refused to be treated by the black professional, accuses him of murder and unleashes a wave of racial violence. With Linda Darnell and Stephen McNally in the cast, Mankiewicz mixes police drama and social criticism in a frontal portrayal of racism in a segregated America — including the violent discriminatory language of the time.