September 27, 1958: “The Defiant Ones” Premieres

September 27, 1958: The Defiant Ones premieres. It stars Sidney Poitier, Tony Curtis, Theodore Bikel, Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Akins, Cara Williams, and, in what turned out to be his last role, Carl Switzer, a.k.a. Alfalfa from Our Gang.

One actor it did not star was Marlon Brando, who was originally supposed to star with Poitier, but Poitier was unavailable at the time. Director Stanley Kramer wanted Poitier so badly that he delayed filming. But, by the time that Poitier was available, Brando wasn't. Curtis was.

Another that this film could have starred, but didn't, was Robert Mitchum. At age 14, he had been arrested for vagrancy in Savannah, Georgia, and was put on a chain gang. He turned down the role because he knew that even chain gangs were segregated in the South. To his credit, once Curtis got the role, he insisted that Poitier have equal billing.

Noah Cullen (Poitier), black, and John "Joker" Jackson (Curtis), white, are shackled together because "the warden had a sense of humor." They are on a truck loaded with prisoners that crashes, allowing them to escape. Despite their mutual hatred, they are forced to cooperate, as they are chained together. At first, their co-operation is motivated by self-preservation, but gradually they begin to respect and like each other.

They end up being captured by a lynch mob, who threaten to hang both of them, but they are saved and aided by a big white man (Chaney) who was once a chain-gang prisoner himself. They meet a fatherless boy named Billy (Kevin Coughlin), who takes them home. His mother (Williams) breaks their chain, but sets them up to be captured. Joker gets shot, and the film ends with the Sheriff (Bikel) finding him, barely alive, in Cullen's arms.

Switzer was murdered just 4 months after the film's release. Chaney died in 1973. Coughlin was hit by a car and killed in 1976, only 30 years old. Akins died in 1994, Kramer in 2001, Curtis in 2010, Bikel in 2015, Williams in 2021, and Poitier on January 6, 2022.

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September 27, 1958 was a Tuesday. Actor Shaun Cassidy was born. And these baseball games were played:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 9-5 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Ted Williams and Pete Runnels hit home runs for the Red Sox. Eddie Yost hit one for the Senators. Harmon Killebrew appeared as a pinch-hitter, but did not reach base.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente did not play.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with 3 RBIs.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. For the A's, Roger Maris went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Cincinnati Redlegs, 6-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Warren Spahn was the winning pitcher, and helped his own cause with a home run. Red Schoendienst and Frank Torre also hit home runs. Hank Aaron went 0-for-2, and was then replaced. For the Redlegs, who were restored to the Reds name the next season, Frank Robinson went 0-for-5.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-4 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Ernie Banks went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Seals, 11-7 at Seals Stadium in San Francisco. Stan Musial went 1-for-5. Willie Mays went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* And the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles were rained out at Yankee Stadium. The game was rained out the next day, as part of a regular-season-ending doubleheader. The Yankees swept it, 7-0 and 6-3. In the opener, Yankee manager Casey Stengel trusted Don Larsen to start. Unlike in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, he didn't trust him to take a shutout into the 6th inning, even though he'd allowed only 1 hit and 1 walk. Ryne Duren pitched the 6th and the 7th, and Johnny Kucks pitched the 8th and the 9th, finishing the 2-hit shutout. Tom Sturdivant won the nightcap.

Over the 2 games, Mickey Mantle went 3-for-7 with a walk. Yogi Berra went 0-for-3 with a walk in the 1st game, and sat out the 2nd game. Brooks Robinson did not play in the 1st game, but went 1-for-4 in the 2nd.