The Defiant Ones (1958) - Quotes

Celebrating Greatness in The Defiant Ones

Taglines: One of the great ones!

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Opposites Attract in Unlikely Partnerships

Taglines: They couldn't like each other less. They couldn't need each other more.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Struggling with Commitment and Encouragement

John Joker Jackson: Cullen, I can't make it.

Noah Cullen: [Holding out his arm as if they are still chained together] Come on, man, you draggin the chain.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Conflict Over Risky Plans in Pineville

Noah Cullen: Pineville's south, I don't go south.

John Joker Jackson: I used to know a girl in Pineville, if she's still there we get this broke now come on.

Noah Cullen: And then what? I'm a strange colored man in a white south town, how long you think before they pick me up?

John Joker Jackson: Get off my back I ain't married to you. Now what do I care? Come on!

Noah Cullen: [holds up the chains] You married to me alright Joker. Now here's the ring but I ain't goin south on no honeymoon now!

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Humor in Unlikely Circumstances of Injustice

Law officer: How come they chained a white man to a black?

Sheriff Max Muller: The warden's got a sense of humor.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Rescue and Responsibility in Adversity

Noah Cullen: [after almost drowning] I almost... swallowed half that river. Thanks.

John Joker Jackson: What for?

Noah Cullen: For pullin me out.

John Joker Jackson: Man, I didn't pull you out. I kept you from pullin me in.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Impending Conflict on the Road Ahead

Sheriff Max Muller: [why they don't have to worry about finding the two convicts] They'll probably kill each other before they go five miles.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Confronting Racial Identity and Injustice

John Joker Jackson: Ya'll can't lynch me! I'm a white man!

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Acceptance of Identity and Its Consequences

John Joker Jackson: [about calling Cullen the N-word] Well, that's what you are, ain't it? It's like callin a spade a spade...That name sure bugs you, don't it? Well, that's the way it is, and you're stuck with it, cos I didn't make any rules.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Essence of Meanness Revealed

Noah Cullen: [after covering Joker's face with mud so it doesn't show in the moonlight] There, now just the meanness shines through.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Confrontation of Identity and Control

Noah Cullen: [to Joker; Joker punches him] Go on, tell me all that big talk about Charlie Potatoes, when the chains off and nobody chasing you. Come on. You can't, can you? You can't because you're nothing. You're not even a man! You're a monkey on a stick. That cracker mob back there, they pull the string and you jump.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.