Movies that take on the subject of race generally aren’t popular. No Way Out, for which you see a promo poster above, was a prestige production but was only the 87th highest grossing film of its year (both Twelve Years a Slave and Green Book were in the same range for their years). Somewhere in the eighties isn’t terrible, but No Way Out still lagged behind such immortal efforts as Yellow Cab Man, Wabash Avenue, and Bright Leaf.
The plot sets up almost immediately: a pair of robbers are shot, captured by police, and conducted in handcuffs to a hospital for medical attention. Sidney Poitier is the doctor they draw. One of the robbers, Richard Widmark, is a virulent racist. He’s so hateful that he keeps trying to convince his suffering brother not to cooperate with Poitier. The problem is his brother has more than just a gunshot wound, though only Poitier can see it.
When baby bro dies due to complications from a previously undiagnosed longterm illness, Widmark is devastated, but always the opportunist, he turns the tables at that point. Poitier can’t prove he didn’t kill the brother through malpractice unless there’s an autopsy, and Widmark won’t agree to one. What develops is a battle of wills—Poitier’s quiet dignity, polite exterior, and superhuman patience that normal people simply don’t have (he’d play this role over and over) against Widmark’s frothing and irrational hatred.
There’s a lot to unpack here. No Way Out goes after racism with a power jab and a flying spin kick. It’s unsubtle. That makes sense because racism is unsubtle, you might say. No—there are blatant strains, but largely, it is subtle. For example, after decades of backward movement U.S. schools are as segregated right now as they were in 1968, and U.S. neighborhoods are highly segregated too. How did that happen? Easy. The processes of racism have been folded inside the mechanisms of the market and the dynamics of individual choice. Gentrification is just one example of a subsequent result.
After No Way Out was released today in 1950 it took another fourteen years—an entire generation as most people measure them—before the U.S. passed the Civil Rights Act. But the legislation has been constantly chipped at or even had sections outright struck down, contributing to the aforementioned segregation, and all sorts of other damage. The laws stood just long enough for the belief that things were better to become culturally entrenched, then they were decimated. Now people hold obsolete beliefs about equality, and have a hard time seeing that many things are getting worse.
This is why movies about race usually don’t age well. Yes, it’s partly due to outdated sentiments, language, characterizations, and story arcs, but it’s also because they presume improvement in problems that, as it turned out, never went away, but were merely reconstituted in ways that can be invisible to people today, and which vintage movies were never designed to elucidate. No Way Out is to racism as Romeo and Juliet is to love. It’s big and bold and scores some points, but it mostly comes across as obvious. Don’t get us wrong—it’s a damn good movie. But it’s also no longer relevant to the issue it examines.
Edith Piaf sings on the terrace of the Carlton Hotel on the iconic Boulevard de la Croisette at the first Festival de Cannes to be held under that name, in 1946. Back then the event took place in September and October, but would shift to May a bit later.
Diana Dors and Ginger Rogers arrive at the fest the only way anyone should—breezing along the beachfront in a convertible, in 1956, with an unknown driver.
Kirk Douglas holds court on the beach in 1953, and Brigitte Bardot soaks up rays in the foreground.
Michele Morgan poses at the first Festival in 1946. Photo ops of this sort were essential sources of publicity for stars, and would soon become opportunities for non-stars seeking to be discovered.
Case in point. Robert Mitchum poses with actress Simone Sylva in 1954. Sylva was allegedly not supposed to be there, but shucked her top and photo-bombed Douglas in an attempt to raise her profile. It didn’t work. She made only a couple of credited movie appearances after her topless stunt.
Romy Schneider and Alain Delon at the 1959 fest.
An unidentified model or actress poses in the style of Anita Ekberg from La dolce vita in 1960. This looks like it was shot at Plage du Midi, which is a beach located a little ways west of the Cannes town center.
Another unidentified model or actress poses on the boardwalk in 1979. Generally, you don’t have to be known to draw a crowd of photographers—you just have to be nearly bare. She’s wearing lingerie, so that explains the interest, though this is modest garb for a Cannes publicity stunt. It’s never a surprise to see a headline-seeking film hopeful strip all the way down to a string ficelle féminin, or thong, which is the limit of what is legal in Cannes
Sidney Poitier and Jean Seberg have a laugh in 1961. This was the year Poitier’s flick Paris Blues was released, so it’s possible he had jetted down from the capital for the Festival.
Natalie Wood aboard a sailboat in 1962.
Grace Kelly, 1955.
Kelly times two—Grace Kelly and Gene Kelly, hanging out, also in 1955.
Sammy Davis, Jr. poses in front of a billboard promoting his film A Man Called Adam, 1966.
Sharon Tate, with Roman Polanski, and solo, 1968.
Marlene Dietrich brings glamour to a tiki themed bar in 1958.
Tippi Hedren and Alfred Hitchcock release caged birds as a promo stunt for The Birds in 1963.
Sophia Loren sits with husband Carlo Ponti, who was a member of the 1966 Festival jury.
Raquel Welch poses on a motorcycle in 1966.
Jane Birkin takes aim with one of her cameras in 1975.
Dorothy Dandridge frolics in 1955, when she was promoting her film Carmen Jones.
Robert Redford lounges on the beach in 1972. Based on his outfit you’d think he was in Cannes to promote The Sting, but he was actually there for his western Jeremiah Johnson, which screened May 7 of that year.
Sophia Loren waves to well-wishers in 1964.
Bogie and Bacall paired up and looking distinguished in 1957.
John and Cynthia Lennon in 1965, and John with Yoko Ono in 1971. Every story John told on that second trip probably started with, “When I was here with the first love of my life…” until Yoko smacked him across the mouth.
Rock Hudson and bicycle in 1966.
Unidentified actresses pose on the beach in 1947. To the rear is the Hotel Carlton, mentioned in the Edith Piaf image, built on the Croisette and finished in 1910.
George Baker, Bella Darvi (right—your right, not his), and an unknown acquaintance have a surfside run/photo op in 1956.
Jayne Mansfield and Russian actress Tatiana Samoïlova enjoy a toast in 1958. Mansfield probably shared the story of how she once made Sophia Loren 
French actor Fernandel, whose real name was Fernand Contandin, on his boat Atomic in 1956.
Arlette Patrick figures out a different way to generate publicity—by walking her sheep on the Croisette in 1955.
A pair of water skiers show perfect form in 1955, as a battleship floats in the background.
Jeanne Moreau, for reasons that are unclear, poses on a banquet table in 1958. Most sources descibe this in such a way as to make it seem spontaneous, but we have our doubts. It’s a great shot, though.
Two unidentified women take in the scene from the terrace of the Hotel Carlton, 1958. This shot is usually said to portray two tourists, but the woman on the left is the same person as in the bikini lunch shot from earlier, which tells us she’s a model or actress, and both photos are staged. Like we said, publicity is everything in Cannes.
Danielle Darrieux and Sophia Loren at the 11th Cannes Film Festival, 1958.
Italian actress Monica Vitti chills on a boat in 1968.
Aspiring stars catch some rays on the Croisette beach in 1955. The two large posters behind them are for The Country Girl with Grace Kelly, and Jules Dassin’s Du rififi chez les hommes, both below.
The renowned opera singer Maria Callas, 1960.
years earlier at age twenty-five, had already been busted for watering down his liquor, then trying to bribe his way out of trouble. Kitt said succinctly of the episode, “To me a $137 bill was preposterous. I asked for the bill so I could have it sent to my office. They would not give it to me. That’s all there is to the whole story.” 
