Best Prison Films

There are probley dozwns of prison films but which one stands out for you.

My Fav is Shawshank Redemption.

Great Cast,Great Storyline-The first time you view the film you never expect it to end the way it did.

Classic

Babes behind bars.

Cool Hand Luke is my absolute favorite. Shawshank Redemption and the Count of Monte Cristo are runners-up.

I love Shawshank Redemption. But one f my all time favorites has to be "Brute Force."

SC, Turnbull, TIS, Plaw, or anyone else, do you remember who the actor was who played Capt. Munsey?


Don Cardi

The Shawshank Redemption
American Me
Escape From Alcatraz

The Shawshank Redemption

Hume Cronyn?

The Shawshank Redemption (1994/Darabont)
The Great Escape (1963/Sturges)
Scum (1979/Clarke) [horrible film]
Escape From Alcatraz (1979/Siegel)
Lock Up (1989/Flynn)

Mick

Another classic,action all way though

Great Soundtrack

Why does every single great prison movie involve prision breaking?

The Green Mile
The Shawshank Redemption
Oz is a good show.

obviously Shawshank Redemption is at the top, but let's not forget thet The Green Mile wasn't so bad. it definatly brought a tear to my eye the first time i saw it in the winter of '99. and honestly i miss that winter. alot of great movies came out. american beauty, and then in february gladiator came out.

If you're gonna include war prison films you should check out "Stalag 17" and "The Bridge Over the River Kwai". Both are excellent movies.

Also, "White Heat" (with James Cagney) had a very memorable prison scene!

Burt Lancaster's "bird man of alketra is a good film

Hume Cronyn? [/b][/quote]You are the man SC!!!!!!!

He was a real S.O.B. in that movie, huh?


Don Cardi

As Mr. Soprano mentioned, The Green Mile! How can I forget that one?!?

Yes SC, as we discussed before, that prison scene in White Heat is defiantely "classic!"
MAaaa!

Another great war/prison movie : " The Dirty Dozen." What a cast!


Don Cardi

Ifs its not been mentioned then lock up with sly stallone is a decent film.

It's a very common mistake, but that would be The Bridge On the River Kwai. I was watching a Danish film the other night, Open Hearts, and the subtitles made the same mistake too. I almost jumped through the roof.

Mick

(said in my best Steve Martin voice):

Well, excuuuuuuuse meeeeeeee.

:p

I don't like prison films because they're only about hicks or thugs. The scene when Henry was in prison from Goodfellas is the best piece of cinema taking place in a prison.

You all disapoint me.

For John Carpenter fans like me, we can name a couple:

First there is the 70's B classic ASSAULT ON PRECEINT 13 about a small police preceint office in Los Angeles and its 7 occupants(a cop, secretary, notorius deathrow prisoner in Napoleon Wilson, etc.) undersiege from a gang that wants a person inside the building(after he had killed some members of this gang). A film that reeks homages and reverence for movies like RIO BRAVO and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, it is coming out in 2005 as a remake starring Ethan Hawke and Lawrence Fishburne.

Second, though pretty dated in the funky retro-future style that WARRIORS is stuck with, lets not forget the 80's B action favorite ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. In the year 1997(this was made in 1981 after all) Manhattan Island is an enwalled prison for the police state that the nation has become. When Air Force One crashes on this island while on its way for a peace summit, the US government sends in wanted outlaw/former U.S. Special forces soldier "Snake" Plissken(one of Kurt Russell's first roles to escape his Mouse House past with success, methinks) to rescue the strangely British-accented American President played by Donald Pleasance.

Of course I could mention ESCAPE FROM LA and the f*cking awful GHOSTS OF MARS but screw that! However, I enjoyed EFLA despite the editing being all over the place(though its understandable from where people keep telling me that Paramount only gave Carpenter 2 weeks to edit his final cut for the movie). But ya, GHOSTS OF MARS was really really crappy. No wonder Carpenter hasn't directed since that Ice Cube-laced train wreck.

Oh and I'm surprised that everyone has forgotten the 70's prison film that put the words "Turkish", "Prisons", "Hell", and "Fear" into the same setence. You know, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS? The same movie that was a multi-Oscar nominated feature with nominations for Best Picture and Director, with a win for Best Adapted Screenplay for a very young and then unknown Oliver Stone.

Duhhhh!! Thats a definite MUST-SEE for anyone wanting to see a great prison movie. (I can't believe I forgot it).

Birdman of Alcatraz
Blues Brothers

Papillon

DC, we seem to be on the same wavelength always. "Brute Force" is my all-time favorite prison movie, and I have a weakness for that genre. And SC: Hume Cronyn really showed his acting chops in that film--a little, harmless-looking guy made a totally convincing sadistic prison captain. ("Captain Monsey is now Warden Monsey"--"nyah, nyah, nyah!" Great stuff!)
I want to include two others:
1. "Women's Prison" with Ida Lupino (very effective as a brutal, dykey jailer) and Howard Duff, plus an all-star cast of B-movie specialists. Every prison cliche known to man and woman in perfect harmony. Thoroughly enjoyable. Can't miss!
2. "Riot in Cell Block 11" with Neville Brand and Emil Meyer. Prison riot with socially redeeming message. A landmark for the Fifties.

The Shawshank Redemption is a very good movie, but extremely overrated. My personal favorite prison film is Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped.

Thug

One of my fav is American History X because it shows us just how prison can change a mans views on life.

I was going to name Midnight Express, but didn't for a number of reasons. It's a well-done movie, but with no redeeming qualities about it; the characters are ALL unlovely, the plot offers no hope whatsoever, and I may be wrong, but I believe it exaggerates the true story somewhat. Still, as I listed Scum, and thought it was horrible, I really should have put Midnight Express up there too.

Mick

Reform School Girls -- Overlooked for plenty of reasons, not the least of which would be a poor plot line and less-than-B-grade acting.

But any prison movie with Wendy O. Williams has to be on the list.

tony b.

...heading over to Name That Tune so I can post the lyrics to a Plasmatics song...

yeah it my fav too you seen what they did to
him in the bathroom

yeah it my fav too you seen what they did to
him in the bathroom [/b][/quote]What about when the guy has to put him mouth on the curb (sidewalk)and he stamp on his head

Ouch

Well I didn't know you had a picky criteria for what movies to list Capo. I think QTN named MIDNIGHT EXPRESS for one reason only................................................................................................ ................you know, that it was a GOOD movie. Depressing, but good.

Aren't you guys forgetting 'The Rock'? Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage. The best though is a British film called 'Scum' it is the best of all time based in a prison.

i will never forget that scen De Niro with the guy on the crub. thats why he goes to jail. and the shower scen I do not even think about it

Lots of good ones. Here's a couple more I think we missed:

Papillion - Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman
King Rat - George Segal

How could I forget Papillion! Another great, and well reocmmend film. And you thought McQueen was a good escapist in The Great Escape!

Mick

Am I really the only one who thought Cool Hand Luke was better than most of the other movies mentioned here? Wow.

I said Papillon yesterday. :rolleyes: :p

DC, we seem to be on the same wavelength always. "Brute Force" is my all-time favorite prison movie, and I have a weakness for that genre. And SC: Hume Cronyn really showed his acting chops in that film--a little, harmless-looking guy made a totally convincing sadistic prison captain. ("Captain Monsey is now Warden Monsey"--"nyah, nyah, nyah!" Great stuff!)
I want to include two others:
1. "Women's Prison" with Ida Lupino (very effective as a brutal, dykey jailer) and Howard Duff, plus an all-star cast of B-movie specialists. Every prison cliche known to man and woman in perfect harmony. Thoroughly enjoyable. Can't miss!
[/QB][/quote]Yes Turnbull, we must be on the same wavelength! "Woman's Prison" is one of my favorite female prison movies! Ida Lupino was superb in that movie!


Don Cardi

I love it, but as far as I can remember, isn't it a chain gang? Still, brilliant picture all the same.

Mick

A german film called des experiment thats a good film.

Yeah SCUM is a very good film. about life in a youth detention center.The film is defo a 18+ as it contains some violant scenes

Has anyone seen 'Murder in the first'?

I was surprised to find out the movie was almost all fiction.

spoiler
the real man did not die, and could still be alive today. He was also no good guy. He went to Alcatraz for brutalizing a hostage.
spoiler

Has anyone seen The Prisoner (1955) with Alec Guinness? It's an absolutely amazing movie. That's up there on my list, too.

The two best prison films ever.

I remember watching am movie called Bound by Honor showing San Quentin State Prison. The blacks, Mexicans, and whites were all in one prison.

Besides all the WWII POW movies I have to say it is a tie between Papillon and Cool Hand Luke for best. Shawshank is good yes, but I feel that the others have such greater underlying messages.

Shawshank Redemption
The Last Castle
Green Mile

The first two are feel good movies, but that doesn't make them less enjoyable.

Cool Hand Luke and the Birdman of Alcatraz

Did anyone already mention "Midnight express" (1978) by Alan Parker? An amazing movie! Definitely a must-see for the prison films fans (I'm one!)

Having only seen Midnight Express once (I own it), I must say that Parker's brutal, outright nasty film has little redeeming qualities about it, for me. I almost hate(d) the main character, and would have been utterly happy had he not escaped.

Bangkok Hilton (1989) with Nicole Kidman.

well, would you watch it again then, please? The brutality and violence the film shows is such a credible reality of any prison, let alone a Turkish one. The main character was just a young naive asshole as many others, but he definitely had to pay too much for his stupidity. Mind you, it's based on a true story. Oh, and the music score by Giorgio Moroder (the work gained him an Oscar I think) is excellent.
Just my two cents, Cucciolo!

As much as I want to see Midnight Express, the real life guy has stated that the film is very exaggerated.

DV, watch it please as soon as you can. I'd be more than interested to know what you think about the movie.

PS. Exaggerated or not, who cares? Movies are always fictional. Otherwise you got documentaries. :p

quote:

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Originally posted by Letizia B.:
Am I really the only one who thought Cool Hand Luke was better than most of the other movies mentioned here? Wow.

SC mentioned The Bridge of River Kwai. I hadn't really thought of that one as a prison movie. It's one of my favorite "Films I thought I'd hate".