Prison Movies

» Hoodwink (1981, Australia)

The first half hour of this movie is taken up establishing that Martin Stang (John Hargreaves) is an armed robber and a likable rogue who knows his way around (a) dirty money, (b) clean women, and (c) the New South Wales Police (more dirty than clean). That done, the remainder of the film is able to be devoted to his great con job - convincing the court and the prison authorities that he’s blind and no longer a threat to society.

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Posted on July 18th, 2010 at 10:37 pm. Updated on July 20th, 2010 at 8:57 pm.

» Fast-Walking (1982, USA)

Frank ‘Fast-Walking’ Miniver (James Woods) is a bent, dissolute, dope-smoking, work-avoiding guard who regards his job and his bosses with contempt. In his spare time he helps run a couple of whores out of his cousin’s general store, and just about everything he does is corrupt in one or more senses of the word. But in this grimy, dispiriting film, that doesn’t set him much apart from anyone else. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on July 10th, 2010 at 11:30 pm. Updated on July 10th, 2010 at 11:34 pm.

» Yield to the Night (1956, UK)

Diana Dors. Prison movie. They don’t seem to go together naturally, do they? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on July 9th, 2010 at 10:06 pm. Updated on July 10th, 2010 at 6:59 pm.

» First Time Felon (1997, USA)

It’s bit surprising that there aren’t more prison boot camp movies, given the potential (brutally exploited in movies like Full Metal Jacket) to show tough men being bullied, abused and humiliated. That potential really is within easy grasp of the prison movie genre. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on July 4th, 2010 at 3:05 pm. Updated on July 4th, 2010 at 3:05 pm.

» Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier / If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (2010, Romania / Sweden)

Silviu Chiscan (George Piştereanu) is 18 and in the process of being reformed by the Romanian State. He has just 15 days of his sentence left to serve. Everything is good. He is then visited by his much younger brother, Marius, whom he had helped raise in the absence of their mother, who had seemingly found her children inconvenient whenever a new man came on the scene. That may have been quite often. Marius tells him that their mother has returned (after 8 years away) and wants to return to Italy in 7 days and take Marius with her. Silviu, up until then easy-going and likable, unravels. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on July 3rd, 2010 at 3:27 pm. Updated on July 3rd, 2010 at 3:36 pm.

» Celda 211 / Cell 211 (2009, Spain)

With all the fuss about 2009’s Un Prophète being a prison movie masterpiece - if not a masterpiece in any genre - this less celebrated Spanish prison film may have been overlooked. It might not be in the same class - it’s certainly no masterpiece - but there’s an awful lot to like. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on June 27th, 2010 at 5:15 pm. Updated on June 27th, 2010 at 5:15 pm.

» Unshackled (2000, USA)

Why is it that when someone writes an autobiography we allow them to reflect glowingly on their contribution to the world, and yet when they write and produce a movie of that very same life it smacks of tacky self-indulgence and bald self-promotion? Harold Morris certainly doesn’t know the answer. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on June 20th, 2010 at 2:48 pm. Updated on June 20th, 2010 at 2:48 pm.

» The Killing Yard (2001, USA)

There are more films about Attica, it seems, than any other correctional event. This is not the best of them, nor the worst. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on June 15th, 2010 at 10:42 pm. Updated on June 15th, 2010 at 10:42 pm.

» Penitentiary (1938, USA)

This remake of The Criminal Code (1931) and precursor to Convicted (1950) is a solid story, well told… notwithstanding that if John Howard’s performance as the young prisoner William Jordan were any more wooden, it would be a tree. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on June 14th, 2010 at 12:48 pm. Updated on June 14th, 2010 at 12:48 pm.