A real ‘70s action flick; tough and gritty. Jim Brown plays the handsome, stoic Curtis Hook. Hook comes to jail on some relatively minor charges, but everyone knows that he alone knows where the proceeds of a drug heist (an attaché case full of skag and $1.5m in cash) are stashed. So he’s a marked man in ‘the slams’, with everyone wanting a piece of what he’s got on the outside. We are asked to join with Hook and hope that he gets away with all the dough… which means that we have to conveniently set aside the seven drug dealers and two accomplices that he killed in order to walk away with the money. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 4:12 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
You’ve got to wonder why someone would still feel the need to make a movie like this, as if “Let’s drop an ordinary decent guy and a sadistic guard into an episode of America’s Hardest Prisons” has never been done before. Or warrants a re-run. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:49 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
It’s hard to know whether this fits into the prison movie genre or the slightly more esoteric university research movie genre. But I’ll pretend it’s the former, because it is all about imprisonment even if the people aren’t in prison. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:38 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
First written by Miguel Piñero as a play while he was a prisoner in Sing Sing, and then shot in ‘The Tombs’ – the Men’s House of Detention in Manhattan, it’s not surprising that this has an authentic feel to it. Piñero also played a minor character in the movie, but missed its premiere as he was back inside on an armed robbery charge. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:27 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
One of the better 30s prison films, thanks to fine performances from Jimmy Cagney and George Raft. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:24 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
Yes, that’s right; ‘Nu zi jian yu’ becomes ‘Women Prison’… and that sets the standard for the sub-titling throughout. It’s an entertaining prison movie for traditionalists: a fight for top dog, a naïve first-timer, a brutal, corrupt officer, an escape, some sexual assaults, and even a disturbance that requires the use of tear gas. Not unlike the 1987 Hong Kong film about a male prison, Prison on Fire, in some ways. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:16 pm. Updated on February 23rd, 2013 at 10:14 pm.
Quaint and oddly acclaimed film which is not a prison-based Inferno as the title might lead one to expect. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 2:10 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
‘A Song of Love’. Jean Genet had all the credentials to write and direct a prison movie – in his younger years he was a petty thief, vagrant and prostitute and spent a number of years in juvenile and adult penal facilities. This 26-minute, soundless, black & white film draws on some of that experience, and no doubt his experience as a gay man in prison. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 2:04 pm. Updated on May 7th, 2020 at 9:46 pm.
Having been very critical of Midnight Express for its xenophobic vilification of the locals, I was keen to see a slightly more trustworthy portrayal of the Turkish prison system. And the two films are different; while Midnight Express has not one prison guard who is neither corrupt nor brutal, Duvar has… one! (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:38 pm. Updated on April 28th, 2020 at 10:14 pm.
I can’t quite make up my mind about this one. I feel I should rate it highly, partly because of its brave treatment of the subject matter, and weirdly because it was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Foreign Film) in 1985, which could suggest (if not critical acclaim) merit of some type. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:14 pm. Updated on April 15th, 2012 at 1:26 pm.