Clichés

» Convict (2014, Australia)

Convict - George Basha as Ray Francis

When this opened where I live, it opened, I think, for just one session in one cinema. That might say as much as needs to be said. (more…)

Posted on April 14th, 2014 at 10:56 pm. Updated on April 29th, 2015 at 10:34 pm.

» Die Konsequenz / The Consequence (1977, Germany)

The Consequence - Jrgen Prochnow as Martin Kurath and Walo Lnd as Thomas's father, Giorgio Manzoni

Based on the book by Swiss Alexander Ziegler, who as a 22-year-old was sent to prison for a gay relationship with a 16-year-old, this is a not-so-simple love story that battles its way through prison, a reformatory for juveniles, and considerable torment. Although it is a German production, almost all of the action takes place in Switzerland. (more…)

Posted on April 6th, 2014 at 7:00 pm. Updated on April 6th, 2014 at 7:00 pm.

» Hell’s House (1932, USA)

Hell's House - x as and Junior Dirkin as Jimmy Mason

“What are you, Kelly? A man or a rat? You’re a rat!” says newspaper editor Frank Gebhardt to Matt Kelly. This is a film about that rat… and the kid who suffers from his ratdom – his rattee. (more…)

Posted on March 31st, 2014 at 9:41 pm. Updated on March 31st, 2014 at 9:41 pm.

» Inside (2012, USA)

Inside - Luke Goss as Miles Berret

This is a variation on the adage that “You can’t keep a good man down.” Sometimes, it seems, you can’t keep a really, really bad man down, either. (more…)

Posted on March 17th, 2014 at 10:00 pm. Updated on March 17th, 2014 at 10:08 pm.

» Day of Reckoning (1933, USA)

Day of Reckoning - Richard Dix as John Day, a wee bit angry

This is not quite a morality play, but it’s not far removed from one: the two high-living adulterers both come to sticky ends while the poor-but-honest workers prosper and find happiness. And the wrongdoer who goes to jail, but remains true in his heart, gets a second chance. Ahhh. (more…)

Posted on March 11th, 2014 at 9:25 pm. Updated on March 11th, 2014 at 9:25 pm.

» El lápiz del carpintero / The Carpenter’s Pencil (2003, Spain)

The Carpenter's Pencil - Santi Prego as Dombodán and Tristán Ulloa as Daniel Da Barca

Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, 1936. Spain is about to plunge into civil war, and an unlikely romance between Daniel Da Barca (Tristán Ulloa), a charismatic Republican doctor, and Marisa Mallo (María Adánez), the daughter of a wealthy businessman who has quickly thrown his lot in with Franco’s rebel Nationalists, is beginning to blossom.

(more…)

Posted on March 9th, 2014 at 12:59 pm. Updated on March 9th, 2014 at 12:59 pm.

» Escape Plan (2013, USA)

Escape Plan - Sylvester Stallone as Ray Breslin and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Emil Rottmayer

There’s something a little pathetic about two ageing action heroes reliving their glory days from the ’80s. Granted, neither Sylvester Stallone nor Arnold Schwarzenegger looks mid-sixties, exactly, and they make a far better fist of playing action heroes than the younger but tumescent Steven Seagal in Maximum Conviction (2012). But it’s a worrying trend; I’m not looking forward to seeing Chuck Norris and Burt Reynolds wreak havoc in a palliative care prison.

(more…)

Posted on February 24th, 2014 at 9:26 pm. Updated on March 9th, 2014 at 1:13 pm.

» The Jailhouse (2009, USA)

The Jailhouse - C Thomas Howell as Deputy Sheriff Seth Delray

Jailhouse as haunted house. It’s not the most novel of concepts. (more…)

Posted on February 16th, 2014 at 1:35 pm. Updated on February 16th, 2014 at 1:35 pm.

» Women in Chains (1972, USA)

Women in Chains - Lois Nettleton as Sandra Parker / Sally Porter and Belinda Montgomery as Melinda Carr

This (along with several other contenders) could serve as a baseline against which all women’s prison movies are measured. It’s far from great, and far from terrible. It’s camp, but not too camp. Well, it’s over-the-top camp at times. It has a brave heroine, a particularly nasty villain, plenty of true-to-life prisoners who have no wish to fly above the radar, some drama… and, presumably because it’s made-for-TV and it’s 1972, a surfeit of beautiful women but no shower scenes, lesbian scenes, or lascivious male officers. What’s more, it stars two prison movie greats: Ida Lupino (Women’s Prison, 1955) and Barbara Luna (The Concrete Jungle, 1982). (more…)

Posted on February 4th, 2014 at 8:18 pm. Updated on February 8th, 2014 at 7:45 pm.

» Cage Without a Key (1975, USA)

Cage Without a Key - Susan Dey as Valerie Smith

There are many men of my generation who will remember Susan Dey as the only reason for watching The Partridge Family. My memory of Laurie Partridge has dulled considerably, but it could well be her who has strayed into this TV movie, and into this TV prison, by mistake.

(more…)

Posted on January 27th, 2014 at 8:39 am. Updated on January 27th, 2014 at 8:45 am.