Based on a true story, this is, but it bears a remarkable similarity to another based-on-a-true-story film, Hell in Tangier (2006). Except on this occasion, it is an ill, innocent American woman being held in an Ecuadorian prison, rather than an ill, innocent Belgian man being held in a Moroccan prison. There is, it seems, more than one innocent person held in a nasty third-world prison with a story to tell. (more…)
Posted on January 1st, 2014 at 12:49 pm. Updated on September 19th, 2014 at 9:18 pm.
This little known film noir is a prison movie in the classic mould, and features one of the coldest, most heartless prison bad guys going around. (more…)
Posted on January 1st, 2014 at 9:54 am. Updated on January 1st, 2014 at 9:55 am.
I think I made a mistake in reading Roger Ebert’s review of this film (which is also known as ‘Snake Canyon Prison‘), before I watched it. As a result I was expecting something truly execrable – but it turned out to be merely unfunny, in the manner of most prison comedies. (more…)
Posted on December 28th, 2013 at 9:33 pm. Updated on December 28th, 2013 at 9:33 pm.
Translating as Ward 72 (or Cell 72), this is an updated version of the 1987 film based on Orhan Kemal’s 1967 play about being imprisoned during his wartime military service in Ni?de. If you’re looking for a cheery film to watch, this probably isn’t it. But it’s very much worth watching. (more…)
Posted on December 21st, 2013 at 7:21 pm. Updated on August 28th, 2019 at 8:10 pm.
You know to lower your expectations when movies are straight-to-video, as this one is. But no matter how low your expectations, this film, also known as ‘Caged Fear‘, will in all probability fall below them. (more…)
Posted on December 15th, 2013 at 9:09 pm. Updated on December 15th, 2013 at 9:09 pm.
I thought that this was a variation on the theme played out in several films – including The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936), Devil’s Island (1939) and Hellgate (1952) – where doctors (and one veterinarian) treat injured felons because they’re injured, and then get charged with being an accessory. This is a little different; the small town doctor here does take a bullet from the chest of a young man (whom he had delivered 26 years previously and known all his life), but also gives him money and hides him for a few days – in doing so knowingly helping him evade arrest. So he might be a little more culpable than some other doctors in those other movies. (more…)
Posted on December 12th, 2013 at 11:08 am. Updated on December 12th, 2013 at 11:08 am.
You might expect that a film called Girl on a Chain Gang would be about, well, a girl on a chain gang. Not this movie. At best, 12 out of the 96 minutes have her sentenced to a chain gang, and for most of those 12 minutes she is on the run. In fact, she never really gets to work on the chain gang, but somehow she’s ‘a Girl on a Chain Gang’. (more…)
Posted on December 8th, 2013 at 7:38 pm. Updated on December 8th, 2013 at 7:38 pm.
I must be getting old. A prisoner ladles porridge into the prison Governor’s hat, with inevitable results; the prisoner escapes all punishment, and rather than be troubled by this, I simply put it down to comedic licence. Who knows; I may soon embrace action movies.
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Posted on November 30th, 2013 at 8:54 pm. Updated on November 30th, 2013 at 8:54 pm.
Three years after The Concrete Jungle was released, a film called Concrete Hell (aka Turning to Stone) hit the cinemas in Canada. There are plenty of parallels between the two, aside from their shared interest in building materials used in prison construction. Both feature young women charged with cocaine importation who are deserted by their male partners and dropped into brutal prisons which are controlled by big-haired queen bees. The Concrete Jungle definitely came first. Turning to Stone is definitely better. (more…)
Posted on November 27th, 2013 at 9:09 pm. Updated on November 27th, 2013 at 9:09 pm.
There’s no place like prison to learn that your lover is a loser… and then fall in love again. Just ask Jean Forest. (more…)
Posted on November 18th, 2013 at 8:16 pm. Updated on November 18th, 2013 at 8:16 pm.