Also known as ‘Seabo‘, this Earl Owensby vehicle is set in North Carolina in 1957. Owensby produced the film, and is also cast in the lead role as Seabo, a Native American ‘halfbreed’ who is a tracker, bounty hunter and a wronged and supposedly enigmatic prisoner. Owensby, it seems, appeared in 11 films as an actor… and produced every one. If that doesn’t tell you something, nothing will. (more…)
Posted on December 18th, 2010 at 10:50 pm. Updated on December 18th, 2010 at 10:50 pm.
I’d read the reverential, slightly fawning reviews and was looking forward to seeing this arty ‘throwback’ (Steve Balderson’s contemporary tale filmed in the manner of a noirish 50s black-and-whiter) with great anticipation. Sadly, I found that it not only failed to live up to the hype, but is not a patch on the Women in Prison films of the 50s, the style of which it seems to try to recreate. If you like the period, watch Women’s Prison (1955), Girls in Prison (1956) or the British Yield to the Night (1956) instead, is my tip. (more…)
Posted on December 4th, 2010 at 10:34 pm. Updated on August 11th, 2013 at 12:03 pm.
Lockdown is a prison movie for traditionalists – murders, stabbings, drug use, drug deals, racial tension, rapes, crooked guards… and in the middle of it all, a good, innocent man struggling to survive. (more…)
Posted on November 26th, 2010 at 9:55 pm. Updated on March 6th, 2016 at 5:06 pm.
Untamed youth? These youth are so tame that after working as virtual slaves in the hot sun all day and then being fed dog food, their collective response is to spend all night dancing to a rock ‘n’ roll jukebox. In a very untamed fashion, of course. (more…)
Posted on November 20th, 2010 at 10:25 pm. Updated on November 20th, 2010 at 10:25 pm.
Undoubtedly, the most extraordinary thing about this movie is that it is not nearly as fanciful as it seems; it’s pretty much a true story. Much has been made of its relatively matter-of-fact treatment of what is a love story involving two gay prisoners, and of the supposed risks Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor took by playing gay men. Well, kissing. But for a lover of prison films, the film’s standout feature is the total absence of these openly gay prisoners being stood over for sex by other prisoners, or of them being bullied or humiliated by guards. That sort of thing may happen, rarely, in real life, but never, never, you would think, in a prison movie. (more…)
Posted on November 15th, 2010 at 8:30 pm. Updated on November 15th, 2010 at 8:31 pm.
“From the creator of Police Academy“, trumpets the blurb on my DVD. I’m not sure if it’s true (the DVD cover manages to get every other detail wrong, including all the names of the film’s characters), but – sadly – it might as well be. (more…)
Posted on November 4th, 2010 at 7:10 pm. Updated on November 4th, 2010 at 7:10 pm.
The French have something of a history of making high quality, gritty prison films – the magnificent Le Trou (1960) and the more celebrated Un Prophète (2009) as just two examples. This might not be in the same league, but it’s gritty and authentic and has the classic prison movie feel. (more…)
Posted on November 2nd, 2010 at 8:21 pm. Updated on November 2nd, 2010 at 8:25 pm.
It might not be the best recommendation to say that this wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I had expected. One review had it marked down as ‘hideous’ and another* concluded that it was so beset with problems that it ‘should stay in lock-up, with no eligibility for parole.’ And it’s true; the ending is an absolute shocker, and the 20-second Jerry Seinfeld-Paul Reiser cameo is terrible. But the rest of the film is on a par with lots of other pretty average prison comedies – amongst them Stir Crazy (1980), with which this shares quite a lot. Not the rodeo, thankfully. (more…)
Posted on October 25th, 2010 at 10:22 pm. Updated on October 25th, 2010 at 10:22 pm.
When Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels was first released, the US Government’s Office of Censorship, not wishing to hand any propagandist advantage to its World War II enemies, declined to approve it for international release on the basis of its “long sequence showing life in a prison chain gang which is most objectionable because of the brutality and inhumanity with which the prisoners are treated.” That ‘long sequence’ runs to just 12 minutes, and in terms of depictions of chain gangs, is well down the brutality scale. What’s more, it’s quite possible that more damaging to the high moral ground occupied by the US was Sturges’ satirical treatment of the Hollywood culture. (more…)
Posted on October 13th, 2010 at 8:50 pm. Updated on October 13th, 2010 at 8:55 pm.
With much of Europe at war, what was clearly needed from Hollywood was an escapist prison drama; an attractive, wrongly accused heroine opposed by an even more beautiful top dog, and a reformist Superintendent with a strong belief in the inherent goodness of the women under her control. It’s a close cousin to 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932, and its variants), with the honor system coming through unscathed after a very big test. (more…)
Posted on October 3rd, 2010 at 7:28 pm. Updated on March 9th, 2016 at 7:37 pm.