Early in the film ‘Chopper’ Read stabs Keithy George in the neck in a labour yard in Pentridge’s ‘H’ Division in 1978. When staff arrive, Read helpfully confides in them: “Keithy seems to have done himself a mischief.” Then, turning to his flailing victim as he is being taken away, he asks, “You all right, Keithy? Off you go, mate. Off to the sick bay. Whinge, whinge..”. It is the blackest of humour, but pretty well sums up the man on whom the film is based, and if that dialogue doesn’t appeal, chances are you won’t like the film. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:19 pm. Updated on May 7th, 2020 at 9:55 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.
Romantic comedy is not the most common genre within prison movies, but that’s what this is. It forms part of what has become a fine tradition in recent British prison movies (Captives, Borstal Boy, Greenfingers), playing out a fascination for well-heeled women falling for ‘a bit of rough’. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:05 pm. Updated on March 6th, 2016 at 8:58 pm.
More a Borstal film than a prison film, perhaps, but we’ll leave it in. The BBC commissioned a TV film on the British Borstal (juvenile justice) system in 1977, and then banned it, leading Director Alan Clarke to recreate it as a movie. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 1:00 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
Is this a prison movie? I have no idea. It’s set in a prison – on Death Row (where prisoners walk their last mile – here, on green linoleum) in a 1930s Louisiana prison, Cold Mountain Penitentiary – and there are some superb prison characters, but it’s also a spiritual, miracle-filled fantasy that at times has as much to do with the prison experience as, say, Bewitched. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 12:50 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
From the very first scenes, where Randy (Michael Pitt) is silently preparing to go to court, you know things aren’t going to go well for him. His tie is all awry in a schoolboyish sort of way, he’s pasty, he has a constant pouty look, and his hair is tied back in a vain little ponytail. (more…)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 10:00 pm. Updated on March 6th, 2016 at 12:36 pm.
If there’s another prison movie where it is a prison officer with whom the viewer is asked to identify most, I can’t think of it. Well, Brubaker, I suppose, but he was the Warden. And The Green Mile, but it wasn’t Tom Hanks’ prison experience, exactly, that you were asked to share. So this is a bit different, from the outset. (more…)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 9:55 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:46 pm.
Based on the true story, apparently, of some award-winning prisoner gardeners, this is a cut above the average prison comedy. (more…)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 9:46 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:46 pm.
This purports to be a prison movie spoof, or rather, a gay spoof of prison movies. (more…)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 9:35 pm. Updated on August 11th, 2013 at 12:06 pm.
A surprisingly poetic film about… deliverance, really. Alex (Hill Harper) is a former drug user serving a sentence for a rape he is adamant he didn’t commit. He also has AIDS. His family have little contact with him; they are too ashamed, too busy, and too cowed by Alex’s unforgiving father. But it is Alex’s relationship with his disappointed father that is the story’s heart. (more…)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 8:56 pm. Updated on April 21st, 2020 at 11:01 pm.