» Boys Behind Bars (2013, UK)
Seen Stoic (2009)? Don’t bother seeing this one. Seen neither? Good for you. (more…)
Posted on February 18th, 2016 at 10:14 am. Updated on March 3rd, 2016 at 6:26 pm.
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» The Chair (1988, USA)
A warden with a past he’d rather forget. An idealistic psychiatrist running a new psycho-support program for prisoners. A prison not fit to house prisoners. A wrathful ghost of a former warden. And a film that mixes comedy and horror, but misses the mark on both counts… while remaining sort of amiable. (more…)
Posted on February 15th, 2016 at 1:12 pm. Updated on February 15th, 2016 at 1:25 pm.
» Black August (2007, USA)
I remember reading Soledad Brother in the 1970s. Or bits of it. Black August paints a different sort of picture of its author, imprisoned African-American activist George Jackson, to the one I vaguely remember from all those years ago. He’s more poet, less revolutionary; more the artist, less the polemicist… even as he is advocating violence as the only means by which his goals might be achieved. (more…)
Posted on February 2nd, 2016 at 8:04 pm. Updated on February 2nd, 2016 at 8:08 pm.
» Pardon (2005, Turkey)
It’s been said before that the idea of being thrown into a Turkish prison is so much more evocative than being banged up any other country’s prisons. But just as a foreigner, perhaps, and maybe ignoring a lot of other serious and exotic contenders. Pardon, a farce said to be based on a true story, shows a different sort of terrible experience in a Turkish prison for three locals. (more…)
Posted on January 18th, 2016 at 8:42 pm. Updated on January 18th, 2016 at 8:48 pm.
» L’Addition / The Caged Heart (1984, France)
Bruno Vinclert (Richard Berry) is not so much an innocent man in prison; he is more of an accidental prisoner. (more…)
Posted on January 2nd, 2016 at 8:49 pm. Updated on January 25th, 2016 at 9:47 pm.
» Get Hard (2015, USA)
Not since Big Stan (2007), thankfully, has there been such a comedic preoccupation with anal rape in prison. (more…)
Posted on December 31st, 2015 at 9:47 pm. Updated on December 31st, 2015 at 9:47 pm.
» In the Custody of Strangers (1982, USA)
There are many movies about juvenile prisons; far fewer about juveniles in adult prisons. This made-for-TV film claims that an estimated 479,000 juveniles were placed in adult jails across the US each year; other sources suggest that the figure on any one day was then around 5,000. If the purpose of the film was to draw attention to this issue and bring about a reduction in the numbers of youth in adult jails, it does not appear to have succeeded. With violent crime committed by youth on the increase, almost every US State subsequently passed laws making it easier to lock up young people in adult facilities. (more…)
Posted on December 25th, 2015 at 4:17 pm. Updated on December 25th, 2015 at 4:30 pm.
» Chain Gang (1984, USA)
This is another Earl Owensby vehicle, following on from Buckstone County Prison [aka Seabo] (1978) – both produced by and starring Owensby as a strong, silent-type prisoner in movies that pay homage to Cool Hand Luke (1967). Without the charisma. (more…)
Posted on December 10th, 2015 at 8:31 pm. Updated on December 10th, 2015 at 8:31 pm.
» Cell 213 (2011, Canada)
It’s a bit hard to pin a label on this film. Completed in 2008, it took another three years to release it, marketed ultimately as a horror movie. But it’s more a supernatural movie; horror film buffs will inevitably be disappointed by it, and those who aren’t (such as myself) might be pleasantly surprised. (more…)
Posted on November 30th, 2015 at 9:20 pm. Updated on May 8th, 2020 at 10:39 pm.
» Jailbird Rock (1988, USA / Argentina)
I think it was when Warden Harold Bauman (Ron Lacey), in dismissing any idea of his prisoners putting on an artistic performance, said, “They’re not here to have fun. They’re here to be miserable,” that my wife asked, “Don’t you get sick of the same, same things all the time?”. Or it could have been earlier, such as at the arrival of the prisoner who doesn’t deserve to be in prison, or the tough prisoner running the show, or the ineffectual warden and his corrupt second-in-charge, or the earnest counsellor pushing for reform… It could have been at any point in the film, really. (more…)
Posted on November 22nd, 2015 at 5:10 pm. Updated on November 22nd, 2015 at 5:12 pm.