“Are we quits, now?” asks the young, first-time prisoner of the older prisoner who had earlier come to his rescue, having just paid off the first instalment (by helping tip boiling water on a debtor) in return for the big favour. “Ask me again and I’ll stamp your face into the concrete,” the older man replies. And if the younger man didn’t realise up until that point that he was trapped, he does then. (more…)
Posted on November 6th, 2018 at 7:39 pm. Updated on August 29th, 2019 at 8:50 pm.
I haven’t seen this silent movie. I’m old, but not quite that old, and the film is now believed to be lost (though not, perhaps, in the 1937 Fox archive fire). The number of people who have seen it, you would think, is declining. (more…)
Posted on November 2nd, 2018 at 8:53 pm. Updated on November 2nd, 2018 at 8:53 pm.
Back in October 2017 Alex Greenwood wrote to me to see if I could identify a movie from a grainy still he had found on the internet of a bald guy in prison fight scene. Being notoriously poor at such things (and, it turns out, not having seen the movie, or even heard of it), I was unable to assist. But Alex persisted, and persisted… and found it himself. And this is it, fighting bald guy and more.
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Posted on October 6th, 2018 at 5:34 pm. Updated on October 6th, 2018 at 5:34 pm.
When Sir James Hennessy, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, set out his findings and recommendations into the September 1983 escape of 38 IRA prisoners from HMP Maze, he identified (not surprisingly) a multitude of failures. One of which was the selection of a number of prisoner orderlies, whom he noted “adopt(ed) a deliberate policy of conditioning staff to reduce their alertness”. And one of those, whose name does not appear in the abridged online version of Hennessy’s report, was Larry Marley – considered the mastermind of the escape, yet who remained in the prison while his 38 associates fled the prison crammed into a food delivery lorry. Despite his pivotal role in the escape, Marley was released in 1985 – and it is his story that is featured here. (more…)
Posted on September 28th, 2018 at 3:56 pm. Updated on September 28th, 2018 at 3:56 pm.
A big hurrah for a film that shows another side of prison life – a prisoner’s escorted deathbed visit to her dying mother – instead of the standard fare of power plays, fight clubs, corruption and shankings. Hurrah! Then the reservations. It’s a comedy, not of the laugh-out-loud variety, undermined by how safe and comfortable it all is; tricky issues are avoided or resolved a bit too painlessly, and awkward prison matters don’t even register. If it weren’t for the shackles, the correctional officer uniform and the obligatory karaoke-singing Warden, you might even forget that it involves a prisoner under escort. (more…)
Posted on September 15th, 2018 at 4:19 pm. Updated on September 15th, 2018 at 4:19 pm.
Six cute Labrador puppies. Six tough prisoners. And one particularly closed off, violent prisoner who has absolutely no interest in resocialisation, but whose outlook is changed by the meeting of the two. (more…)
Posted on September 1st, 2018 at 8:21 pm. Updated on September 1st, 2018 at 8:28 pm.
After Kenny Bates (Trever O’Brien), one of the inmates at LA’s Camp Kilpatrick juvenile detention center, has an upsetting visit with his mother and is sitting on his own, distressed, Sean Porter (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) – who is not employed as a football coach (but is putting a team together) – seeks him out. “What’s going on, buddy?” “It’s my mom. Things are just so messed up. It gets so I just hate her.” “No you don’t.” “I just want my mom to love me, you know?” “I know. I know. Know what I was thinking? How about we try you out at receiver?” “Good. You mean like I’d be catching the ball?” “Sometimes. Mostly blocking.” “That’d be cool.” (more…)
Posted on August 2nd, 2018 at 9:36 pm. Updated on August 2nd, 2018 at 9:36 pm.
Advanced security technology is one thing. A little commonplace, arguably. Advanced technology that simultaneously mines your mind for inculpating memory traces and exercises a basic duty of care is another. And is less commonplace. (more…)
Posted on July 25th, 2018 at 10:00 pm. Updated on July 25th, 2018 at 10:00 pm.
After watching Affinity I have had to radically revise my understanding of imprisonment in Victorian England. Life in Victorian England.
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Posted on July 14th, 2018 at 8:14 pm. Updated on July 14th, 2018 at 8:14 pm.
This is prison movie fusion; a football story à la The Longest Yard (1974) and (2005) and Mean Machine (2001), combined with – and in the context of – an extraordinary story of high level corruption in a Mexico City prison. It’s not entirely congruous; it’s a bit like dropping the Birdman of Alcatraz into the middle of Corcoran State Prison while ‘gladiator day’ fights as depicted in Felon (2008) are staged around him. (more…)
Posted on June 9th, 2018 at 4:57 pm. Updated on June 9th, 2018 at 4:57 pm.