Prison stuff. In prison movies.
I’m not overly conversant with the horror genre, but I think that what this movie is trying to say is that it is a horrible job being a prison warden. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on March 31st, 2013 at 1:22 pm. Updated on March 16th, 2014 at 8:30 am.
“So, the story of this man is not yet over. Nor is the story of Cell 2455, Death Row. Whether Whit descends to the gas chamber or whatever the future holds for him, Cell 2455 still stands – ready and waiting for the next Whittier.” Thus the film and its subject both stop – mid-sentence. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on March 29th, 2013 at 3:12 pm. Updated on March 29th, 2013 at 3:12 pm.
Not to be confused with So Evil, So Young (1961) or The Weak and the Wicked (1954). But it does share something with both of those British movies – the young women in this reform school are not particularly bad, or wicked, or evil. Some, surprisingly, are even youngish. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on March 26th, 2013 at 9:42 pm. Updated on March 26th, 2013 at 9:42 pm.
“Nice but preposterous,” was my wife’s judgment after watching this made-for-TV offering. Or maybe it was the other way round. Anyway, she is rarely wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on March 19th, 2013 at 9:00 pm. Updated on March 19th, 2013 at 9:00 pm.
Some prison films are prepared to sacrifice almost any correctional principle for the convenience of the storyline or to accommodate the filmmaker’s artistic vision. This is one of them, I’m afraid, and I struggled with it as a result. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on March 14th, 2013 at 8:36 pm. Updated on March 14th, 2013 at 8:36 pm.
In Un Chant D’Amour (1950) the writer Jean Genet explored imprisoned men’s longing for intimacy. In his play Haute surveillance, published in 1949 and later made into this Vic Morrow film, he allowed his characters physical contact, but their longing remains unfulfilled. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on March 11th, 2013 at 3:31 pm. Updated on March 11th, 2013 at 3:43 pm.
Ji?í Kajínek is the most famous prisoner in the Czech Republic. Some people think he’s innocent of the crimes for which he is serving a life sentence – the murders of a crime boss and his bodyguard, and the attempted murder of a third man. He is the only man to have escaped from the Mírov Prison, in 2000, which would seem to have led to legend status being bestowed upon him. Kajínek is loosely based around his case. It’s hard to categorise; it’s not a prison film, sadly, and more biographical murder mystery. It has some elements of a classic thriller, but one of which all Czechs, presumably, already know the outcome: Kajínek has not been exonerated and remains very much in jail.
Posted on March 10th, 2013 at 4:30 pm. Updated on March 10th, 2013 at 10:14 pm.
This invites comparisons with Scum (1979), updated and set in the context of the London riots of 2011. But it owes more to Doing Hard Time (2004), a less auspicious film which features another hurt, angry and apparently law-abiding man intent on avenging a terrible crime… and who is similarly prepared to surrender some high moral ground by senselessly attacking police – simply to get into jail and to get access to those who have wronged him. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on March 3rd, 2013 at 11:23 am. Updated on March 3rd, 2013 at 11:23 am.
Imagine a prisoner being prepped for his execution – ordering his last meal, making a last wish, maybe seeking absolution from a priest, being strapped onto the trolley in readiness for his lethal injection, having to endure all the formalities and proclamations. Now imagine that repeated another seven times, with various permutations and combinations. That’s essentially what this film comprises – eight opaque variations on the same theme. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on February 23rd, 2013 at 8:58 pm. Updated on February 23rd, 2013 at 10:16 pm.
“Now listen here, you cons. When I sent you up here I thought you were rats… and now I know it.” Not necessarily the smartest thing to say to a packed mess hall when you’re a DA who has been placed in a prison amidst 6,000 enemies – many of whom you’ve personally sent up the river. And perhaps a little harsh on his new colleagues… After all, what sort of reaction did he expect? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on February 21st, 2013 at 8:33 pm. Updated on March 4th, 2013 at 9:21 pm.