Prison stuff. In prison movies.
This is the film to wear if you’re invited to a 1970s fancy dress party. Shot on location in California’s Folsom Prison (with inmates playing some of the roles) and looking like a grainy home movie, it’s a bit like a fairytale with some solid, believable snippets of prison life thrown in. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 4:06 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
It must be said: this is not Humphrey Bogart’s best film. Shot partly on location in California’s San Quentin prison, it follows an army officer, Captain Steve Jameson (Pat O’Brien), a renowned ‘man-handler’ (manager of men, one presumes), who is seconded to the prison as Captain of the Yard to restore discipline and public confidence. Mind you, what we see when he takes over seems pretty orderly given the whacking great number of prisoners, and there is little evidence of the ‘small riots and… open rebellion’ which apparently prompted his recruitment. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 4:01 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
Predictable but largely entertaining remake of the 1974 comedy. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:57 pm. Updated on March 7th, 2016 at 11:01 pm.
This is the true story of Jimmy Boyle, Glasgow standover merchant and hard man, as told by Jimmy Boyle. The first third of the film establishes his penchant for violence and thuggery as he fights off rivals as they encroach on his turf; the rest charts his time in prison after he was sent down for the 1967 murder of a gangland rival (a murder of which he claims he was innocent). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:54 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
It’s not often that one screenplay gets made into three films. The Mean Machine is the British version of The Longest Yard (1974 and 2005), with a soccer match replacing the gridiron contest between guards and cons. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:52 pm. Updated on June 2nd, 2018 at 11:08 pm.
You’ve got to wonder why someone would still feel the need to make a movie like this, as if “Let’s drop an ordinary decent guy and a sadistic guard into an episode of America’s Hardest Prisons” has never been done before. Or warrants a re-run. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:49 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
Feel-good comedy starring Burt Reynolds, filmed partly on location at Georgia State Prison, Reidsville. This is the original (and supposedly better) of the two Longest Yards, and apart from being a prison film is also considered by many as the best gridiron movie ever made. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:47 pm. Updated on March 4th, 2010 at 9:38 pm.
In January 1939 Henri Young was one of four prisoners who took part in a failed attempt to escape from Alcatraz. This film purports to give a ‘fact-based’ account of his story. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:44 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.
It’s hard to know what to make of a film which has the tagline “Liberty is not just a brand of yoghurt!” It’s a curious French-Canadian mix of titillation and pretension, of comedy and drama, and it winds up not working entirely on any level. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:41 pm. Updated on February 13th, 2010 at 11:11 pm.
It’s hard to know whether this fits into the prison movie genre or the slightly more esoteric university research movie genre. But I’ll pretend it’s the former, because it is all about imprisonment even if the people aren’t in prison. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 3:38 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 pm.