Prison Films

losthorizon

Just wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of any good prison films as I seem to enjoy them. Saw I am a Fugitive from a chain gang a few nights ago. Excellent film based on a true story. Even though the film was made in 1932 it still packs an emotional wallop. Its a must see.

I've also enjoyed the Shawshank Redemption, King Rat and A Prophet so I was wondering does anyone have some other good suggestions as prison films seem to be pretty rare on the ground.

Thanks.

Black Swan

"Papillon" (1973), starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.

don ramo

Rescue Dawn, A US Fighter pilot's struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War, it has christian bale and steve zahn, havent seen it in years, so i cant remember if its a proper prison film,

mikemac1

Midnight Express, a drug smuggler goes to a Turkish jail

Felon, staged fights inside prison, I liked it. I hadn't come across Stephen Dorff before, he did an excellent job in his role

Corkfeen

'The Rock' could be considered a prison film except I guess it's more of a hostage situation in a prison, Michael Bay actually made it into a rather good film. :O In terms of a more legitimate candidate, 'Bronson'' is well worth checking out. Basically jump started Tom Hardy's career

Tipsy McSwagger

Animal Factory directed by Steve Buscemi and starring Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke and Edward Furlong.

ChtuluDawn

Scum

An exceptionally brutal film starring a very young Ray Winstone.

Mickeroo

Well The Shawshank Redemption is an obvious one I would think!!

From recent years there was on called The Escapist I enjoyed. Stars Dominic Cooper and Brian Cox and was filmed in Kilmainham Jail! I think it was directed by the same guy who went on to make Rise of the Planet of the Apes which is also a damn good prison movie imo!

clappyhappy

The green mile, probably tom hanks best acting imo, can't remember the guys name that played the prisoner but he was superb also. Great movie.

Keith186

Felon is worth a watch if you like these films

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1117385/

DHFrame

Not a film but Might be worth watching the TV series OZ. fantastic but not for the faint hearted.

Cazale

Blood in, Blood out is worth a watch.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106469/

JohnFalstaff

The Jericho Mile is a good prison movie. It was made for TV and is one of Michael Mann's first films.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079366/

Special mention also for Cool Hand Luke - "Nobody can eat fifty eggs!"

mikemac1

An Innocent Man, it's a Tom Selleck film

As per the title, he is innocent but he goes to jail

Immediately gets targeted and singled out by the black gang
And in that situation an ordinary working man like you or I is forced to take action but can he do it?

I realy like that film, watched it a few times

johnny_ultimate

Cell 211 was out last year, which might fit the bill. It's pulpier than the likes of A Prophet. I wasn't the biggest fan of it at all, but others were more favourable. Thread about it here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056329276

RichT

Not strictly a prison film, but if you like the genre you will love One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest.

Orim

Murder in the First

Quite a harrowing film about a man being abused by the warden and the prison itself. A good cast with Kevin Bacon giving an excellent performance as the prisoner

On the other hand, Escape from New York. Not your conventional prison but it's Kurt Russel kicking ass.

wexie

....Nobody mentioned Brubaker or Cool hand Luke?

ukonline

-

Escape from Alcatraz.

Great movie with Clint Eastwood, based on a true story IIRC.

-

somuj

Season one of prison break is watchable. A film called lockdown is good too and fairly brutal.

quickbeam

The Great Escape and Stalag 17 are great prisoner of war films.

Escape from New York would also count as a prison film.

Face/Off too, if it counts, only a small portion set in prison.

Ant

Seeing as some people have mentioned TV shows, how about Prisoner: Cell Block H? :pac:

More seriously, I loved the first season of Prison Break. While the story was totally far-fetched, the characters and their back-stories were excellent, the writing was sharp and the drama was perfectly paced. The series showed how the protagonist had to adjust to the social environment of being in prison and make friends and alliances with other prisoners. I enjoyed the second season but gave up watching it after seeing the first few episodes of Season 3 as they were scraping the barrel at that stage.

For feature films, I loved Shawshank Redemption, Cool Hand Luke, the Great Escape and liked A Prophet. My favourite film that hasn't yet been mentioned so far in this thread is In the Name of the Father. Much of the film is set in prison and shows how the Conlon father and son react differently to their imprisonment.

Another Irish-related film - but much more grim and bleak - is Hunger which came out a few years ago and stars Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands. I don't know think this really fits in with what the OP is looking for as the last half of the film really just shows him dying slowly but it's raw, visceral and is heavy with pathos.

An excellent film that deals with one experience of being in prison is Dead Man Walking. While a great film, it's a lot different as it focuses on only one prisoner, his relationship with his spiritual consellor, the consequences of his crimes, and the death penalty as his punishment. There are no other prisoners in the film - just guards.

Finally, Alien 3 is set on a prison. The film seems to get a lot of bad press but I thought the claustrophobic setting of a prison worked well for a horrific monster flick (that it was the first Alien film I saw in the cinema probably added to my enjoyment of it).

Now that I've typed out the last 3 paragraphs, I'm not sure that they're what the OP is looking for but I think they're all good films. If anyone wants a laugh they could watch Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor as framed prisoners in goof-ball comedy, Stir Crazy which I remember enjoying greatly as a kid.

Edit: I just thought of Escape to Victory. I've never seen it from the start but it's an enjoyable WWII prisoner-of-war escape movie mixed with soccer. Now that I think about it, there's probably a host of films where characters are imprisoned in POW camp or otherwise interned during a war. e.g. Empire of the Sun.

rubadubduba

wexie wrote: »

....Nobody mentioned Brubaker or Cool hand Luke?

brubaker one of the best films i saw and based on a true story.

another good is the A Prophet.

Rovi

The Longest Yard (1974 version!!!); comedy/sports/prison movie starring Burt Reynolds.

leedslad

The Mean Machine (based on The Longest Yard)by Barry Skolnick and starring Vinny Jones,Jason Statham and Danny Dyer.
Some Mother's Son, directed by Terry George,Co-written by Jim Sheridan and starring Helen Mirren,Fionnula Flanagan and John Lynch

kryogen

Lock Up was enjoyable for what it was, for whatever reason, I have seen loads of prison films but can't think of any right now!

The tv series Oz was excellent however if you would give that a try

Tigger

wexie wrote: »

....Nobody mentioned Brubaker or Cool hand Luke?

these

blindside88

DHFrame wrote: »

Not a film but Might be worth watching the TV series OZ. fantastic but not for the faint hearted.

+1 oz is a great watch and would highly recommend (you do have to watch a fair few bjs and more bumming than I care to admit I watched)