# Greatest prison escape movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646 "2012-08-06T19:04:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646/21 "2012-08-10T14:07:03Z")
Would we be including “Cool Hand Luke” in this? Oh, dag nab it, what is the one with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor??? Stir Crazy, that’s it! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646/22 "2012-08-10T14:21:42Z")
I’d say it’s a toss-up between The Great Escape and Escape from Alcatraz. They’re both good for different reasons. Papillon is pretty good, but not great (IMO). ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646/23 "2012-08-10T23:16:20Z")
I seem to remember a film set in a castle or something like it where the prisoners build a glider to escape the Germans. Anybody remember that one? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646/24 "2012-08-10T23:20:56Z")
Damn. I saw this and came to post **Le Trou** and was ninja’d right in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646/25 "2012-08-10T23:39:34Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > I seem to remember a film set in a castle or something like it where the prisoners build a glider to escape the Germans. Anybody remember that one? That may have been a documentary. Colditz Castle was used by the Nazis to house some of the most determined escape artists among the POWs. Some of them built a [glider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_Cock) to launch from the castle roof and across a nearby river. The castle was liberated before it could be used. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646/26 "2012-08-11T00:43:48Z")
The Shawshank Redemption. Then The Great Escape. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646/27 "2012-08-11T00:51:53Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > That may have been a documentary. Colditz Castle was used by the Nazis to house some of the most determined escape artists among the POWs. Some of them built a [glider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_Cock) to launch from the castle roof and across a nearby river. The castle was liberated before it could be used. Actually, it was _Escape of the Birdmen_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646/28 "2012-08-11T01:30:17Z")
I was disappointed by _Escape from Alcatraz_, and very much so by _A Man Escaped_, I must admit. But _Chicken Run_ and _Shawshank Redemption_ are both very good. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646/29 "2012-08-11T03:30:32Z")
For the sake of completeness. A few others that haven’t been mentioned: Con Air Victory [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-prison-escape-movie/630646.md?page=1)