“Shawshank Redemtion” was killer I really liked it alot. I used to think it was “Cool Hand Luke” but I think Shawshank has got it(Cool Hand Luke) beat.
Well what about y’all? What is the BEST prison movie IYHO?
“The Rescuers.”
Little mice free captive humans.
- Shawshank Redemption
- American Me
- Stalag 17 POW movie
The Great Escape.
Rescuers Down Under.
Bridge on the River Kwai.
“Shawshank” is definitely way the hell up there, and is IMHO the best.
Check out an early Burt Lancaster flick called Brute Force. An excellent genre picture, with great performances by Lancaster and Hume Cronyn as a sadistic guard. Contains a chilling scene showing just what happens to informers in this prison. Man, was Lancaster cool, or what?
I’ll also second “Bridge On The River Kwai” and add a similarly-themed POW film, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.”
Speaking of Lancaster, “The Birdman of Alcatraz,” the more so because it’s based on a true story.
And let us not forget “Papillon.”
Blood In, Blood Out (Bound By Honor)
What? No mention yet of Caged Heat, the Citizen Kane of women’s prison flicks?
“Pappilon”
I think the spelling is right.
Midnight Express is at least in the top 5.
More recently, Brokedown Palace was also pretty good.
#1) Rikki-O (aka: The Story of Ricky, or Riki-Oh)
#2) Shawshank - great movie
I’m just here to chalk up my vote for
Shawshank Redemption
In fact, I just went out and bought it last night. Which is really funny, because considering how many times I’ve rented and borrowed that damned movie, I would have saved myself a lot of money if I had just bought it when it first came out!
As long as we’re counting prison escape movies, how about “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”? It also wins the title for best prison movie soundtrack, hands down.
There was a recent TV feature (Discovery?) on Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz, which leaned heavily to the view that he was a sleazy, foul-mouthed sociopath. Burt Lancaster cleaned him up a lot for the movie.
How 'bout The Jericho Mile or The Longest Yard?
A more sobering flick was the early Sean Penn vehicle Bad Boys.
I’ll see your Shawshank Redemption and The Great Escape and raise you a Cool Hand Luke.
Also, allow me to post the most recently over-rated prison movie; The Green Mile. Melodramatic schlock.
Cheers,
Hodge
How come no one has mentioned “The Green Mile”?
BTW, Shawshank Redemption gets my vote too. Great movie.
Hey, what was that Linda Blair movie? You know, the one where they all hold her down and tell her to “meet Johnny. Johnny Mop.”
OK, OK.
Shawshank Redemption
Cool Hand Luke
White Heat
Honorable mention for amusing me goes to The Longest Yard.
Another vote here for “The Shawshank Redemption”. Who says Stephen King only knows how to write horror?
Some good ones that haven’t been mentioned:[ul][li]Murder in the First- Kevin Bacon turned in an Oscar-worthy performance here.[/li][li]Runaway Train- Technically a movie about an escape from prison, and technically, the whole movie is a metaphor and not really about prison in the first place, but it does have some good prison scenes, and I love the film.[/li][li]Escape from Alcatraz- Clint busts out.[/li][li]The opening sequence of Raising Arizona.[/li][li]Parts of American History X.[/li]Bad Boys.[/ul]
Obviously “what we have here is a failure…to communicate.”
C’mon folks, you can’t honestly believe that “Shawshank Redemption” (aka The Movie That Would Not End) is better than “Cool Hand Luke.”
“I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang” – not only a great film, but highly influential, not only as a film, but as a social document.