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 Prisons in the US and UK
- Prisons Abroad
- Film Noir
- Gangster, Detective, Crime, and Mystery Films
- Lawyers and the Legal Process in the Movies
- Bibliography of articles/books about prison films
- Against the Wall (HBO, 1994)
- Directed by John Frankenheimer. Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Samuel L. Jackson, Clarence Williams III. Michael Smith follows in his father's and uncle's footsteps and takes a guard position at the "town factory" -- Attica Correctional Facility. It's 1971 and when complaints from the inmates about the prison's conditions are ignored, a violent bloodbath insues with the guards taken hostage. 111 min. 999:3349
 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Big House (1930)
- Director, George Hill. Cast: Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Leila Hyams, Wallace Beery, Robert Montgomery, George F. Marion, J.C. Nugent. A vicious killer and his cellmates plan to break out of prison in this action-packed, suspenseful film that depicts the rage, desperation and loyalty of 3,000 felons inhabiting an institution built to house only 1,800. 86 min. 999:3357
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
- Directed by John Frankenheimer. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand, Edmond O'Brien, Betty Field, Telly Savalas. The true story of Robert Stroud, a convicted killer living in solitary confinement, who avoids the depths of despair by becoming a world-renowned authority on birds during his imprisonment on Alcatraz Island. 149 min. DVD 1306
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Black Mama, White Mama (1973)
- Directed by Eddie Romero. Cast: Pam Grier, Margaret Markov, Sid Haig, Lynn Borden, Zaldy Zschornack, Laurie Burton. Two extradited female prisoners in a Philippine jungle prison, prostitute Lee Daniels and guerrilla fighter Karen Brent, will do anything to escape. Their chance comes during a transport on which they are shackled together. After killing a guard they are on the run for their lives, igniting a bloody shoot out between gangsters and a group of revolutionaries. 86 min. DVD 486
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Ciasullo, Ann. "Containing "Deviant" Desire: Lesbianism, Heterosexuality, and the Women-in-Prison Narrative."
The Journal of Popular Culture 41 (2) 2008,, 195–223
 UC users only
- Holmlund, Chris. "Wham! Bam! Pam! Pam Grier as Hot Action Babe and Cool Action Mama." Quarterly Review of Film and Video Volume 22, Number 2/April-June 2005UC users only
- Mayne, Judith.(2000) "Caged and Framed: The Women-in-Prison Film." In: Framed: Lesbians, Feminists, and Media Culture. ( pp. 115 - 145 ). Minneapolis & London : University of Minnesota Press.(Main Stack PN1995.9.W6.M359 2000)
- Break of Dawn (1988)
- Written and directed by Isaac Artenstein. Based on the life story of Pedro J. Gonzalez who championed the cause of Mexican-Americans in California during the Depression years and who worked for the reform of the California penal system. 100 min. 999:1758
- The Brig (1964)
- Directed by Jonas Mekas and Adolfas Mekas. Cast: The Living Theater. Filmed performance of the play by Kenneth H. Brown. 65 min. Video/C 2987
- Brute Force (1947)
- Directed by Jules Dassin. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne DeCarlo, Ann Blyth, Ella Raines, Anita Colby, Sam Levene, Howard Duff, Art Smith, Jeff Corey. Joe Collins of Cell R-17 in Westgate Penitentiary is planning a mass breakout. The warden, Capt. Munsey, gets wind of this plan and seeks to further his career by crushing it, meeting the break with machine guns as Collins and Munsey come face to face with each other. Special features: Audo commentary by film noir specialists Alain Silver and James Ursini; a new interview with Paul Mason, author of Capturing the Media: Prison Discourse in Popular Culture; theatrical trailer; stills gallery; production stills and pressbook. 102 min. DVD 404
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Caged Heat (1974)
- Directed by Jonathan Demme. Cast: Juanita Brown, Roberta Collins, Erica Gavin, Ella Reid, Barbara Steele, Rainbeaux Smith, Warren Miller. Petty criminal Wilson is thrown into the penal hell of Connorville. Here she must fight against ruthless inmates and even more cruel, corrupt and depraved officials to survive. Eventually she forms an uneasy friendship with two hardened inmates who are seeking escape, money and revenge. 79 min. DVD 1326
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Ciasullo, Ann. "Containing "Deviant" Desire: Lesbianism, Heterosexuality, and the Women-in-Prison Narrative."
The Journal of Popular Culture 41 (2) 2008,, 195–223 UC users only
- Mayne, Judith. "Caged and framed: the women-in-prison film." In: Framed: lesbians, feminists, and media culture / Judith Mayne. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c2000. (Main Stack PN1995.9.W6.M359 2000)
- Walters, Suzanna Danuta. "Caged heat: the (R)evolution of women-in-prison films." In: Reel knockouts : violent women in the movies / edited by Martha McCaughey and Neal King. 1st ed. Austin : University of Texas Press, 2001. (Main Stack PN1995.9.W6.R454 2001)
- The Chain Gang (1930)
- Walt Disney. Animated short. Mickey and several other characters are on a prison chain gang, guarded by Pegleg Pete. They break rocks for a while, then Mickey breaks out a harmonica and everyone starts making music and/or dancing. Soon there's a jail-break, and Mickey's on the run, tracked by bloodhounds (including his future pet, Pluto, in his first appearance). He falls off a cliff and right into a jail cell. DVD 1523
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Un Chant d'Amour (1947)
- Jean Genet's story of male prisoners and a prison guard expressing self love and love for each other. Male homosexual expression is shown together with masturbation, sadism, and fantasy. 28 min. DVD 5413; 999:1070
- Giles, Jane. The Cinema of Jean Genet: Un Chant d'amour / Jane Giles. London: BFI Publishing, 1991. (Main Stack PN1998.A3.G445 1991)
- Barbaro, Fabrice. "Les idoles et la distance" (Un chant d'amour, Genet's only film) Cahiers du Cinema no435 Sept 1990. p. 74-5
- Giles, Jane. "Un chant d'amour par Jean Genet." Artforum International v 26 Jan 1988. p. 102-6
- Oswald, Laura. "The Perversion of I/Eye in Un Chant d'amour." Enclitic, vol. 7 no. 2. 1983 Fall. pp: 106-115.
- Chicago (2002)
- Directed by Rob Marshall. Cast: Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reily, Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs, Christine Baranski. In this dazzling musical set at a time when crimes of passion result in celebrity headlines, nightclub sensation Velma Kelly and spotlight-seeking Roxie Hart both find themselves on Chicago's famed Murderess Row. They also share Billy Flynn, the town's slickest lawyer with a talent for turning notorious defendants into local legends. Based on the musical play Chicago, directed and choreographed for the stage by Bob Fosse. 113 min. DVD 1850
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Cool Hand Luke (1967)
- Directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Cast: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Cannon, Robert Drivas, Lou Antonio, Strother Martin, Jo Van Fleet. Set in the Southern United States, this is a character study of Luke who is caught cutting off parking meters and is sentenced to the "chain gang." Luke's crime is increasingly revealed as nonconformity as he won't or can't conform to the arbitrary rules of his captivity. 127 min. DVD 7834; vhs 999:2055
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Dead Man Walking (1995)
- Directed by Tim Robbins. Cast: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry, R. Lee Ermey, Scott Wilson. Based on true events, this film tells of convicted killer Matthew Poncelet and Sister Helen Prejean who agreed to be the spiritual advisor of this murderer of two teenagers, prior to his death by lethal injection. 122 min. 999:1571
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Defiant Ones (1958)
- Director,Stanley Kramer. Cast: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Charles McGraw, Lon Chaney. Two convicts, one white, one black, escape from a chain gang still shackled together. As they flee an armed posse, they are hindered by their mutual mistrust. 97 min. 999:972
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- Down By Law (1986)
- Director, Jim Jarmusch. Cast: Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Benigni, Ellen Barkin.
A comedy feature about two lowlifes, a small time pimp and an unemployed disc jockey, framed for a crime they didn't commit, who escape from jail with an eccentric Italian tourist. Set in New Orleans and the swamps of Louisiana. 107 min. DVD 2760
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- Each Dawn I Die (1939)
- Director, William Keighley. Cast: James Cagney, George Raft, Jane Bryan, George Bancroft. A newspaper reporter, wrongly sentenced to prison, becomes friendly with an underworld big-shot convict. His increasing sense of hopelessness and the loyalty he feels towards his friend leads him to assist the hood in an attempted prison break. DVD special features: Special features: Warner night at the movies 1939 short subjects gallery, Stool pigeons and pine overcoats: the language of gangster films, commentary by Haden Guest, Breakdowns of 1939: studio blooper reel, Each dawn I crow, radio show with George Raft and Franchot Tone. 92 min. DVD 5831; vhs 999:3358
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
- Directed by Don Siegel. Cast: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Jack Thibeau, Fred Ward. In 29 years, the seemingly impenetrable federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island was only broken once - by three men never heard of again. This is the gritty and realistic enactment of the escape of these three men, in particular Frank Morris, the cunning bank robber who masterminded the elaborately detailed and, as far as anyone knows, ultimately successful escape. 111 min. DVD 1307
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- Escape from L.A. (1996)
- Directed by John Carpenter. Cast: Kurt Russell, Stacy Keach, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda.
In this chilling vision of the future, the year is 2013 and an earthquake has separated Los Angeles from the mainland. In the New Moral America, all citizens not conforming to the new laws (no smoking, no red meat, no Muslims in South Dakota) are deported to L.A., now a penal colony. The President's daughter has stolen a doomsday device and has fled to L.A. Now It's up to Snake Plissken to find the President's daughter and retrieve the doomsday device before its too late. 101 min. DVD 7519
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Boulenger, Gilles. John Carpenter : the prince of darkness Los Angeles : Silman-James Press, 2003. (PFA PN1998.3.C375.B68 2003)
- The Cinema of John Carpenter: the technique of terror Edited by Ian Conrich & David Woods. London : Wallflower, 2004 (Main Stack PN1998.3.C38.C56 2004)
- Cumbow, Robert C. Order in the universe : the films of John Carpenter Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2000. (MAIN: PN1998.3.C38 C8 2000; MAIN: PN1998.3.C38 C8 1990 [earlier edition])
- Escape from New York (1981)
- Directed by John Carpenter. Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Season Hubley, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau. In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a prison which houses the world's most brutal inmates. And when the President of the United States crash lands inside, only one man can bring him back: Snake Plissken, a notorious outlaw and former Special Forces war hero who, in exchange for a full pardon, descends into the decayed city and wages a blistering war against the captors. But time is short: in 24 hours, an explosive charge planted inside Snake's body will end the mission - and his life - unless he succeeds! 99 min. DVD 887
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Boulenger, Gilles. John Carpenter : the prince of darkness Los Angeles : Silman-James Press, 2003. (PFA PN1998.3.C375.B68 2003)
- The Cinema of John Carpenter: the technique of terror Edited by Ian Conrich & David Woods. London : Wallflower, 2004 (Main Stack PN1998.3.C38.C56 2004)
- Cumbow, Robert C. Order in the universe : the films of John Carpenter Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2000. (MAIN: PN1998.3.C38 C8 2000; MAIN: PN1998.3.C38 C8 1990 [earlier edition])
- Das Experiment (In German, 2001)
- Director, Oliver Hirschbiegel. A dramatization of the infamous "Stanford Prison experiment," conducted in 1971 which studied the effects of prison life and the chronology of normal into abnormal behavior. A makeshift prison is set up in a research lab, complete with cells, bars and surveillance cameras. For two weeks 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards. In the beginning the mood between both groups is insecure and soon quarrels arise as the wardens employ ever more drastic sanctions to confirm their authority. In German. 114 min. DVD 1372; vhs 999:3326
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- 15 to Life (2002?)
- Directed by Moon Jones. Cast: Moon Jones, Stefanie Tremblay, Daniel Zirilli, Jalene Mack, Alfred Holmes, Boyce Ellisl; special appearances by Black Menace, Big Slack, J Dogg. It's prison life at its grittiest in this urban tale of three teenage boys who follow in their father's footsteps through the violent system. When a young filmmaker begins a documentary on the boys, she discovers that a dirty cop is behind their wrongful incarceration. Now she must prove their innocence. 81 min. DVD 1390
- Fortress (Australia / USA, 1992)
- Directed by Stuart Gordon. Cast: Christopher Lambert, Kurtwood Smith, Loryn Locklin, Lincoln Kilpatrick.
Set in the year 2017, elements of Orwellian science-fiction and old-fashioned prison dramas are combined in this futuristic action film, as an unjustly imprisoned couple attempts to escape from a high-tech jail known as The Fortress. 110 min. DVD 7603
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971)
- Directed by Harvey Hart. Cast: Wendell Burton, Michael Greer, Zooey Hall, Danny Freedman, Larry Perkins, Jon Granik, Robert Goddier. Presents the story of a first-offender who shares a cell with three hardened criminals and is initiated into the harsh realities of the convicted man's rigid prison subculture. 102 min. 999:1078
- The Green Mile (1999)
- Directed by Frank Darabont. Cast: Tom Hanks, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter, Graham Greene, Doug Hutchison, Sam Rockwell, Barry Pepper, Jeffrey DeMunn, Patricia Clarkson, Harry Dean Stanton. Death Row guards at a penitentiary, in the 1930's, have a moral dilemma with their job when they discover one of their prisoners, a convicted murderer, has the power of faith healing and is able to perform what seem to be miracles of healing among his fellow inmates. 188 min. DVD 1342
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
 Movie Review Query Engine
- Dow, David R. "Fictional documentaries and truthful fictions: the death penalty in recent American film." Constitutional Commentary Winter 2000 v17 i3 p511
UCB users only
- Kehr, Dave "The Green Mile" (movie review)
Film Comment Jan 2000 v36 i1 p77
- Maslin, Janet
- "The walk on death row can seem very long." (movie review) The New York Times Dec 10, 1999 pB25(N) pE17(L) col 3 (18 col in)
- Williams, Linda. "Melodrama in Black and White: Uncle Tom and The Green Mile." Film Quarterly. 55(2):14-21.
2001-2002 Winter
- UC users only
- Heroes for Sale (1933)
- Director, William A. Wellman. Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, Loretta Young, Gordon Westcott, Robert Barrat. One of the "social conscience" films of the 1930s, this tells the story of Tom Holmes whose return home as a wounded morphine-addicted World War I doughboy is just the beginning of a chain of woes involving joblessness, the building and loss of a successful business and unjust imprisonment. But no matter how many times he's knocked down, he always gets back up... a tough hero for a tough time. 71 min. 999:3311
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1949)
- Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis, Preston Foster, Allen Jenkins. An itinerant ex-soldier is sentenced to a chain gang after he is wrongly implicated in a hold-up. An early social protest film based on a true story, the film helped initiate reform of the prison system. 999:61
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Perreault, Jeanne. "Chain Gang Narratives and the Politics of 'Speaking For'." Biography-An Interdisciplinary
Quarterly. 24(1):152-71. 2001 Winter UC users only
- I Want to Live! (1958)
- Cast: Susan Hayward (Barbara Graham), Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent, Theodore Bikel, Wesley Lau, Philip Coolidge. Based on true events tells the dramatic story of the life of a "B-Girl," Barbara Graham, a vagrant prostitute and fast-living party girl, which led to a sensational murder trial and afterwards, her execution in the gas chamber despite growing doubts about her guilt. The background music is made up in its entirety of progressive jazz. 121 min. DVD 1309
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bingham, Dennis. "'I Do Want To Live!': Female Voices, Male Discourse, and Hollywood Biopics." Cinema Journal. 38(3):3-26. 1999 Spring
- Jacktown (1962)
- Directed by William Martin. Cast: Patty McCormack, Richard Meade, George F. Taylor, Douglas Rutherford.
Tough guy Frankie Stossel has his life of crime interrupted when he's caught making out with an underage car hop and sentenced to Jacktown, "the world's largest prison in Jackson, Michigan." But since "morals charges is against their religion," the cons make things rough for Frankie until he escapes and takes refuge with the warden's daughter, Miss Patty McCormack, the Bad Seed herself. 62 min. DVD 9382
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Jailhouse Rock (1957)
- Directed by Richard Thorpe. Cast: Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy, Dean Jones, Jennifer Holden. Presley plays a young man who is sent to prison when he accidentally kills a man in a barroom brawl. While behind bars he takes up singing and after his release from prison is assisted in the record business by a beautiful young woman. 92 min. DVD 6224; vhs 999:764
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Last Mile (1932)
- Directed by Sam Bischoff. Cast: Howard Phillips, Preston S. Foster, George E. Stone, Noel Madison. Richard Walters is condemned to death for a murder he did not commit. He arrives on death row just before a brutal inmate leads the other convicts in a violent uprising. Walters gets caught up in the riot, while on the outside his friends are trying to find evidence of his innocence. This is a film version of the 1930 John Wexley play which previously brought stage fame to Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable. 70 min. 999:3347
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Monster's Ball (2001)
- Directed by Marc Forster. Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, Halle Berry, Sean Combs, Mos Def, Will Rokos, Milo Addica, Coronji Calhoun, Peter Boyle. Hank and Leticia inhabit stark, queasy realities of the contemporary South, he as a death row corrections officer and she as the soon-to-be widow of an inmate whose execution Hank helps conduct. In the aftermath of the execution, both lose their children to tragic deaths and they form an unlikely bond. 112 min. DVD 1218
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
- Director, Joel Coen. Cast: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Charles Durning, John Goodman, Michael Badalucco, Holly Hunter. Disenchanted with the daily drudge of a Mississippi prison farm, the silver-tongued Ulysses Everett McGill busts loose, still shackled to his two chain-gang mates. Loosely based on Homer's "Odyssey", this is the story of the three convicts and their adventures as they travel home in hopes of recovering buried loot before it's lost forever in a flood. 103 min. DVD 778
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- OZ
- Cast: Ernie Hudson, Terry Kinney, Harold Perrineau, Eamonn Walker, Kirk Acevedo, Edie Falco, Leon, Rita Moreno, Tony Musante, J.K. Simmons, Lee Tergesen, Sean Whitesell, Dean Winters, B.D. Wong. Episodes from the first year of a television drama chronicling the daily activities in an experimental unit of the Oswald Maximum Security Prison or OZ. As run by Tim McManus and overseen by Warden Leo Glenn, its all about prisoner rehabilitation over public retribution. No matter how hardened a criminal or killer, whether you're in for a few years or in for life, you have a role to play. But once inside, choose your friends carefully. Disc 1. The routine ; Visits, conjugal and otherwise ; God's chillin -- Disc 2. Capital P ; Straight life ; To your health -- Disc 3. Plan B ; A game of checkers. 451 min. DVD 1131
- Pressure Point (1962)
- Directed by Hubert Cornfield. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Bobby Darin, Peter Falk, Carl Benton Reid. A prison doctor is charged with treating a hate filled young man who's been jailed for sedition. As he probes the patient's nightmares, the psychiatrist realizes his twisted vision masks a lust for violence. But the inmate has become a model prisoner, and unless the doctor can convince officials that he's daugerous, he'll soon be back on the street. 89 min. DVD 4827
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Prison Break. Season 1(TV)
- Cast: Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Robin Tunney, Peter Stormare, Amaury Nolasco, Marshall Allman, Wade Williams.
Most men would do anything to get out of Fox River Penitentiary, but Michael Scofield will do anything to get in. His brother Lincoln has been sentenced to die for a crime he didn't commit, and the only way to save him is from the inside out. Armed with secret prison blueprints and an impossibly intricate escape plan, Michael gets himself incarcerated, and the race against time is on. Now, he'll need all of the cunning, daring, and luck he can muster...along with the assistance of some of the prison's most vile and dangerous felons. Originally broadcast on television during the 2005-2006 season.
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Discs 1 & 2: Disc 1: Pilot ; Allen ; Cell test ; Cute poison -- Disc 2: English, Fitz or Percy ; Riots, drills and the devil (Part 1) ; Riots, drills and the devil (Part 2) ; The old head. DVD 5966
- Discs 3 & 4: Disc 3: Tweener ; Sleight of hand ; And then there were 7 ; Odd man out -- Disc 4: End of the tunnel ; The rat ; By the skin & the teeth ; Brother's keeper.
DVD 5967
- Discs 5 & 6: Disc 5: J-Cat ; Bluff ; The key ; tonight -- Disc 6: Go ; Flight. DVD 5968
- Redemption. (2003)
- Directed by Vondie Curtis Hall. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Lynn Whitfield, Lee Thompson Young, Brenden Richard Jefferson, Brenda Bazinet, Wes "Maestro" Williams, Greg Ellwand, CCH Pounder. Tells the true life story of Stan 'Tookie' Williams, founder of the L.A. Crips street gang, who denounced the lifestyle that landed him behind bars. While awaiting execution in prison, he became determined to stop violence, and began writing anti-gang books for children, earning him critical acclaim - and four Nobel Peace Prize nominations. 93 min. DVD 4746
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
- Directed by Don Siegel. Cast: Neville Brand, Frank Faylen, Emile Meyer, Leo Gordon, Robert Osterloh. Locked behind the walls of a maximum security penitentiary, a cut-throat collection of hardened criminals has awaited the right moment to stage a prison-wide breakout. And now they can wait no longer. Taking their guards hostage, a vengeful mob of prisioners rises up to seize control of their cage, unleashing their pent-up rage in an all-out frenzy of violence and bloodshed. 80 min. 999:33553
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- San Quentin (1937)
- Director, Lloyd Bacon. Cast: Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Barton MacLane. What happens during the long years spent behind the walls of San Quentin? The new yard captain wants to make those years a time of rehabilitation rather than punishment, but not everyone is buying it. Special features: Warner night at the movies 1937 short subjects gallery: Vintage newsreel ; film short "Man without a country;" ; classic cartoon "Porky's double trouble;" theatrical trailers ; featurette "Welcome to the big house;" commentary by Patricia King Hanson; "Breakdowns of 1937: Studio blooper reel." 70 min. DVD 5838
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- Second Hundred Years (1927)
- Featuring Laurel and Hardy. Two convicts (Laurel & Hardy), in an escape attempt, tunnel into the warden's office, instead. They then disguise themselves as painters and walk out the front gate. Needing new clothes, they steal suits from visiting dignitaries, take their places in a limousine, and are delivered back to the same prison for a tour. 23 min. DVD 369
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- Sex in Chains (Geschlecht in Fesseln: die Sexualnot der Gefangenen) (1928)
- Directed by William Dieterle. Cast: William Dieterle, Gunnar Tolns, Mary Johnson, Paul Henckels, Hans Heinrich Von Twardowski, Hugo Werner-Kahle, Carl Goetz. When Sommer accidentally kills a nighclub patron harassing his wife Helene, he's sentenced to three years in prison. Denied the comforts promised in their marriage, the young newlyweds risk their future and find release where they can -- Sommer in the arms of a handsome fellow prisoner and Helene with the boss whose kindness becomes her only solace. 90 min. DVD 3309
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- Director, Frank Darabont. Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, James Whitmore. Two convicts, one white and one black, never give up the dream of freedom, and together they turn hope and friendship into an uplifting bond no prison can ever take away. 142 min. DVD 1301
- Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- Short Eyes (1977)
- Directed by Robert M. Young. Cast: Bruce Davison, Jose Perez, Nathan George, Don Blakely, Shawn Elliot, Miguel Pinero. An eloquent drama detailing the simmering hostilities and ethnic rivalries of prison life. When a convicted child molester enters the prison community his contemptible crime triggers the other inmates' barely repressed violence. They begin to act out their own perverted code of revenge while the prison guards look the other way. Based on the award winning play by Miguel Pinero. Filmed entirely in "The Tombs" (Manhattan's detention center) 100 min. 999:168
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Stir Crazy (1980)
- Director, Sidney Poitier. Cast: Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, George Stanford Brown, JoBeth Williams. Two zany drifters are mistakenly sent to prison for a robbery they didn't commit. In prison they find they must rely on their wits in order to survive a sadistic warden, a hulking mass-murderer and worst of all, the inter-prison rodeo. 107 min. DVD 1308
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Stranger Inside (HBO, 2001)
- Director, Cheryl Dunye. Cast: Yolanda Ross, Davenia McFadden, Rain Phoenix, Ella Joyce, Conchata Ferrell, Lee Garlington, LaTonya T. Hagans, Medusa.
Treasure Lee just moved out of "juvenile" into the State Pen. Now she needs to learn how the system works, search out where the power lies, and find herself a new lover. She soon meets Brownie, a jail-toughened lifer, who works through her extended family of loyal girls. The closer Treasure gets to Brownie, the more enemies she makes. 90 min. DVD 3368
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Sullivan's Travels (1941)
- Directed by Preston Sturges. Cast: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Margaret Hayes, Porter Hall, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore. A successful Hollywood director disguises himself as a bum and sets off to see America from the bottom up. In the midst of the brutality and despair, he makes a valuable discovery--that what the downtrodden need most is laughter. "Perhaps more than any other Sturges movie, Sullivan’s Travels commits itself to extreme changes in mood and tone. The chase scene, and Lake’s sped-up sprint through a backlot in hoop skirt and bloomers, are pure slapstick. At the other extreme is a chain-gang sequence of shocking realism for 1941 Hollywood." [Bright Lights] 91 min. DVD 790; VHS 999:358
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
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- Take the Money and Run (1969)
- Directed by Woody Allen. Cast: Allen, Janet Margolin. Woody Allen plays Virgil Starkwell, a compulsive thief who can't manage to pull off a caper without things going hilariously haywire. 86 min. DVD 106; VHS 999:799
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Up the River (1930)
- Directed by John Ford. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer, Humphrey Bogart, William Collier, Joan Lawes.
Two prisoners, Saint Louis and Dannemora Dan, escape during a theatrical production in order to go to the aid of Steve, a former prisoner whose past is about to be exposed by the man who framed his wife (a former prison inmate) unless Steve agrees to help him commit another crime. Features Spencer Tracy in his first film and Humphrey Bogart in his second. 85 min. DVD 9370
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- White Heat (1949)
- Directed by Raoul Walsh. Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Fred Clark. Cody Jarrett is a psychopathic gangster and a ruthless killer who is anything but rational with his fierce headaches and strong mother-fixation. 115 min. DVD 3512; also VHS 999:817
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
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- Fischer, Lucy. "Mama's Boy: Filial Hysteria in White Heat." In: Screening the Male: Exploring Masculinities in Hollywood Cinema. / edited by Steven Cohan and Ina Rae Hark. pp: 70-83. London; New York: Routledge, c1993. (UCB Main PN1995.9.M46 S36 1993)
- Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- Director: David Lean. Captured by the Japanese, British soldiers and their ranking officer, Colonel Nicholson are forced to construct a strategic railroad bridge. Despite cruel treatment by the brutal Colonel Saito, Nicholson displays unyielding courage and the bridge becomes a matter of obsessive British pride to him. Meanwhile, the British High Command has instructed a commando team to destroy the vital span.
161 min. DVD 547; also on VHS 999:400
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Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Brownlow, Kevin. "The making of David Lean's film of 'The Bridge on the River Kwai.'. Cineaste v22, n2 (Spring, 1996):10 (7 pages).
- Carandiru (2003)
- Directed by Hector Babenco. Cast: Rodrigo Santoro, Milton Goncalves, Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos, Maria Luisa Mendonca, Caio Blat. Set in Sao Paulo's House of Detention. An oncologist arrives at the jail to test patients for HIV infection. Seeing the disease, overcrowding, and rampant circulation of drugs, the doctor comes to realize the internal power structure among the prisoners. Narratives develop, including the attempted murder of Dagger, the solitary confinement of Chico, and the romance between Lady Di and Too Bad. The doctor eventually sees the prisoners as survivors, leading up to the violent conclusion: a reconstruction of the October 2, 1992, prison riot known as the Carandiru Massacre. 145 min. DVD 4086
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- The Colditz Story (UK, 1954)
- Directed by Guy Hamilton. Cast: John Mills, Eric Portman, Lionel Jeffries, Bryan Forbes, Ian Carmichael, Richard Wattis, Theodore Bikel.
Deep inside the Reich, prisoners of every nationality make it a point of honor to attempt departure from the ultimate in escape-proof prisons. This is the true story of men who dared defy the might of Hitler's fortress, Colditz Castle. 98 min. DVD 3742
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- Day Break (Dam e sobh) (Iran, 2006)
- Directed by Hamid Rahmanian. Cast: Hossein Yari, Zabi Afshar, Hoda Nasseh, Atash Taghipour, Maryan Amirjallali. In Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender's life. Day Break, based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside Tehran's century-old prison, revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. When the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day, Mansour's execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness. 85 min. DVD 6318
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- The Deer Hunter (1978)
- Director: Michael Cimino. Tracks a group of steelworker pals from a Pennsylvania blast furnace to the cool hunting grounds of the Alleghenies to the lethal cauldron of Vietnam. It is a drama of friendship and courage and of what happens to these qualities under stress. 183 min. (2 tapes) DVD 95; VHS 999:708
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- Empire of the Sun (1987)
- Directed by Steven Spielberg. Cast: John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers, Christian Bale.
Based on J.G. Ballard's autobiographical novel, tells the story of a boy, James Graham, whose privileged life is upturned by the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, December 8, 1941. Separated from his parents, he is eventually captured, and taken to Soo Chow confinement camp, next to a captured Chinese airfield. Amidst the sickness and food shortages in the camp, Jim attempts to reconstruct his former life, all the while bringing spirit and dignity to those around him. Special features: Behind-the-scenes documentary "A China odyssey : Empire of the sun, a film by Steven Spielberg" (English language soundtrack with optional subtitles in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Thai) ; cast and crew biographies ; theatrical trailer ; awards ; scene selections. 153 min.DVD 1056
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- La Grande Illusion(The Grand Illusion) (France, 1937)
- Directed by Jean Renoir. Jean Renoir's classic anti-war film. A non-inflammatory World War I film set on the front in 1916, before American involvement. It is a study of a prisoner of war camp and the disillusionment of captors and prisoners alike. 111 min.DVD 141; DVD 3494; also VHS 999:82
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- Great Escape (1963)
- Director: John Sturges. Film based on the true story of Allied servicemen during World War II who tunneled their way out of a German prison camp to freedom with nothing but guts, perseverance and ingenuity. 173 min. (2 tapes) 999:833:1&2
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- The Hanoi Hilton (1949)
- Directed by Lionel Chetwynd. Cast: Michael Moriarty, Jeffrey Jones, Paul Le Mat, Stephen Davies, Lawrence Pressman, Aki Aleong, Gloria Carlin, John Diehl, Rick Fitts, David Soul. Based on true events, this drama focuses on the sufferings, torture and brutal treatment American P.O.W.s had to deal with daily while in North Vietnam's Hoa Lo Prison, the most infamous prisoner of war camp in Hanoi. The film focuses on the resistance the prisoners gave to their captors and the strong bonds formed by the Americans during their captivity. Produced as a tribute to all Americans who served in the Vietnam War. 126 min. 999:3217
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- Hart's War (2002)
- Directed by Gregory Hoblit. Cast: Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard, Cole Hauser, Marcel Iures, Linus Roache. Honor, courage, and sacrifice are revealed in unexpected ways as a ranking U.S. prisoner in a Nazi POW camp is joined in December 1944 by a law-student lieutenant who'd been captured despite his father's powerful military connections. When a black pilot from the famous Tuskegee airmen is falsely accused of murdering a fellow prisoner, Lt. Hart tries his case and discovers the real motivation behind the ranking officer's kangaroo court. 125 min. DVD 1209
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- Hogan's Heroes. 1 (TV)
- Performers: Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer, John Banner, Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Ivan Dixon, Larry Hovis. The Informer (the original pilot, airdate Sept. 17, 1965) -- Kommandant of the year (airdate Oct. 1, 1965). The informer: In this original pilot episode of the comic television series about American prisoners of war, a German spy witnesses Hogan's underground operation and can't believe his eyes. Not it's up to the heroes to make sure no one believes his story!. Kommandant of the year: The heroes must create a diversion before they can sabotage a German rocket-bomb stashed inside the camp. Thanks to the vanity of the camps Kommandant and a phony award ceremony -- the mission is a booming success! 50 min. Video/C 8765
- In the Name of the Father (Ireland / UK, 1993)
- Directed by Jim Sheridan. Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson, Terry George and Jim Sheridan. The fact-based story of Gerry Conlon, a petty thief from Belfast. When he angers the IRA, his father sends him to England where, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, he is accused of a terrorist bombing and forced to confess. He and his father, along with friends of Gerry, are found guilty and sentenced to life in prison as members of the "Guildford Four". Behind bars, Gerry works for 15 years with the help of a dedicated lawyer, to clear their names. Based on the autobiographical book Proved Innocent by Gerry Conlon. 185 min. 999:2052
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- Inside (1996)
- Directed by Arthur Penn. Cast: Nigel Hawthorne, Eric Stoltz, Louis Gossett, Jr., Ian Roberts, Janine Eser, Louis Van Niekerk. An idealistic university professor is arrested for conspiring to overthrow the racist government in South Africa and is ruthlessly interrogated by a police colonel during his imprisonment. Ten years later, another political prisoner who witnessed the event has become an investigator of crimes of physical and mental abuse by the previous regime. When he confronts the colonel will justice finally be done? 94 min. DVD 500
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- Karma (India, 1965)
- Directed by Subhash Ghai. Cast: Dilip Kumar, Nutan, Naseeruddin Shah, Jachie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Poonam Dhillon, Dara Singh, Anupam Kher, Shakti Kapoor. Rana, a prison warden and a strong and honest jailer, believes in the philosophy of criminal rehabilitation. Following his own beliefs and methods he plans a secret mission employing three death row inmates to infiltrate a terrorist camp. In Hindi with English subtitles. 178 min. DVD 2516
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- Kiss of the Spider Woman. (Brazil / USA, 1985)
- A homosexual and a politically active journalist share a prison cell in an unnamed South American country. Though they initially have nothing in common, a strong relationship between the cellmates develops. 119 min. 999:224
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- Man Escaped (Un Condamne a Mort s'est Echappe, ou, Le Vent Souffle) (France, 1956)
- Director, Robert Bresson. Cast: Francois Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock. Based on a true story, tells of a French Resistance fighter who is sent to an infamous prison in 1943, where 7,000 of the 12,000 prisoners housed there died either by natural means or by execution. Lt. Fontaine is certain that execution awaits him, and begins planning his escape. For a period of time he goes it alone, but reluctantly takes on a partner. He gets some help from a couple of prisoners allowed to stroll in the exercise yard, but for the most part he is a figure of isolation. 100 min. DVD 2770
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- Memorias do Carcere (Brazil, 1984)
- Director, Nelson Pereira dos Santos. The Brazilian author, Graciliano Ramos, under suspicion of extreme left-wing views, was imprisoned on a penal isle near Rio de Janeiro from 1936-1937 during a period of political repression. Film is adapted from his vivid recollections of prison life, based on his posthumous memoirs. 121 min. 999:3291 (In Portuguese w/o subtitles; 218 min. - 999:1672)
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- Merry Christmas, Mister Lawrence (UK / Japan, 1982)
- Directed by Nagisa Oshima. Cast: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi, Jack Thompson. British army officer Jack Celliers is sentenced to a Japanese P.O.W. camp in Java where he engages in a private war of wills with the camp's commander and a belligerent sergeant. Despite the gruesome setting, Celliers and his fellow prisoner John Lawrence come to understand and respect the special Japanese code of honor. 124 min. 999:3708
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- Midnight Express (UK / USA, 1978)
- Directed by Alan Parker. Cast: Brad Davis, John Hurt, Randy Quaid, Irene Miracle. Based on the nonfiction book by William Hayes with William Hoffer. American citizen Billy Hayes is sentenced to four years in a brutal Turkish prison after being caught trying to smuggle hashish out of Istanbul. When his sentence is changed to life just days before his release, he has no choice but to try to escape. 121 min. DVD 1310
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- Papillon (1973)
- Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Anthony Zerbe, Don Gordon. Based on the true story of Henri Charriere, also known as Papillon, a petty criminal who was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in a French penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana, South America. He is determined to escape but attempt after attempt meets with resulting recapture and incarcerations in solitary confinement. 150 min. DVD 5081
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- Rescue Dawn (US, 2006)
- Directed by Werner Herzog. Cast: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies.
When U.S. fighter pilot Dieter Dengler escapes death after being shot down over one of the most intense front lines in the Vietnam War, his troubles were just beginning. He is taken captive by the Vietnamese Army and is forced to endure a harrowing stint in a Vietnamese prison camp. Dengler and a small band of his fellow captives stage a death-defying escape. Based on true events. Special features: Commentary by director Werner Herzog and interviewer Norman Hill; deleted scenes; the making of the true story; "Unfinished business: telling Dieter's story", "Strength of character", "War stories", "What would Dieter do?", deleted scenes. (See also: Little Dieter Knows How to Fly documentary on which this movie was based DVD 994) 125 min. DVD 9326
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- Scenes of Convict Life (Au bagne) (France, 1905)
- Director, Ferdinand Zecca. "At an island penal institution, new prisoners are brought in one-by-one, and introduced to the harsh realities of prison life. They are put in fetters, sent to perform hard physical labor, and treated brutally. One convict manages to cut through the bars on his cell window. He climbs out, steals a boat, and begins a desperate attempt to escape from the island." [Internet Movie Database] 8 min. Video/C 999:354
- Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze) (Italy, 1978)
- Directed by Lina Wertmuller. Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, Shirley Stoler, Elena Fiore, Enzo Vitale, Mario Conti, Piero Di Iorio. The story of a small-time crook and lady-killer who shoots his sister's pimp to save the family honor. He is caught, tried, sent to an insane asylum, volunteers for the Italian army during World War II and ends up in a Nazi concentration camp. 115 min. DVD 352
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- Some Mother's Son (Ireland / USA, 1996)
- Directed by Terry George. Cast: Helen Mirren, Fionnula Flanaghan, Aidan Gillen. Based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in a Britain prison, in which IRA prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against the treatment of IRA prisoners as criminals rather than as prisoners of the war. 112 min. 999:3118
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- Stalag 17 (1952)
- Directed by Billy Wilder. Cast: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger. During World War II, a group of G.I.s are thrown together in the notorious German prison camp, Stalag 17. For the most part, they spend their time scheming ways to help each other escape. But when two prisoners are killed in an escape attempt, it becomes obvious that there is a spy among them. 120 min. 999:813
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- Three Came Home (1950)
- Directed by Jean Negulesco. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Patric Knowles, Sessue Hayakawa, Florence Desmond. During World War II, the Far East island of Borneo is captured by the Japanese. Based on true events this is the story of American author Agnes Newton Keith who along with her husband, a British administrator, is arrested. Their family is separated and placed into different prison camps. The camp commander takes an avid interest in the authoress, but does not intervene when she is subject to torture, starvation and humiliation at the hands of the guards. Told in agonizing detail, this is the story of her confinement and attempt at escape. 106 min. DVD 1463
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- Todos a la Carcel (Spain, 1993)
- Directed by Luis G. Berlanga. A celebration in honor of the "International Day of Awareness" brings together political prisoners in a model Valencia prison, politicians and entertainers in a comedy of errors. In Spanish without titles. PAL format. 105 min. 999:1854
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- The Twilight (Gagooman) (Iran, 2002)
- Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof. Cast: Fatemeh Bijan, Zolikha Bijan, Ali-Reza Mahdaviyan, Ali-Reza Shalikaran. Based on a true story, Reza, who has spent half his life in prison is helped by the warden who arranges a marriage for him with Fatemeh, a female prisoner. The bride and groom, who can spend one night a week together, eventually have a child and are finally released. As Reza attempts to find work to support his family, he finds that his new obligations imprison him in another way. 83 min. DVD 4168
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- The Wall (Le Mur) (Turkey / France, 1983)
- Directed by Yilmaz Güney. Amid the brutality visited upon the boys held in the Ankara Prison, including beatings, rape and starvation, the filmmaker (a former political prisoner in Turkey), arrives at a political message of revolution as an act of hope in this allegory of Turkish life. In Turkish with English subtitles. 117 min. 999:2309
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- Women's Prison (Zendan-e zanan) (Iran, 2002)
- Directed by Manijeh Hekmat. Cast: Roya Nonahali, Roya Taymourian, Pegah Ahangarani, Golab Adineh, Maryam Boobani.
Famously 'banned' for more than a year by Iranian authorities, this taboo-breaking film is based on Manijeh Hekmat's long fieldwork, among women prisoners in Iran. She depicts the lives of Iran's lost generation in the two decades since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, using the claustrophobic life of women behind bars as a metaphor for the entire society. Her protagonist, Mitra, is in prison for killing her violent stepfather. On the eve of a prison riot she confronts Tahereh, the new warden, whose dogmatic views she challenges fearlessly. Over the course of the next 20 years, Tahereh's attitude toward her prisoners changes and oftens, which reflects the country's shifting political stance. Eventually Mitra, aged and exhausted, is finally released, but Tahereh left behind, is now more like a prisoner herself. 106 min. DVD 6866
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