Highest-Rated Movies about 'Death Row', Sort by Popularity

Deadline (2004), After Innocence (2005), Redemption (2004), The Execution of Wanda Jean (2002), Dancer in the Dark (2000), The Thin Blue Line (1988), Just Mercy (2019), The Life of David Gale (2003) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Death Row movies.

#16. The Hellions (1961)

Storyline: A fictional story on the real life work of St. Louis-based Jesuit priest, Father Charles Dismas Clark, is told, he who is assigned to work in a Catholic high school, but who feels he can best serve in providing guidance to convicts and ex-cons, the latter specifically by helping them reintegrate into society, including finding them housing and employment in a society that is less than welcoming to them, largely resulting in those ex-cons once again committing crimes and being sent back to prison otherwise. This work often places him at odds with the authorities as he is unwilling to betray the confidence of those convicts and ex-cons, even in matters of a criminal nature, they who only confide in him in he earning their trust. He is able to enlist the assistance of lawyer Louis Rosen, who eventually buys into Father Clark's view of assisting this marginalized population. The story told is of young ex-con Billy Lee Jackson, just released from prison and who is destined to recommit crimes in being all he knows. Despite their difficult introduction in which Billy wanted to show how tough he is, Father Clark is able to get through to him to help him find gainful employment as well as a place to live. In the process, Billy is eventually even able to find love, with socialite Ellen Henley who can see the inherent goodness in him. The problem becomes if Billy will turn back to a life of crime if he feels that even one person isn't giving him a fair shake. Things become even more complicated with journalist George McHale, who wants it both ways by trying to write an exposé of Father Clark in what he sees as the Father's protection of the criminal element, while glorifying crime in the way he shapes his stories.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: outlaw, police sergeant, townspeople, lawman, family, criminal, brooding ...

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#17. Return to Sender (2004)

Storyline: Charlotte Cory is a young woman convict on Death Row who has built up a friendship with Frank Nitzche through mail correspondence, whilst her attorney desperately tries to appeal the verdict before Charlotte's time runs out. With only days to spare Frank realizes that he has fallen in love with Charlotte and discovers that there is much more to the tragic circumstances of her imprisonment than he first thought - her life is now in his hands. Frank races to solve the puzzle that will reveal the truth, and tell the secrets that both he and Charlotte have been concealing, before it's too late.—Andrew Brown

Plot Keywords: inmate, lawyer, brother-in-law, pen pal, judge, woman, melodramatic ...

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#18. The 7th Dawn (1964)

Storyline: The end of WW2 finds Major Ferris fighting alongside guerrilla groups in the jungles of Malaysia. Major Ferris is an American who was attached to the Australian 8th Army and stayed behind to co-ordinate native guerrilla groups. When the Japanese unconditionally surrender, everyone is rejoicing but a British officer pertinently comments that although the Malaysian people aided the British to defeat the Japanese their allegiance will shift and they might not be so friendly towards the British in the near future. Malaysia is a British colony and like many other colonies it struggles to gain its independence from the European powers. Major Ferris' closest friend and comrade during the war, Malaysian colonel Ng, is asked by Ferris to join him into a business venture. Ferris has purchased a few acres of land rich in rubber trees and tin mines. He offers Ng an equal partnership in the venture but colonel Ng refuses. He explains that he has to go to Moscow to study at a school for political cadre. The two friends part ways. Eight years later, the British already have major problems in Malaysia. Many guerrilla groups openly attack the British army convoys, kill British officers, raid local plantations and businesses, rob the payroll of local companies, kidnap the European colonists and destroy British colonial property in the region. The British government is negotiating a peaceful withdrawal of British colonial forces from Malaysia promising total independence to the country. But the guerrilla leaders do not trust the word of the British. Therefore, they continue the guerrilla war against the colonial authorities. Many European colonists, plantation and business owners, sell their companies and assets and leave Malaysia. The only one not concerned by the violent events surrounding him is Major Ferris. His plantations and tin mines are not attacked by the rebels. When he drives in his convertible on local roads, the guerrilla groups laying in ambush do not harm him. One day, the English-language local newspapers, quoting a Soviet propaganda newspaper, indicate that former Malaysian guerrilla leader, colonel Ng, has returned from Moscow to co-ordinate all guerrilla groups in Malaysia. The chief of police and the British Army commander in the region arrive at Major Ferris' house to confirm the fact that during the war, Ferris worked closely with Ng against the Japanese forces. When Ferris confirms the fact, the two British officials ask him to go into the jungle and contact Ng with a message from the British. They want to convey to the guerrilla leader that the British have sincere intentions of withdrawing from Malaysia and allowing the country to become fully independent. They also want the guerrillas to cease their attacks on the British military and the colonists in order to allow them time to organize their departure from Malaysia. The officials hope that Major Ferris can persuade Ng and the rebel guerrillas to co-operate. A few days later, Ferris sneaks into the jungle, alone, in search of his old war buddy, colonel Ng.—nufs68

Plot Keywords: businessman, girlfriend, revolutionary, daughter, tense, gritty, thrilling ...

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#19. 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1933)

Storyline: Hardened criminal Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) enters Sing Sing prison convinced that his reputation and some bribery through his lawyer, Joe Finn (Louis Calhern), will control warden Paul Long (Arthur Byron). But Long rejects the bribe and insists that Connors accept his role as just another convict. After initial hostility, Connors knuckles under, and over time wins Long's trust. However, when his girlfriend, Fay (Bette Davis), is gravely injured by Finn, his reformation is put to the test.

Plot Keywords: criminal, warden, lawyer, girlfriend, convict, tense, striking ...

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#20. Just Cause (1995)

Storyline: Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood) is facing the electric chair for the murder of a young girl. Eight years after the crime, he calls in Paul Armstrong (Sir Sean Connery), a professor of law, to help prove his innocence. Armstrong quickly uncovers some overlooked evidence to present to the local police, but they aren't interested, Bobby was their killer.

Plot Keywords: professor, sheriff, serial killer, death row inmate, wife, daughter, brash ...

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#21. True Story (2015)

Storyline: Jonah Hill plays Michael Finkel, a recently terminated New York Times journalist who's struggling for work after a story gone wrong. One day, he receives a phone call from a man regarding an FBI Most Wanted individual named Christian Longo, who's been captured and claimed to be living as Finkel. Longo and Finkel meet and form a potentially marriage shattering bond while Longo is in prison awaiting his trial. Finkel exchanges journalism tips for the real events behind Longo's alleged heinous acts of murdering his family. Through the twists and turns in the movie, only at the end will Finkel uncover the True Story.

Plot Keywords: journalist, thief, murder suspect, wife, police detective, judge, brooding ...

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#22. Black Friday (1940)

Storyline: When his friend Professor Kingsley is at deaths door, brain surgeon Dr. Sovac saves his life by means of an illegal operation that transplants part of injured gangster Red Cannon's brain. Unfortunately, the operation has a disastrous Jeckll and Hyde side effect and under certain conditions the persona of Cannon emerges. Sovac soon learns of the duel personality and of half a million dollars the gangster has hidden away. He attempts to find the money through the manipulation of his friend, an attempt that brings Kingsley closer to madness as he alternates between a meek professor of English and a brutal gangster out for murderous revenge on those who tried to kill him.—Carlos Valverde <revchuck@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: doctor, professor, mobster, rival, wife, reporter, tense ...

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#24. The Lazarus Project (2008)

Storyline: A harrowing and frightening thriller about a man who has everything he's ever loved stripped away from him; and to earn his life and family back, he must face obstacles of mystical origins, endure countless tests of his faith, struggle with his own sanity, and explore the depth and the power of his soul..

Plot Keywords: prisoner, inmate, convict, thrilling, hospital, death row, truth ...

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#25. Full Confession (1939)

Storyline: Pat Sullivan has committed a murder and told his priest, Father Loma, about it watches in agony when an innocent man, Michal O'Keefe, is accused of the crime and sentenced to the electric chair on circumstantial evidence. The priest, bound by inviolable sanctity of the confessional, also struggles with the issue of how to save O'Keefe, and keep his religious vows.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: catholic priest, innocent man, murder suspect, murderer, cop, night watchman, suspenseful ...

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#26. The Chamber (1996)

Storyline: Having survived the hatred and bigotry that was his Klansman grandfather's only legacy, young attorney Adam Hall seeks at the last minute to appeal the old man's death sentence for the murder of two small Jewish boys 30 years before. Only four weeks before Sam Cayhall is to be executed, Adam meets his grandfather for the first time in the Mississippi prison which has held him since the crime. The meeting is predictably tense when the educated, young Mr. "Hall" confronts his venom-spewing elder, Mr. "Cayhall," about the murders. The next day, headlines run proclaiming Adam the grandson who has come to the state to save his grandfather, the infamous Ku Klux Klan bomber. While the old man's life lies in the balance, Adam's motivation in fighting this battle becomes clear as the story unfolds. Not only does he fight for his grandfather, but perhaps for himself as well. He has come to heal the wounds of his own father's suicide, to mitigate the secret shame he has always felt for the ...

Plot Keywords: lawyer, prisoner, klansman, grandfather, aunt, governor, dark ...

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#27. Gamer (2009)

Storyline: Ken Castle is extremely rich, popular, and powerful since he invented and started exploiting the virtual online parallel reality games. In these games, people can either pay to be a user or get paid to be an 'actor' in a system of mind-control. In the ultimate version, Slayers, death row convicts act as gladiators in a desperate dim bid for survival, which no one has achieved yet. The champion, John 'Kable' Tillman, is scheduled to die just before he'd gain release, but he persuades his teenage 'handler' to hand over the reins so he can fully use his talents and experience. Kable escapes to freedom, but Castle's men chase him. Kable has to fight his way back to Castle's headquarters to challenge his hidden evil plans.

Plot Keywords: prisoner, teen boy, talk show host, game designer, hacker, wife, brutal ...

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#29. Ernest Goes to Jail (1990)

Storyline: Bumbling Ernest P. Worrell is assigned to jury duty, where a crooked lawyer notices a resemblance with crime boss Mr. Nash, and arranges a switch. Nash assumes Ernest's job as a bank employee, while Ernest undergoes Nash's sentence to the electric chair. But instead of killing him, the electrocution gives Ernest superhuman powers, enabling him to escape from jail and foil Nash's attempt to rob the bank.—Mark Hettler <markh@nstl.com>

Plot Keywords: janitor, murder suspect, bank teller, defense attorney, prison guard, prisoner, amusing ...

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