Highest-Rated Movies about 'Reform School', Sort by Popularity

Bully (2011), Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Sleepers (1996), The Godless Girl (1929), The Butcher Boy (1997), Midnight Mary (1933), The Mayor of Hell (1933) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Reform School movies.

#1. Bully (2011)

Storyline: Filmmaker Lee Hirsch examines five cases of youths who endure vicious persecution at the hands of their peers. Ja'meye, 14, winds up in reform school after pulling a gun on the youths who tormented her for years. Cameras record the abuse suffered by 14-year-old Alex as he's beaten and teased on the bus. Star athlete Kelby, 16, is ostracized and worse after she comes out as lesbian. Most tragic of all, two boys, one 17 and one 12, commit suicide to escape the torture.

Plot Keywords: teen girl, teen boy, bully, victim, parent, teacher, brutal ...

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#2. Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)

Storyline: Thymian is raped by her father's assistant. When she becomes pregnant and bears a child but refuses to marry her assaulter, her outraged father sends her to a brutal reformatory. Thymian soon escapes with a friend, Erika (Edith Meinhard), only to learn that her child has died. She then finds Erika working at a brothel and, with no option, joins her. Gradually, Thymian works her way higher by marrying a count, but her past haunts her.—Canon y mus

Plot Keywords: young woman, chemist, assistant, mother, director, friend, dark ...

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#3. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

Storyline: A rebellious youth, sentenced to a boy's reformatory for robbing a bakery, rises through the ranks of the institution through his prowess as a long distance runner. During his solitary runs, reveries of his life and times before his incarceration lead him to re-evaluate his privileged status as the Governor's prize runner.

Plot Keywords: rebel, athlete, headmaster, juvenile delinquent, bully, intense, powerful ...

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#4. Sleepers (1996)

Storyline: As children, Lorenzo Carcaterra - Shakes to his friends - Michael Sullivan, Tommy Marcano, and John Reilly were inseparable. They grew up in Hell's Kitchen, a far from perfect neighborhood, one filled as Shakes says with scams and shake downs, but one where the rules were known by its residents. The one adult who they admired was Father Bobby Carelli, who understood them as kids more than most adults and more than he himself would like to admit. In 1967, their lives would change forever when a typical teenage prank went wrong which led to the four of them being sentenced to various terms at Wilkinson Home for Boys, a reformatory. There, they were physically, emotionally and sexually abused primarily by Sean Nokes, the head guard of their cell block, and fellow guards Ralph Ferguson, Henry Addison, and Adam Styler, although there were other caring figures of authority at the home including other guards. Their time at the home affected the four, not all who were able to emerge from the ...

Plot Keywords: priest, boy, friend, guard, woman, assistant district attorney, dark ...

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#5. The Godless Girl (1929)

Storyline: High school students led by the Girl and Boy turn from Christianity toward secret atheistic meetings. When a girl is accidentally killed by a stairway collapse, the Girl and Boy go to reform school where they are treated brutally.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Plot Keywords: atheist, christian, best friend, prison guard, teen girl, love interest, unrestrained ...

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#6. The Butcher Boy (1997)

Storyline: Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie's world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences.—yusufpiskin

Plot Keywords: boy, mother, father, woman, priest, amusing, cheeky ...

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#7. Midnight Mary (1933)

Storyline: A young woman is on trial for murder. In flashback, we learn of her struggles to overcome poverty as a teenager -- a mistaken arrest and prison term for shoplifting and lack of employment lead to involvement with gangsters. In a brothel, she meets a young lawyer, scion of a wealthy and prestigious family, who falls for her and helps her turn around her life. But her past catches up with her, and she must face the music rather than cause him scandal.—GoblinHairedGuy

Plot Keywords: young woman, criminal, lawyer, socialite, friend, clerk, melodramatic ...

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#8. The Mayor of Hell (1933)

Storyline: Five members of a teen-age gang, including leader Jimmy Smith, are sent to the state reformatory, presided over by the melodramatically callous Thompson. Soon, Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed deputy commissioner as a political favor, arrives - complete with hip flask and blonde. Gargan falls for activist nurse Dorothy and, inspired by her, takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. But Thompson, to conceal his years of graft, needs a quick way to discredit Gargan.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: corrupt businessman, reformed criminal, nurse, boy, gangster, guard, dark ...

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#9. Hold Your Man (1933)

Storyline: Eddie Hall and his partner Slim are a pair of nickel-and-dime con men on the hustle. Nearly caught by the police, Eddie ducks into Ruby Adams's apartment and convinces her to hide him. Ruby isn't averse to taking advantage of the gullible herself and has even tried to manipulate money out of Al, the square shooter from Cincinnati who adores her. Ruby and Eddie hit it off, but when Eddie accidentally kills a drunk who was pawing Ruby, he takes off and she ends up in a women's reformatory, where she discovers she is pregnant. Devastated at the thought that Eddie has deserted her, she doesn't realize that Eddie has undergone a great change--one that will have a powerful impact on her.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Plot Keywords: con artist, woman, partner, ex-girlfriend, minister, criminal, thrilling ...

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#10. Borstal Boy (2000)

Storyline: Brendan Behan, a sixteen year-old republican, is going on a bombing mission from Ireland to Liverpool during the second world war. His mission is thwarted when he is apprehended, charged and imprisoned in Borstal, a reform institution for young offenders in East Anglia, England. At Borstal, Brendan is forced to live face-to-face with those he perceived as "the enemy," a confrontation that reveals a deep inner conflict in the young Brendan and forces a self-examination that is both traumatic and revealing. Events take an unexpected turn and Brendan is thrown into a complete spin. In the emotional vortex, he finally faces up to the truth.

Plot Keywords: militant, teen boy, prisoner, warden, daughter, friend, brutal ...

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#11. Men of Boys Town (1941)

Storyline: Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy return in this sequel to the original Boys Town. This time the school faces financial trouble as Father Flanagan tries to help every little boy he meets. Larry Nunn and Dwayne Hickman join in this time around as Flanagan discovers a reform school that has neither reforming nor schooling. It's up to Flanagan, Whitey, and the rest of the school to teach them there's no such thing as a bad boy.—meeris

Plot Keywords: priest, paraplegic, young man, parent, delinquent, friend, intense ...

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#12. Lady of the Night (1925)

Storyline: Lady of the Night ~ the story of two baby girls, born near in proximity, but worlds apart in life, - Molly Helmer, the daughter of a thief, and Florence Banning the daughter of the judge who would send Molly's father to prison. The girls' lives come together as young women at eighteen as Florence leaves the security of the exclusive Girls Select School, and Molly, now orphaned, begins her life free from reform school. Norma Shearer plays both young women, but the apparent differences in their worldliness will also make them most unfamiliar in appearance. Molly's new world consists of nights at Kelly's Dance Hall and her ever-present worshiper, Chunky Dunn. On one of her nightly dance hall outing's Molly meets David Page, an up and coming inventor, whom she quickly falls in love with. Molly persuades David to seek an honest buyer for his new safe-cracking device; against the advice of Chunky whose shadier side see's this as an opportunity for himself, and to corrupt David in the process. Following Molly's advice, David meets with a group of investors, including the now retired Judge Banning, father of Florence. While at the Judges' home, David meets Florence and is instantly engaged by her charm and innocence, a characteristic not so present in Molly, although she tries hard to become such. We then begin to watch the personal struggles of two young women, both in love with David, yet both willing to give him up; Florence thinking the other has a stronger claim and Molly believing she is not good enough. Through strong direction and subtle acting intermixed with false bravado, we see Molly mature into one who sacrifices all for the sake of others, and become the person she so often imitated. -- Very sentimental - Excellent movie for the person who believes there is no good silent film.—glenn

Plot Keywords: street urchin, daughter, friend, inventor, judge, girl, melodramatic ...

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#13. So Young, So Bad (1950)

Storyline: Idealistic and naive Dr. Jason arrives at a school for delinquent girls and immediately begins to try to make a difference in the lives of some of the inmates. Oblivious to the sadistic treatment of the girls by the matrons, it takes a rebellious girl named Loretta to open his eyes. Assisted by a female staff member, Jason finally gets proof of the abuse and threatens the head of the school with exposure unless he is given free rein to run things.—Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>

Plot Keywords: warden, psychiatrist, assistant, matron, teen girl, juvenile delinquent, emotional ...

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#15. Some Kind of Hate (2015)

Storyline: Relentless bullying has turned Lincoln's life into a nightmare. But he soon learns the true meaning of terror when he is sent to a remote school for troubled teens and the harassments start all over again. Only this time, someone is watching - a teenage girl named Moira who was driven to suicide by vicious bullying years ago. When Lincoln accidentally summons Moira from the grave, he unleashes a vengeful and unstoppable force on a mission of blood-soaked revenge.—Image Entertainment

Plot Keywords: young man, young woman, student, bully, spirit, intense, gripping ...

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