Lion's Den (2008), The Concrete Jungle (1960), American History X (1998), A Prophet (2009), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Carandiru (2003), Blow (2001), Escape from Alcatraz (1979) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Prison Life movies.
Storyline: A football player-turned-convict organizes a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards. His dilemma is that the warden asks him to throw the game in return for an early release, but he is also concerned about the inmates' lack of self-esteem.
Plot Keywords: sports, prison, american football, comedy, crime, confrontation, corruption ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: James Gregory once lived in a farm and had befriended a native youth, Bafana, and had even had a photograph taken with him. Years later, now married to Gloria and father of three children (Chris, Brett, and Natasha), James has nothing but shame and regret, as many South African Caucasians in the oppressive Apartheid-era ridiculed him, leading him to hate Africans. He seeks to redeem himself by spying on imprisoned African National Congress Leader, Nelson Mandela. In the restrictive high security prison his job is to censor all written and verbal communications between prisoners, their visitors, and correspondence. James is uncomfortable when he witnesses Caucasian police and security officers' brutality against civilians, including infants, and tries to understand why Nelson became a rebel. This leads him to examine the 'Freedom Charter', a banned document, reportedly known to incite violence against 'whites'. And when he does read this document, he changes his mind about Nelson's ...
Plot Keywords: biography, history, drama, apartheid, south africa, prison, race relations ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: After hiding his loot and getting thrown in jail, Ruby, a brooding outlaw encounters Quentin, a dim-witted and garrulous giant who befriends him. After Quentin botches a solo escape attempt, they make a break together. Unable to shake the clumsy Quentin Ruby is forced to take him along as he pursues his former partners in crime to avenge the death of the woman he loved and get to the money before they do.
Plot Keywords: comedy, crime, french film, action, buddy, prison, escape ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Dodger Lane (Peter Sellers) has planned the perfect robbery while in prison. He intends to break out of prison, steal a fortune in diamonds, and break back into prison before anyone notices. With only a few days' sentence left, and the perfect alibi, what could possibly go wrong?—Colin Tinto <cst@imdb.com>
Plot Keywords: comedy, crime, british film, classic, black and white, humour, heist ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: It's Prohibition, and the boys wind up behind bars after Stan sells some of their home-brew beer to a policeman. In prison, Stan's loose tooth "buzzes" when he talks and keeps getting him in trouble, because it sounds like he's giving everybody a rasp- berry. But it earns him the respect of The Tiger, a rough prisoner, and the boys manage to slip away during The Tiger's escape attempt. They disguise themselves in blackface and hide on a cotton plantation, but are recaptured when the warden happens by and here's Stan's buzzing tooth which causes to realize who the pair are. Back in the big house, they find themselves in a hail of bullets, caught between the state militia and gun-toting prisoners, when The Tiger tries another escape. Eventually the boys are pardoned by the senior warden, who erroneously believes that they intentionally warned the prison guards of the impending firestorm by firing the first shots.—Paul Penna <tterrace@wco.com>
Plot Keywords: comedy, black and white, classic, american film, prison, escape, silent film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Thomas Crimmins is a new warder, or guard, in an Irish prison. He is young, naive, and idealistic, determined to serve his country by his part in meting out justice to criminals. His superior, Regan, however, realizes that even prisoners are human beings, and Regan is sick of the eye-for-an-eye attitude that leads the state to execute condemned men, or "quare fellows." Crimmins begins to see that not all is black and white in his new world, and when he becomes involved with Kathleen, the wife of one of the condemned men, his attitude begins to change. When new evidence arises to suggest that Kathleen's husband may not deserve his fate, Crimmins is torn between his duty and his humanity.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: prison, death penalty, ireland, play adaptation, 1960s, black and white, social criticism ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict fourteen years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it's too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists - misfits with unique skills required for their daring plan and united by desire to escape their hell hole of an existence. Much of the action takes place within the tunnels, sewers and underground rivers of subterranean London.
Plot Keywords: prison break, suspense, crime, drama, british film, dark, tense ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In the mid-1990s, two inmates bury the burned bodies of two lifers at Mississippi's infamous Parchman Farm; a third old-timer relates their story. They'd served 65 years for a murder they didn't commit, framed by a local sheriff while buying moonshine whiskey for a Manhattan club owner to whom they owed money. In flashbacks we see this odd couple thrown together (Ray is a fast-talking con man, and Claude is a serious man about to start work as a bank teller), the loss of Ray's watch (sterling silver, from his daddy), the murder and trial, the hardships of Parchman, and the love-hate relationship of Claude and Ray as they spend 65 years bickering and looking for a way to escape.
Plot Keywords: sci-fi, comedy, alien, prison, friendship, race relations, social satire ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Landing himself in a state penitentiary, Juleson (John Heard), a con artist, fails to adjust to the intricate social order of the prison system. Juleson's independent way of thinking does little to impress his fellow inmates and runs him afoul of Chilly (Thomas Waites), the leader of one of the most powerful gangs in the prison. Facing a group of cold-blooded killers on his own, Juleson discovers firsthand what individualism can bring to a loner behind bars.
Plot Keywords: prison, crime, drama, american film, 1970s, adaptation, novel adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Vince Everett is serving a one-year jail sentence for manslaughter. While in the big house, his cellmate, a former country singer, introduces him to the record business. Everett takes to it so well that he decides to become a singer when he gets out. However, he is quickly disillusioned by the record business. But with the help of a new friend, he decides to form his own label, and soon becomes an overnight sensation. But when he becomes a superstar, will his desire for fame and money cause him to forget the people who got him there?—<jgp3553@excite.com>
Plot Keywords: musical, prison, elvis presley, dance, romance, rebellion, usa ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Another in a unrelated series of Warner's penitentiary tours in three different decades. This one is California's notorious Folsom Prison prior to its 1944 reformation make-over. Ben Rickey, the prison's sadistic old-school warden who believes that the prison system if for punishment rather than reformation, rules Folsom with an iron-hand. He highly resents his university-trained assistant, Mark Benson, who does not share Rickey's beliefs. Rickey, hoping the results will be disastrous, gives Benson permission to try his modern method. He tolerates Benson's innovations until convict "Red" Pardue is killed by another prisoner. Benson blames Rickey, who had refused Pardue protection after he had reported an escape attempt. Benson resigns and Rickey brings back his concentration-camp program. Chuck Daniels, a hardened convict, then stage his long-planned prison break. A bloody riot ensues in which Rickey is murdered and the escapees are accidentally killed by a dynamite blast while taking revenge on a treacherous convict.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: crime, prison, drama, film noir, american, 1950s, violence ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Steven Russell is happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force when a car accident provokes a dramatic reassessment of his life. Steven becomes open about his homosexuality and decides to live life to the fullest - even if it means breaking the law. Steven's new, extravagant lifestyle involves cons and fraud and, eventually, a stay in the State Penitentiary where he meets sensitive, soft-spoken Phillip Morris. His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts Steven to attempt and often succeed at one impossible con after another.
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, lgbt, crime, biography, drama, black comedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Ron, who's young, slight, and privileged, is sentenced to prison on marijuana charges. For whatever reason, he brings out paternal feelings in an 18-year prison veteran, Earl Copan, who takes Ron under his wing. The film explores the nature of that relationship, Ron's part in Earl's gang, and the way Ron deals with aggressive cons intent on assault and rape. There's casual racism, too, in the prisoners and the guards, a strike called by Black prisoners, and the nearly omnipresence of hard drugs. Ron's lawyer is working on getting Ron out quickly, Earl has a shot at parole, and death seems to be waiting in the next cell. Will prison turn Ron into an animal?
Plot Keywords: prison, crime, drama, american film, gangster, violence, survival ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Drumgoole was assigned to a hell-hole prison after his administration was publicly humiliated by Leone, and has now arrived on the scene to ensure that Leone never sees the light of day.
Plot Keywords: action, prison, revenge, violence, prison break, tough guy, 1980s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Paul "Wrecking" Crewe was a revered football superstar back in his day, but that time has since faded. But when a messy drunk driving incident lands him in jail, Paul finds he was specifically requested by Warden Hazen (James Cromwell), a duplicitous prison official well aware of Paul's athletic skills. Paul has been assigned the task of assembling a team of convicts, to square off in a big football game against the sadistic guards. With the help of fellow convict Caretaker, and an old legend named Nate Scarborough to coach, Crewe is ready for what promises to be a very interesting game. It's only the warden and the guards who have no idea who or what they're up against, with Paul the driving force behind the new team.
Plot Keywords: comedy, sports, american football, prison, revenge, violence, brotherhood ...
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