Time in Prison
Or, "Life in The Big House". The prison film has proved to be a popular subject for cinema and many superb titles are represented in this canon of work. Here the human spirit is often shown to thrive in what are generally hostile and oppressive settings. There are the tales of the 'wrongly accused man' protesting his innocence, the 'race against time' thrillers to save the condemned from execution, and the 'prison as hell' where your worst nightmares have come true. There are also the comedies where the familiar prison 'cliches' are parodied, and the science-fiction variants that show the possible shape of things to come...
Now, go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
Pictured: Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins in "The Shawshank Redemption".
Fat Belly: Chopper...Unchopped (2009)
Director: Damon Cameron, Steve Lund
Starring: Mark 'Chopper' Read
A frank and gripping biography of Australian career criminal Mark 'Chopper' Read; a man who has spent more than 23 years behind bars, been shot at, st... Read more
Get the Gringo (2012)
7/10
Director: Adrian Grunberg
Starring: Mel Gibson, Kevin Hernandez
A.k.a. "How I Spent My Summer Vacation". Crashing across the Mexican border in a getaway car containing millions, career criminal, "Driver" (Mel Gibso... Read more
I Want To Live! (1958)
7.5/10
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent
Susan Hayward won an Oscar for her commanding performance in this true story of prostitute Barbara Graham, who, framed and convicted of murder, was to... Read more
The Green Mile (1999)
8.5/10
Director: Frank Darabont
Starring: Bonnie Hunt, David Morse, Graham Greene, Harry Dean Stanton, James Cromwell, Pat...
This superlative adaptation of Stephen King's novel is from the writer and director of 'The Shawshank Redemption', Frank Darabont. Tom Hanks is the he... Read more
Orange Is the New Black: Season 1 (2013)
8.2/10
Starring: Kate Mulgrew, Jessica Pimentel, Taylor Schilling, Danielle Brooks, Joel Garland,...
The story of Piper Chapman, a woman in her thirties who is sentenced to fifteen months in prison after being convicted of a decade-old crime of transp... Read more
Dog Pound (2010)
7/10
Director: Kim Chapiron
Starring: Adam Butcher, Shane Kippel, Mateo Morales, Lawrence Bayne
Three boys caught between youth and adulthood struggle to survive behind bars in this hard-hitting drama. Alex, Butch and David are three teenage crim... Read more
Mrs Soffel (1984)
6.3/10
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Starring: Diane Keaton, Mel Gibson, Matthew Modine
Diane Keaton is the sheltered wife of a stern prison warden who surrenders to the powerful attraction of a death-row convict (Mel Gibson); both become... Read more
Two Way Stretch (1959)
7/10
Director: Robert Day
Starring: Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Liz Fraser
A fast and funny British farce about three convicts who break out of jail to rob a Maharajah and then break back in again, all in the same night. Star... Read more
Animal Factory (2000)
6.6/10
Director: Steve Buscemi
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, Steve Buscemi, John Heard, Mickey Rourke, Tom Arno...
Steve Buscemi directed and co-stars in this gritty prison drama filmed at Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary. Edward Furlong, a middle class yo... Read more
Women In Prison Collection (2004)
Director: Jack Hill, Steve Carver, Gerry De Leon
Starring: Margaret Markov, Pam Grier, Lucretia Love, Paul Muller, Daniel Vargas, Judy Brow...
In the 1970s cult filmmaker Roger Corman produced a series of highly successful, groundbreaking 'Women In Prison' movies that hit paydirt on the drive... Read more