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".
Papillon (1973)
8/10
Director: Franklin J Schaffner
Starring: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon, Anthony Zerbe
Based on a true story, petty criminal Henri Charriere, a.k.a. Papillon (Steve McQueen), is framed for murder and transported for life to the penal col... Read more
Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972)
Director: Shunya Ito
Starring: Meiko Kaji
Experimental and exploitation cinema meet in this subversive feature. The film follows a woman named Matsu (a.k.a. "Scorpion"), wrongly imprisoned aft... Read more
The Big Bird Cage (1972)
6.1/10
Director: Jack Hill
Starring: Pam Grier, Anitra Ford, Candice Roman, Carol Speed
Cheap drive-in thrills abound as Terry (Anitra Ford) is kidnapped during a nightclub shootout and thrown into a concentration camp for women. In the c... Read more
A Clockwork Orange ( Blu-ray ) (1971)
8.3/10
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri, Miriam Karlin
Stanley Kubrick's dark, dazzling, ironic tale of an ultra-violent future filled with marauding gangs, decaying cities and bizarre technologies. Follow... Read more
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A Clockwork Orange (1971)
8.3/10
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Miriam Karlin, Patrick Magee, Malcolm McDowell, Adrienne Corri
Stanley Kubrick's dark, dazzling, ironic tale of an ultra-violent future filled with marauding gangs, decaying cities and bizarre technologies. Follow... Read more
Figures In A Landscape (1970)
6.7/10
Director: Joseph Losey
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Robert Shaw, Henry Woolf, Pamela Brown
In an unnamed totalitarian country, two escaped convicts (Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell) are on the run, hunted by a sinister black helicopter. Th... Read more
Cool Hand Luke ( Blu-ray ) (1967)
8.1/10
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Starring: Dennis Hopper, George Kennedy, Harry Dean Stanton, Jo Van Fleet, Paul Newman, Ro...
A taut honest drama greatly aided by Stuart Rosenberg's direction and a marvellously controlled and artful performance by Paul Newman as a gutsy priso... Read more
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
8.1/10
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Starring: Dennis Hopper, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Paul Newman, Harry Dean Stanton
A taut honest drama greatly aided by Stuart Rosenberg's direction and a marvellously controlled and artful performance by Paul Newman as a gutsy priso... Read more
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
7.8/10
Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand
Burt Lancaster beautifully assumes the real-life role of Robert Stroud, a world-hating convict sentenced to life in prison who becomes an authority on... 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