One of those 1950's Film Noirs that starts out a documentary, in this case an actual warden speaking about the "riot problem" in American prisons while a montage of news footage is shown, all occurring after the opening credits to blend smoothly with the equally grainy B&W fictional story-line, despite supposedly hard-edged prisoners Dabbs Greer and Alvy Moore's goofy smiles and upturned giant-brimmed caps more befitting a keystone comedy, albeit very quickly recovered by real life San Quentin (where this was filmed) ex-con Leo Gordon as Carnie, a formidable borderline psychotic, second fiddle to ringleader Neville Brand as Dunn, the spokesman of not just the inevitable frenzied riot but taking guards hostage within CELL BLOCK 11, resembling an abandoned barracks in purgatory... that desperately needs a makeover, or else...
The most intriguing scenes involve various meetings with tough but progressively sympathetic warden Emile Meyer, whose own antagonistic ally... a snarky politician setting off the already set-off prisoners... looks down on the bartering Meyer and Brand, even more than the most upright prisoner Robert Osterloh's war-hero Major does the noisiest of his fellow guard-bullying inmates...
When he becomes the behind-the-scene brain of the negotiated prisoner vs state police standoff, Brand's set loose to reveal his own brand of edgy menace while remaining this prison's proverbial union agitator: a conflicting battle of good and evil, and without going over-the-top...
Meanwhile, the suspense really kicks in when it's do-or-die for the guards (Paul Frees a worried newbie and a hard-nosed Whit Bissell), CAPTURED within a unique prison-noir that tows the line of gritty realism, governmental idealism and... directed by the always-capable Don Siegel, bringing producer Walter Wanger's labor-of-love to gritty life... a heavy dose of uncompromising tough guy cinema.
The most intriguing scenes involve various meetings with tough but progressively sympathetic warden Emile Meyer, whose own antagonistic ally... a snarky politician setting off the already set-off prisoners... looks down on the bartering Meyer and Brand, even more than the most upright prisoner Robert Osterloh's war-hero Major does the noisiest of his fellow guard-bullying inmates...
When he becomes the behind-the-scene brain of the negotiated prisoner vs state police standoff, Brand's set loose to reveal his own brand of edgy menace while remaining this prison's proverbial union agitator: a conflicting battle of good and evil, and without going over-the-top...
Meanwhile, the suspense really kicks in when it's do-or-die for the guards (Paul Frees a worried newbie and a hard-nosed Whit Bissell), CAPTURED within a unique prison-noir that tows the line of gritty realism, governmental idealism and... directed by the always-capable Don Siegel, bringing producer Walter Wanger's labor-of-love to gritty life... a heavy dose of uncompromising tough guy cinema.