On the Yard (Best Prison Movies)
Best movies, primarily set in a prison, in jail, military prison, POW camp, youth detention centre, etc (and some classic tv shows set in prisons, down the bottom of the list... and we've all seen 'Shawshank', and 'Green Mile' is Hallmark Channel garbage...)
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- DirectorDavid MackenzieStarsJack O'ConnellBen MendelsohnRupert FriendEric Love, 19, is locked up in prison. On his first day, he assaults another inmate and several guards. He's offered group therapy and his dad, an inmate as well, tries to talk sense into him. Can he be rehabilitated?The most brutally realistic portrayal of prison, criminality, and society's conflicts in dealing with the above. Hard to watch, at times, but impossible to look away from.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsPaul NewmanGeorge KennedyStrother MartinA laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsEric BanaSimon LyndonVince ColosimoChopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.As someone who both met Chopper Reid, and knew the Australian prison system in the 80s/90s, this movie is so authentic, it's not even funny.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsTom WaitsJohn LurieRoberto BenigniTwo men are framed and sent to jail, where they meet a murderer who helps them escape and leave the state.One of my favourite comedies of the 80's.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsClint EastwoodPatrick McGoohanRoberts BlossomAlcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possibly successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsBurt LancasterKarl MaldenThelma RitterA surly convicted murderer held in permanent isolation redeems himself when he becomes a renowned bird expert.
- DirectorNicolas Winding RefnStarsTom HardyKelly AdamsLuing AndrewsA young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson.Incredibly good movie, about a crazy true story/real guy. 10/10 must-watch
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.
- DirectorUlu GrosbardDustin HoffmanStarsDustin HoffmanTheresa RussellGary BuseyThe difficulties of a career burglar to reinsert himself after being released on parole.Kinda breaks the criteria, since very little is actually set inside a prison. But it's very much about being an ex-con, life after release, being on parole, etc, so I'm leaving it in. Plus it's a pretty great, under-recognised movie; Served as inspiration for Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Heat, and one of the missions in GTAV is copy-pasted directly from this movie.
- DirectorRick RosenthalStarsSean PennReni SantoniJim MoodyChicago crime kid Mick O'Brien is sent to reform school after accidentally killing a rival's kid brother.Not that one, the other one
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsChristian BaleJohn MalkovichMiranda RichardsonA young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSteve McQueenJames GarnerRichard AttenboroughAllied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenDon TaylorOtto PremingerAfter two Americans are killed while escaping from a German P.O.W. camp in World War II, the barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenJanet MargolinMarcel HillaireThe life and times of Virgil Starkwell, inept bank robber.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsChristian BaleSteve ZahnJeremy DaviesA U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsJames CagneyVirginia MayoEdmond O'BrienA psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.
- DirectorSteve BuscemiStarsWillem DafoeEdward FurlongDanny TrejoA young man goes to prison and a tough, older convict takes him under his wing as a mentor.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsBurt LancasterHume CronynCharles BickfordAt a tough penitentiary, prisoner Joe Collins plans to rebel against Captain Munsey, the power-mad chief guard.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsBrad DavisIrene MiracleBo HopkinsBilly Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsNeville BrandEmile MeyerFrank FaylenFed up with the inhumane prison living conditions, a general prison riot breaks out, leading to hostage-taking, a stand-off with the guards and eventual negotiations with the prison administration officials.
- DirectorPeter WatkinsStarsPatrick BolandKent ForemanCarmen Argenziano"Punishment Park" is a pseudo-documentary purporting to be a film crews's news coverage of the team of soldiers escorting a group of hippies, draft dodgers, and anti-establishment types across the desert in a type of capture the flag game. The soldiers vow not to interfere with the rebels' progress and merely shepherd them along to their destination. At that point, having obtained their goal, they will be released. The film crew's coverage is meant to insure that the military's intentions are honorable. As the representatives of the 60's counter-culture get nearer to passing this arbitrary test, the soldiers become increasingly hostile, attempting to force the hippies out of their pacifist behavior. A lot of this film appears improvised and in several scenes real tempers seem to flare as some of the "acting" got overaggressive. This is a interesting exercise in situational ethics. The cinéma vérité style, hand-held camera, and ambiguous demands of the director - would the actors be able to maintain their roles given the hazing they were taking - pushed some to the brink. The cast's emotions are clearly on the surface. Unfortunately this film has gone completely underground and is next to impossible to find. It would offer a captivating document of the distrust that existed between soldiers willfully serving in the military and those persons who opposed the war peacefully.Very weird kind of 'faux-documentary', about a (fictional, but presented as real) brutal penal program, punishing hippy political dissidents, who are mostly just spoilt, self-righteous college kids. Actually feels kinda relevant to some aspects of the present political climate.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsSpencer TracyBette DavisArthur ByronBrash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.
- DirectorStephen WallaceStarsBryan BrownMax PhippsDennis MillerWhen a repeat offender returns to a prison after exposing abuses committed by its guards to the press, tensions boil between inmates and staff, culminating in a bloody riot.Maybe even better than 'Chopper' and 'Ghosts of the Civil Dead', at capturing Australia's unique prison culture (but Chopper's a better movie, over-all)
- DirectorGalder Gaztelu-UrrutiaStarsIvan MassaguéZorion EguileorAntonia San JuanA vertical prison with one cell per level. Two people per cell. Only one food platform and two minutes per day to feed. An endless nightmare trapped in The Hole.Pretty decent Spanish sci-fi-ish kind of thing, set in a weird prison, in some alt reality. Not your typical, gritty, real-world "prison movie", but a pretty great prison movie, regardless.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsSteve McQueenDustin HoffmanVictor JoryA French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.