The Best Prison Film??

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by CZAR

Hey I didnt get that one. Did the movie take place in prision?? Never seen it. if so my bad squid. I have a lot though so Im sure u can find the best there. Got Em!!

Not a traditional prison, but a prison nonetheless - worth checking out just for the two main leads (McQueen and Hoffman). I also liked the guy with the face tattoo...

[master_8ball]

Havent voted yet, tough choices...

Question to everyone.... I am trying to remember the name of a prison movie from either early 90s or late 80s... It had to do with some rich guy offering a bunch of money and freedom to whichever prisoner was left standing. I know there are a few like it, but this was IN a prison and a remember a scene in the jail where they are dumping bags of guns and stuff from the second story down into the cell block.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by quirkmanly

Why would you need that when "Ernest Goes To Jail" is in the poll? Surely all bets are off

Kids these days....I tell ya.

[andyman1970]

Midnight Express, Escape from Alcatraz as far as what is on the list. I think the Shawshank Redemption is ok but really overrated IMO. I have to agree with jhiggy that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is not a prison movie.

[CZAR]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

It is THE difinitive prison film for me. Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. It makes the Midnight Express prison look like a nice safe cozy little place. Far more brutal and dangerous than Shawshank.

A MUST see.

Massive failure of epic proportions that it didnt make the poll.

Originally Posted by SDon1969

Not a traditional prison, but a prison nonetheless - worth checking out just for the two main leads (McQueen and Hoffman). I also liked the guy with the face tattoo...

Thanks guys. I just may have to check it out for squid since I missed that one. Got Em!!

[Pondosinatra]

Chained Heat!

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

shawshank, but also loved cool hand luke and green mile.

A gret "juvie" film not on the list: "Scum" starring Ray Winstone.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by Secretagentnumber6

If I did not know you were joking I think I would put you on my ignore list.

You are joking right

I gave this thread {and poll} all the serious consideration of a vote that it deserves.

Logan

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

seriously who voted for ernest? automatic ban!

If you click on the number beside the vote, it'll tell you who voted for what.

Logan

[broganreynik]

I went with 'In the Name of the Father'. Just cuz I didn't want 'Shawshank Redemption' getting all the votes. Would've been nice to see 'Hunger' on there. Michael Fassbender is friggin' incredible in that.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

The fact that Papillon is not on the list significantly reduces the credibility of the list when it is universally considered one of the top 10 best prison films by every critic and movie organization. The credibility of the list is also reduced by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest being included as it is NOT a prison movie, it took place in a mental institution.

Just my two cents, but maybe you should make shorter lists and include films that absolutely should be on there, instead of making long lists that miss out on major films and include ones that do not even fit.

As such, I did not vote.

Thank you.

Anyone voting for Shawshank who has not seen Papillon, shouldnt be voting. Papillon was made 20 years earlier and the themes found in Shawshank are all too similar (almost identical). The prison environment and prisoner treatment in Shawshank PALES in comparison to Papillon. The efforts (multiple) to escape are much more dangerous in Papillon and the consequences for failed attempts are insane. The penal colonies of the French Guiana themselves were to be more feared than a dangerous inmate. Just enduring the conditions was monumental feat of survival. The "buddy" theme runs strong and deep in Papillon, to the point of pulling many tears.

Two excellent actors, Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman give powerfull performances.

I really believe that fans of the genre are doing themselves a tremendous disservice if they skip this film. This is the Gone with the Wind or the Ben Hur or the Judgement at Nuremberg of prison movies. I left the theater emotionally and physically exhausted and it rattled around in my head for many days.

[koontz1973]

Went with Birdman.

Shawshank second with Bronson third.

[zombie63]

Brubaker (Im sure a young Morgan Freeman is in this)

[Meeklo]

Easily Shawshank......but another not on the list is Blood In, Blood Out: Bound by Honor. Also an awesome movie......better than American Me.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Thank you.

Anyone voting for Shawshank who has not seen Papillon, shouldnt be voting. Papillon was made 20 years earlier and the themes found in Shawshank are all too similar (almost identical). The prison environment and prisoner treatment in Shawshank PALES in comparison to Papillon. The efforts (multiple) to escape are much more dangerous in Papillon and the consequences for failed attempts are insane. The penal colonies of the French Guiana themselves were to be more feared than a dangerous inmate. Just enduring the conditions was monumental feat of survival. The "buddy" theme runs strong and deep in Papillon, to the point of pulling many tears.

Two excellent actors, Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman give powerfull performances.

I really believe that fans of the genre are doing themselves a tremendous disservice if they skip this film. This is the Gone with the Wind or the Ben Hur or the Judgement at Nuremberg of prison movies. I left the theater emotionally and physically exhausted and it rattled around in my head for many days.

Squiddy -

Sophia Loren was once in a movie named "The Pride and the Passion," which involved hauling an enormous cannon halfway across Europe through deep mud. By the time they heaved the cannon into position, I had long since stopped caring, and even had a little difficulty remembering why they were doing it in the first place. The movie had expended enormous energy without cause.

"Papillon" is a movie like that: an expensive, exhaustive, 150-mintue odyssey that doesn't so much conclude as cross the finish line and collapse. It has been outfitted with expensive stars and a glossy production, but it doesn't really make us care. When Steve McQueen finally escapes from Devil's Island we're happy more for ourselves than for him: Finally we can leave, too.

The movie is based on a best seller by the late Frenchman Henri Charriere, who claimed it was a true story. Maybe. Not that it matters; fiction would have been fine if it had been entertaining. What happens in the movie, though, is that McQueen acts so dogged in his pursuit of freedom that we start looking around for supporting actors we can get interested in.

The movie begins with Charriere (McQueen), nicknamed Papillon (or "butterfly") on board a prison ship. He meets Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman, peering through Coke bottle glasses), the most famous counterfeiter in France. Dega's life is in danger for two reasons: (a) a lot of people were wiped out investing in his bogus 1928 national security bonds and (b) he has a lot of money concealed on (or should I say in?) his body.

Once they have arrived in prison, Papillon makes a bargain: He'll be Dega's bodyguard if Dega will finance an escape try. This Dega agrees to do, although it is hard to understand, or even sense, the emotional bond between the two men. (To paraphrase Pauline Kael, McQueen underplays, and Hoffman tries to out-underplay him.) The movie slogs on like Sophia Loren, hauling that cannon through the mud. You know something has gone wrong when you want the hero to escape simply so that the movie can be over.

At some point in the movie's pre-production, the theory apparently was held that we'd get interested in the contrast between Papillon, the man of action, and Dega, the gentle intellectual. The chemistry of McQueen and Hoffman was supposed to help. That was the theory, but in practice, we don't care because the characters never really escape as people. Hoffman is using his limp again from "Midnight Cowboy," and McQueen squints into the sun a lot, and that's about it.

Source - Roger Ebert's online reviews/Chicago Sun News

[CZAR]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Thank you.

Anyone voting for Shawshank who has not seen Papillon, shouldnt be voting. Papillon was made 20 years earlier and the themes found in Shawshank are all too similar (almost identical). The prison environment and prisoner treatment in Shawshank PALES in comparison to Papillon. The efforts (multiple) to escape are much more dangerous in Papillon and the consequences for failed attempts are insane. The penal colonies of the French Guiana themselves were to be more feared than a dangerous inmate. Just enduring the conditions was monumental feat of survival. The "buddy" theme runs strong and deep in Papillon, to the point of pulling many tears.

Two excellent actors, Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman give powerfull performances.

I really believe that fans of the genre are doing themselves a tremendous disservice if they skip this film. This is the Gone with the Wind or the Ben Hur or the Judgement at Nuremberg of prison movies. I left the theater emotionally and physically exhausted and it rattled around in my head for many days.

Yea again my bad for not listing it but u shouldnt take shots at Shawshank. I think it would win regardless. Not only do a lot of people think its the best prison film, but best film period! But I may check out Papillion based on your take of the movie. Got Em!!

[Fighter]

Escape from Alcatraz

[pro-bassoonist]

Le Trou

Pro-B

[uziel5000]

My vote has to go to Shawshank as it is my favorite all-time film but I have to mention The Green Mile and give a guilty pleasure nod to Lock-Up. One of the best films Stallone has made imo.

[Astrakan]

Originally Posted by CZAR

A lot of great films here so this will be extremely tough.

I very much doubt it. If Shawshank doesn't take it with at least twice as many votes as the runner-up I'll be surprised. And that's a conservative guess.

KM