Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971)

Director:

Harvey Hart

Writers:

John Herbert (play)
John Herbert (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 June 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

What goes on in prison is a crime.

Plot:

The young, naive Smitty is sent to prison for six months; Cathy, his girlfriend, watches as he disappears behind the bars and barbed wire...

Plot Keywords:

Beating | Murder | Drag Queen | Prison | Sonnet

Cast

Wendell Burton	...	Smitty
Michael Greer	...	Queenie
Zooey Hall	...	Rocky
Danny Freedman	...	Mona
Larry Perkins	...	Screwdriver
James Barron	...	Holy Face Peters
Lázaro Pérez	...	Catso
Jon Granik	...	Sgt. Gritt
Tom Harvey	...	Warden Gasher
Hugh Webster	...	Rabbit
Kirk McColl	...	Guard Sullivan
Vance Davis	...	Sailor
Robert Goodier	...	Doctor
Cathy Wiehl	...	Cathy
Georges Allard	...	Fiddler

Also Known As:

Aux yeux du sort et des humains (Canada: French title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:18 | Norway:18 (1972) | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Québec, Canada

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Harvey Hart replaced Jules Schwerin as director after 9 weeks of shooting.

Very Graphic and Daring for its Time

Theme of homosexuality and rape in prison was very daring for its time (1971). You could feel the pain of the lead character as he succumbs to the brutal advances of his cellmate, while longing for his girlfriend.

I saw the movie when it first came out, and I still remember the line uttered by a prisoner as he observes a gang rape- "Nobody's going to stop a man from getting his oats." It's one of my all-time favorite quotes from films.