Favourite prison films
A selection of my favourite films, either set in prisons, asylums, etc. or focusing upon those escaped or released from confinement, or upon those captured and awaiting imprisonment.
The prison bars and walls loom large and cast long shadows!
The prison bars and walls loom large and cast long shadows!
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- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorBill DouglasStarsRobin SoansWilliam GaminaraStephen BatemanThe story of "The Tolpuddle Martyrs". A group of nineteenth century English farm laborers who formed one of the first trade unions and started a campaign to receive fair wages.
- DirectorRichard BoleslawskiStarsFredric MarchCharles LaughtonCedric HardwickeIn early-19th-century France, an ex-convict who failed to report to parole is relentlessly pursued over a 20-year period by an obsessive policeman.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsPaul ScofieldWendy HillerRobert ShawThe story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonWrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
- DirectorAndrey KonchalovskiyStarsJon VoightEric RobertsRebecca De MornayTwo escaped convicts and a female railway worker find themselves trapped on a speeding train with no brakes and nobody driving.
- DirectorLav DiazStarsSid LuceroAngeli BayaniArchie AlemaniaAn embittered law student commits a brutal double murder; a family man takes the fall and is forced into a harsh prison sentence; a mother and her two children wander the countryside looking for some kind of redemption.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsGlenn FordVan HeflinFelicia FarrBroke small-time rancher Dan Evans is hired by the stagecoach line to put big-time captured outlaw leader Ben Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma but Wade's gang tries to free him.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleGeorge CukorStarsGinger RogersJoseph CottenShirley TempleA soldier suffering from combat fatigue meets a young woman on Christmas furlough from prison and their mutual loneliness blossoms into romance.
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsJames CagneyGeorge RaftJane BryanA corrupt D.A. (Thurston Hall) with political ambitions is angered by news stories implicating him in criminal activity and decides to frame the reporter (James Cagney) for manslaughter in order to silence him.
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsRobert MitchumPeter BoyleRichard JordanAfter his last crime has him looking at a long prison sentence for repeat offenses, a low level Boston gangster decides to snitch on his friends to avoid jail time.
- DirectorRobert HamerStarsGoogie WithersJack WarnerJohn McCallumAn escaped convict tries to hide out at his former lover's house, but she has since married and is reluctant to help him.
- DirectorCharles F. HaasStarsJohn AgarMamie Van DorenRichard BooneA sheriff planning on legally hanging a killer, has to contend with farmers who want to lynch him, and cattlemen who want to help him escape.
- DirectorBimal RoyStarsAshok KumarNutanDharmendraDuring the British Raj of the 1930s, a prison-doctor falls in love with a convict who eventually reveals the story of her past and her connection to a freedom fighter.
- DirectorJorge AchaStarsJorge DíezLuis NietoÓscar BernalesExperimental film that shows four days in the life of a man clandestinely kept in captivity. The images of his naked body alternate with those of a happy moment on a beach and with those of his captor, who spends his time looking at bodybuilding magazines.
- DirectorDavid MillerStarsKirk DouglasGena RowlandsWalter MatthauA fiercely independent cowboy gets himself locked up in prison to escape with an old friend.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsIsabelle HuppertFrançois CluzetMarie TrintignantA housewife in Nazi-occupied France struggles to make ends meet when her husband returns home after being wounded in the war.
- DirectorRiccardo FredaStarsAmedeo NazzariGianna Maria CanaleArmando FrancioliPietro, an honest businessman, is wrongly accused of the murder of his business associate and jailed. Actually the man is alive and has set him up to avoid bankruptcy. Pietro's life is shattered of course and when after many years he is released from prison, he seeks revenge.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsWarner BaxterGloria StuartClaude GillingwaterThe story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was imprisoned after innocently treating President Lincoln's assassin in 1865.
- DirectorSarah MaldororStarsCarlos PestanaNoureddine DreisMohamed ZinetAbuses by the Portuguese slave traders in their colony of Angola are depicted through the torture of one prisoner, based on ignorance and incomprehension.
- DirectorMichel BraultStarsHélène LoiselleJean LapointeGuy ProvostA fact-based account of ordinary citizens who found themselves arrested and imprisoned without charge for weeks during the October Crisis in 1970 Quebec.
- DirectorKudret GunesStarsIsmail BesikçiHediye DagliPiruzhan DogrulLeyla Zana, the first woman Kurdish MP to be elected to the Turkish Parliament in 1992, was impisoned in 1994 for 15 years for speaking in Kurdish in the Parliament. Kudret Gunes' personal look at the life of Zana takes her to her birth-place, friends and exiled husband.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsDiana DorsYvonne MitchellMichael CraigWoman abused by men meets a man she thinks loves her. He cheats, she kills his mistress. Based on Ruth Ellis, last woman executed in Britain. Less than
- DirectorArthur PennStarsPaul NewmanLita MilanJohn DehnerAfter his employer is murdered by rival cattlemen, a troubled and uneducated young cowboy vows revenge on the murderers.
- 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.
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTom HanksMichael Clarke DuncanDavid MorseA tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
- DirectorPeter BezencenetStarsAcker BilkColin SmithJonathan MortimerAcker Bilk leads a prison jazz band. They are released and perform concerts, but soon return to crime and go back to prison, pleasing the jazz-loving governor who wanted their music to continue.
- DirectorCharlotte SilveraStarsMarie-Christine BarraultAnnie GirardotBernadette LafontA women's prison. Women arrive, some for as long as eight years. They work making teddy bears. Dessombes, the head matron, misses little. She gets intelligence from Marthe, an older convict. When the uncompromising and difficult Nelly is sent to the hole for something she didn't do, the women suspect that Marthe had a hand in it. Brigitte breaks off their friendship, so Marthe adopts Nicole, guilty of infanticide and shunned by the other prisoners, as her surrogate daughter. Sabine, young, energetic, and one of the few with a husband who visits her, falls in love with Lucie, a woman who has given up on life and fears the day of her release. Tensions mount.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsRudolf HrusínskýVlastimil BrodskýVáclav NeckárSet in the late 1940s, the film concerns the treatment of suspect "bourgeois elements", a professor, a saxophonist, and a milkman, who are put to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation.
- DirectorDarren ThorntonStarsSeána KerslakeCarolyn BrackenDenise McCormackA woman newly released from prison seeks a date to bring to her best friend's wedding.
- DirectorJack LeeStarsYvonne MitchellTerence MorganJoan CollinsFollows three women through their first day of freedom after they are released from prison.
- DirectorYuan ZhangStarsLin LiuBingbing LiYeding LiTao Lan and Yu Xiaoqin are teenage stepsisters. They go to the same high school, sleep in the same bedroom, but couldn't be more different. The first is wild, a bit of a vagabond, while the other is diligent and studies hard. One day Yu Xiaoqin steals money from her father and puts the blame on Tao Lin, who accidentally kills her sister while attempting to prove her innocence, and is put in jail. 17 years later, a woman by now, she is allowed out and is escorted by a guard to find her home long demolished. The two go to the new address of the ageing parents, and the guard becomes an eyewitness to the difficult reunion and the girl's remorse, the anxiety and fear of the mother and the stepfather's silent struggle to rise above his pain and find forgiveness.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsPaul NewmanGeorge KennedyStrother MartinA laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorRod LurieStarsRobert RedfordJames GandolfiniMark RuffaloA court-martialed General rallies together twelve hundred inmates to rise against a corrupt and sadistic warden.
- DirectorTim RobbinsStarsSusan SarandonSean PennRobert ProskyA nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.
- 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.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsKirk DouglasHenry FondaHume CronynA charming but totally ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison. He enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.
- 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.
- DirectorSidney SalkowStarsLinda DarnellEdgar BuchananMichael DuaneA young woman's husband has been imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. In order to be near him to try to help him get his sentence overturned, she moves into a boardinghouse near the prison whose residents are the wives of inmates.
- DirectorWesley RugglesStarsRonald ColmanAnn HardingLouis WolheimSuave thief Colman is sent to Devil's Island, where he becomes romantically involved with the wife of sadistic warden Digges.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJohn WayneDean MartinRicky NelsonA small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsClint EastwoodIsaiah WashingtonLisaGay HamiltonCan an over-the-hill journalist uncover the evidence that can prove a death row inmate's innocence just hours before his execution?
- DirectorFritz LangStarsSylvia SidneySpencer TracyWalter AbelWhen a wrongly-accused prisoner barely survives a lynch-mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to fake his death and frame the mob for his supposed murder.
- DirectorDaniel TinayreStarsFanny NavarroMecha OrtizTita MerelloA nurse is framed for murder by negligence. She goes to prison pregnant by her rich boss.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsCharles LaughtonMaureen O'HaraCedric HardwickeIn 15th-century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsJames StewartRichard ConteLee J. CobbChicago reporter P.J. McNeal re-opens a decade-old murder case.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsGregory PeckJoan CollinsStephen BoydA man is chasing four outlaws who killed his wife and finds them in a small town's jail, but they escape to Mexico.
- DirectorStephen GyllenhaalStarsBarbara HersheyBrian DennehyJohn TerryThe gory ax-murder of one mousy, suburban Texas housewife by another is nearly as shocking as the excuse offered by the bespectacled defendant's attorney: self-defense. Could it be so?
- DirectorSidney SalkowStarsGeorge MontgomeryAngela StevensDouglas KennedyA Southerner fighting for the North is unjustly accused of treason and escapes to find the witness who could clear his name, but he also seeks the two Yankee soldiers who killed his parents.
- DirectorCharles Marquis WarrenStarsSterling HaydenJoan LeslieWard BondA man is framed and sent to toughest prison in the territory.
- DirectorAllen H. MinerStarsGeorge MontgomeryDiane BrewsterTom PittmanIn a New Mexico town, two former pals from the Civil War meet again but one is the town marshal and the other is a wanted bank robber.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsBurt LancasterHume CronynCharles BickfordAt a tough penitentiary, prisoner Joe Collins plans to rebel against Captain Munsey, the power-mad chief guard.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsSean ConneryHarry AndrewsIan BannenIn a North African military prison during World War II, five new prisoners struggle to survive in the face of brutal punishment and sadistic guards.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellLee Van CleefErnest BorgnineIn 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.
- 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.
- DirectorSimon WestStarsNicolas CageJohn CusackJohn MalkovichNewly-paroled ex-con and former U.S. Ranger Cameron Poe finds himself trapped in a prisoner-transport plane when the passengers seize control.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsElvis PresleyJudy TylerMickey ShaughnessyAfter serving time for manslaughter, young Vince Everett becomes a teenage rock star.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
- DirectorJean GenetStarsBravoJean GenetJavaTwo prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
- DirectorMarkus SchleinzerStarsMichael FuithDavid RauchenbergerChristine KainFive months in the life of a pedophile who keeps a 10-year-old boy locked in his basement.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKirk DouglasRalph MeekerAdolphe MenjouAfter a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.
- DirectorTeinosuke KinugasaStarsMasuo InoueAyako IijimaYoshie NakagawaA man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.
- DirectorRadha BharadwajStarsMadeleine StoweAlan RickmanIn a drab police state, an author of children's books is interrogated by a sadistic, secret policeman. She's under suspicion of embedding anti-government messages in her stories.
- DirectorAntonio MerceroStarsJosé Luis López VázquezAgustín GonzálezGoyo LebreroA man gets trapped inside a telephone box and nobody is able to free him.
- DirectorPeter MullanStarsEileen WalshDorothy DuffyNora-Jane NooneThree young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.
- DirectorAloizs BrencsStarsVytautas TomkusValdemars ZandbergsAstrida KairishaAfter seven years in prison, Voldemars Viters returns to the outside world. He is 46 and has nothing - no family, no work. However, he agrees to take part in one last heist - the robbing of a jewelry shop, before starting a new life.
- DirectorRaj KhoslaStarsDev AnandMadhubalaNalini JaywantBased on A.J.Cronin's 'Beyond This Place', this movie narrates the story of an untiring crusade for justice. A young man, learning about his father's wrongful implication in a fifteen-year-old murder, vows to bring the true criminals to justice and release his innocent father from 'kaala paani' (life imprisonment), for which he enlists the help of a press reporter, a retired police inspector and an unwitting prostitute who happens to possess some key evidence.
- DirectorJack CardiffStarsVan JohnsonVera MilesEmlyn WilliamsA British-American returns to Britain after 20 years to discover that his father has been jailed since WW2 for a murder that took place in murky circumstances.
- DirectorShantaram Rajaram VankudreStarsShantaram Rajaram VankudreSandhyaUlhasProgressive, reform-minded young warden gets permission to take six surly murderers from prison to dilapidated country farm, to rehabilitate it and themselves through hard work and kindly guidance.
- DirectorAlgimantas PuipaStarsJurate OnaityteAntanas SurnaVidas PetkeviciusStory set in a Baltic fishermen's settlement at the turn of the 20th century. The film's heroine keeps losing one husband after another, but there's always someone from the family to come and take care of her children and her house.
- DirectorRiccardo FredaStarsVittorio GassmanMaría MercaderYvonne SansonGiacomo Casanova returns to Venice, to help his brother, falsely accused of robbery.
- DirectorLeonid AmalrikIvan Ivanov-VanoStarsKonstantin EggertThe film addresses issues of racism in the Jim Crow American South. Themes of racial injustice, racial violence, working-class solidarity dominate the film. It depicts black men working in a field, walking in chains, sitting behind bars, and being executed in an electric chair. In most scenes, a white authority figure is seen whipping or guarding the men.
- DirectorDavid MacDonaldStarsTod SlaughterJack LiveseyMarjorie TaylorAn evil prison administrator cruelly abuses the inmates at his prison, until one day the tables are turned.
- DirectorAlfred RoomeStarsJack WarnerJane HyltonGeorge ColeWar hero George Martin escapes prison handcuffed to crook Willie Stannard. They obtain railway tickets. Pursued by police and press, George aims to break free from Willie and escape.
- DirectorEduard GalicStarsVojislav MiricFabijan SovagovicIvan SubicWW2 story about group of prisoners who are trying to escape the death camp, run by local pro-Nazi militia.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsBeverly RobertsRobert WilcoxPaul McVeyA prison trustee rescues a despondent executioner from a bar-room brawl, and is blamed for the fight by a tabloid reporter who actually started it, and loses parole, becomes embittered, and gets blamed for murder of guard.
- DirectorBujar AlimaniStarsLuli BitriKarafil ShenaTodi LlupiConjugal visits unite two strangers visiting a prison to meet their incarcerated spouses. During these visits, Elsa and Spetim find the companionship missing from their lives. But a prisoner amnesty soon threatens their fragile bond in this contemplative drama. An official selection of the prestigious Global Lens Collection presented by the Global Film Initiative. (Albanian w. English subs)
- DirectorGeorge EnglundStarsJoanne WoodwardStuart WhitmanEdward MulhareAn escapee from an asylum takes refuge in a woman's house; but she has dark secrets of her own.
- DirectorPrakash AroraStarsKumari NaazRatan KumarDavid AbrahamPreteen brother and sister, abandoned by their father, to be taken care of, by an abusive prostitute aunt, survive life in an Indian squatters' camp, aided by a friendly cripple, by learning to shine shoes instead of begging.
- DirectorLance ComfortStarsTony BrittonWilliam LucasEddie ByrneA dangerous prisoner, Jacko Thomas, overpowers his police guard and jumps from a speeding train in the Dartmoor countryside. In the ensuing fight Jacko kills the guard and makes his way to a secluded hotel on the moors where Tredgar is being paid to arrange a safe transit for Jacko and his sister Jean. But Jean as no idea of Jacko's murderous character, and when an ex-policeman and a famous novelist book into the isolated hotel, the scene is set for a series of murders and a shocking climax.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsRock HudsonJulie AdamsMary CastleAfter being released from prison, former gun-fighter John Wesley Hardin hopes to have his autobiography published in order to rehabilitate his tarnished reputation.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsBing CrosbyMadge EvansEdith FellowsLarry Poole, in prison on a false charge, promise an inmate that when he gets out he will look up and help out a family. The family turns out to be a young girl, Patsy Smith, and her elderly grandfather who need lots of help.
- DirectorKároly MakkStarsLili DarvasMari TörőcsikIván DarvasThe wife of a political prisoner tends to her mother-in-law and keeps from the old woman the truth about her son, whom she believes is in New York making a film.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsCharles LaughtonMaureen O'HaraGeorge SandersA mild-mannered school teacher in a German-occupied town during World War II finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsEdward G. RobinsonVivienne OsborneGuy KibbeeA condemned murderer, in the process of being executed, relives the events that led to his being sentenced to die in the electric chair.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiStarsSally GrayTrevor HowardGriffith JonesAfter WW2, former RAF airman Clem Morgan joins a gang of black-market smugglers-thieves but when a robbery goes wrong, Clem is caught , framed for a policeman's murder, and is sent to prison where he plots his escape and revenge.
- DirectorSubhash GhaiStarsSanjeev KumarShammi KapoorJackie ShroffAfter his friend is imprisoned, a hitman kidnaps the daughter of the police commissioner by telling her that he is a police officer.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsBob HopeDorothy LamourPeter LorreShortly before his execution on the death row in San Quentin, amateur sleuth and baby photographer Ronnie Jackson tells reporters how he got there.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsEdward G. RobinsonJean ArthurArthur HohlA meek milquetoast clerk is mistaken for public enemy N° 1, and the notorious killer takes advantage of the situation.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsTommy LewisFreddy ReynoldsAngela Punch McGregorAfter suffering racist abuse throughout his life - which intensifies following his marriage to a white woman - a half-Aboriginal farmhand finds himself driven to murder.
- DirectorByron HaskinStarsBurt LancasterLizabeth ScottKirk DouglasFrankie Madison leaves prison expecting a share from his ex-partner. But Prohibition bootlegging didn't prepare Frankie for Big Business.
- DirectorLaslo BenedekStarsMax von SydowTrevor HowardLiv UllmannIn a Scandinavian insane asylum, murderer Salem sneaks out at night to exact his revenge on those who he deems responsible for his predicament.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsLloyd BridgesBarbara PaytonJohn HoytSecret Service agents make a deal with a counterfeiting inmate to be released on early parole if he will help them recover some bogus moneymaking plates, but he plans to double cross them.
- DirectorFred F. SearsStarsJohn HodiakJohn DerekDavid BrianAn innocent cowboy convicted with three robbers, fresh out of Yuma Territorial Prison, travels with them to get a share of their hidden loot.
- DirectorMarek KanievskaStarsPaul NewmanLinda FiorentinoDermot MulroneyOld bank robber Henry, paralyzed from a stroke, is moved from a prison hospital to a retirement home, where Carol is a nurse. She doesn't believe he's paralyzed and sees him as a way out of her boring life.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsMichael RedgraveTom CourtenayAvis BunnageA young thief takes up long-distance running when he is sent to a borstal.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsCathy O'DonnellFarley GrangerHoward Da SilvaAn escaped convict injured during a robbery falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning.