Convicts 4 (1962)

After his death sentence is commuted to life in prison, John Resko is transferred from Sing-Sing to Dannemora where, with the help of a humane prison guard, he becomes a rehabilitated man and a successful painter.

Director:

Millard Kaufman

Writers:

Millard Kaufman (screenplay), John Resko (autobiography "Reprieve")

Stars:

Ben Gazzara, Stuart Whitman, Ray Walston

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Gazzara	...	John Resko
Stuart Whitman	...	Principal Keeper
Ray Walston	...	Iggy
Vincent Price	...	Carl Carmer
Rod Steiger	...	Tiptoes
Broderick Crawford	...	Warden
Dodie Stevens	...	Resko's Sister
Jack Kruschen	...	Resko's Father
Sammy Davis Jr.	...	Wino
Naomi Stevens	...	Resko's Mother
Adam Williams	...	Guard
Jack Albertson	...	Teach
John Kellogg	...	Guard
Robert H. Harris	...	Commissioner
Carmen Phillips	...	Connie Resko

Storyline

A semi-fictionalized version of John Resko's incarceration is presented. John is on death row at Sing Sing for murder. In December 1930, he killed a toy store shopkeeper over a teddy bear he wanted to get as a Christmas present for his two year old daughter, Cathy, but for which he could not pay. Twenty minutes before John's scheduled execution, he is given a reprieve, his sentence commuted to life, and he transferred to Dannemora. He initially has a difficult time adjusting to life at Dannemora, from the uncaring direction of the prison administration including they not dealing with the issue of bed bugs, to altercations with fellow prisoners who seem to want their two pounds of literal and figurative flesh from John, to news that he receives from the outside about goings-on within his family. However, he does eventually befriend many of his fellow prisoners, especially Nick, Iggy and Wino. John dreams of escaping from Dannemora, so that he can be at least an economically generating ...

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Plot Keywords:

sing sing prison | dannemora prison | 1930s | 1940s | prison guard | 

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Taglines:

They'll Blow Every Fuse in the Big House!

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

First cinema film of Arthur Malet.

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Goofs

When Iggy (Ray Walston) comes up into John Resko's cell after digging in their tunnel he refers to Resko as Ben.

User Reviews

See it for the actors

Given the actors in this movie, you would expect something memorable or at least above average. The actors do a great job with a sub-par script. The movie drags, which would make sense for a prison flick, if it dragged with a purpose; instead it just seems to drag for its own sake without any thought given to the use of time in the movie to make a point about prison life. I can't think of a movie with such a capable cast, heck memorable cast that was so mediocre. The actors made the movie, a lesser cast would have given us a mess of a movie. Too bad the direction and script are so poor, this movie could have really been something. Watch closely, there is a major actor every few minutes; a star that carried their own movies later. The movie also suffers from the score, when its not sappy it is jazz. Either way, the score does not support the movie very well, and ofttimes makes the movie even worse. The score seems like a collection of tunes that someone liked, it sure was not made to support the movie. I don't know what the director and producer were thinking when they made this movie, maybe there was no director and they just slapped something together after shooting a bunch of scenes. See it once just to see so many memorable actors in a single movie. But once is plenty. It seems like the director was trying to take the Plan 9 From Outer Space worst movie ever award; but this goal was thwarted by the cast. Good performances, lousy film.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 February 1963 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Convicts 4

Filming Locations:

San Quentin, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kaufman-Lubin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) Mono (Todd-AO)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1