Complete credited cast: | |||
Jim Brown | ... | Cully Briston | |
Gene Hackman | ... | Red Fraker | |
Mike Kellin | ... | Bugsy | |
Gerald S. O'Loughlin | ... | Grossman | |
Ben Carruthers | ... | Surefoot | |
Clifford David | ... | Mary Sheldon | |
Bill Walker | ... | Jake | |
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Jerry Thompson | ... | Fisk |
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Ricky Summers | ... | Gravel Gertie |
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Mr. Gerri | ... | Queen #1 |
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John Neiderhauser | ... | Queen #2 |
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Frank Eyman | ... | The Warden (as Warden Frank A. Eyman) |
Cully Briston is serving a 5 year sentence in an Arizona prison. He's not getting along well with the Sergeant of the guards who, on finding a bottle of moonshine near Cully, sends him to the isolation block. Arriving there Cully discovers that inmates have taken over the block and have taken the guards as hostages to demand better living conditions. Inmate Red Fraker, leader of the revolt, has a secret plan to escape with a few other inmates and asks Cully to join them. Red explains there's an old tunnel under the prison auditorium of which prison staff is unaware. Cully plans to brew moonshine to get the other inmates drunk while the select few escape. Written by nufs68
"Riot" is a very tense film that was apparently based on a book about an actual prison situation that occurred in Minnesota. Oddly, however, "Riot" was filmed in Arizona--about the most un-Minnesota like place you can find! It's also unusual in that the famed horror director, William Castle, produced it.
The film stars Jim Brown and Gene Hackman, but they are not the entire show. In fact, while they clearly are the leads, the real stars are the many prisoners--many of which really were prisoners of the Yuma Correctional facility. It gets very high marks for realism that is missing from most other prison films and must have been seen as a VERY gritty film when it debuted. Flamboyantly gay prisoners, home brewed alcohol, impromptu courts to dispense 'justice' to snitches and a lot of blood are things you really don't see in other more sanitized prison films. Because of that, I highly recommend the film--it's tough, tense and exciting throughout.