Brubaker (1980)

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

Director:

Stuart Rosenberg

Writers:

W.D. Richter (screenplay), W.D. Richter (story)

Stars:

Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, Morgan Freeman

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Redford	...	Henry Brubaker
Yaphet Kotto	...	Richard 'Dickie' Coombes
Jane Alexander	...	Lillian Gray
Murray Hamilton	...	John Deach
David Keith	...	Larry Lee Bullen
Morgan Freeman	...	Walter
Matt Clark	...	Roy Purcell
Tim McIntire	...	Huey Rauch
Richard Ward	...	Abraham Cook
Jon Van Ness	...	Zaranska
M. Emmet Walsh	...	C.P. 'Woody' Woodward
Albert Salmi	...	Rory Poke
Linda Haynes	...	Carol
Everett McGill	...	Eddie Caldwell
Val Avery	...	Wendel

Storyline

When the new warden comes in disguised as an inmate, he sees firsthand all the corruption and scams the guards and prison officials are running. When he reveals himself and starts to implement reforms to stop the corruption, the local business community, who had been benefiting from the scams, fights back, and the corrupt prison system starts making political trouble for the new warden.

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Plot Keywords:

corruption | prison | abuse of power | undercover | based on true story | 

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Taglines:

The most wanted man in Wakefield prison is the warden!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 June 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Shadow Walk

Filming Locations:

Columbus, Ohio, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,748,079, 22 June 1980, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$37,121,708

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character played by M. Emmet Walsh, has the last name of Woodward. Perhaps a nod to Redford's character Bob Woodward in All the President's Men (1976), a film also co-starring Jane Alexander and John McMartin.

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Goofs

When Brubaker & another prisoner are taken to a local restaurant to drop off a steer; the guard drinks a beer which changes position in his hand after the camera goes back to the store owner for less than a second or two.

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Quotes

Henry Brubaker: What are you in for?
Abraham Cook: Manslaughter. Killed my baby brother with a rock.
Henry Brubaker: How long were you sentenced?
Abraham Cook: 35 years.
Henry Brubaker: [looks over Abraham's file] How long have you been here?
Abraham Cook: You know the answer to that.
Henry Brubaker: Yeah, 38 years and six months.

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Connections

Referenced in Operación Mantis (El exterminio del macho) (1985)

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Soundtracks

Respect
(uncredited)
Written by Otis Redding
Performed by Morgan Freeman when he attacks another inmate

User Reviews

Get sent to jail, and you wonder whether this could happen.

Robert Redford plays another dignified character, this time as new warden Henry Brubaker posing as an inmate in a corrupt prison to understand the deplorable conditions there. As is the case with any prison-related film, we get to see some really ugly things here. Maybe "Brubaker" goes a little overboard in portraying its main character as a saint, but considering that the main point is to show the inhumanity of this country's penal system (which apparently hasn't changed much since this movie came out), they do a good job. I'd say that it's another movie that, if nothing else, deserves kudos for disproving the "Disney-ized" version of the world that we often get shown. A very good movie.