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Joined: Jul 29 2012 Posts: 63

I just watched Midnight Express for the first time, and it got me thinking about Prison films in general. What are some of your favorites?

Mine:
A great film. It depicts the appalling conditions and torture American soldiers endured as POWs at Hoa Lo prison.

Felon is actually a really good film that flew under the radar. The DVD cover art looks dumb as hell, but the movie itself is impressive, worth a rental at least.

Lock Up is a perennial favorite of mine. The plot is a little far fetched, but it has Stallone and he's... Locked Up.

I watched Midnight Express the other night for the first time ever. It strays from the actual account quite a bit towards the end but it's still a fantastic film. Never go back in time to the 70s and attempt to smuggle drugs out of Turkey.

Escape From Alcatraz is awesome. It's a great film with two of my favorite actors, Clint Eastwood and "The Prisoner" himself Patrick McGoohan playing the warden ironically.

Bronson is a very artsy prison film. Artsy films usually invoke hatred from me but Bronson is a decent film nonetheless.

I'll leave it at that. I'm skipping some obvious ones, notably "The Shawshank Redemption". For some reason I can't stand that film. I didn't care for the novella either. I can't explain it, I know it's one of the most revered films of all time but it gets on my nerves for some reason.

Posted: Sep 22 2012 08:43 pm

awww i like Shawshank.

hmmm, my mom is a fan of prison movies. she likes Papillon a lot. i thought it was alright

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Definitely "Hanoi Hilton" and "Papillon". Proably "Chopper" too, if that counts.

Joined: Jul 29 2012 Posts: 63

JoshWoodzy wrote:

Definitely "Hanoi Hilton" and "Papillon". Proably "Chopper" too, if that counts.

I've never seen Papillon I'm ashamed to say since I am a Steve McQueen fan. I'll have to throw that in my Netflix queue. I've never even heard of Chopper, although I just looked it up and it does look good.

Joined: Jul 29 2012 Posts: 63

JoshWoodzy wrote:

Definitely "Hanoi Hilton" and "Papillon". Proably "Chopper" too, if that counts.

I've never seen Papillon I'm ashamed to say since I am a Steve McQueen fan. I'll have to throw that in my Netflix queue. I've never even heard of Chopper, although I just looked it up and it does look good. I'll Netflix that too,

Posted: Sep 23 2012 11:55 pm

Shawshank and Green Mile for me.

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

If Hunger counts, then that's one of my favs.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I know that this seems somewhat predictable or contrived, but Shawshank isn't just one of my favorite prison films, it is one of my favorite movies of all time.

I'll throw Big Stan on the list of movies that involve a prison, and while I enjoyed it for its silliness, it was pretty damn stupid.

Posted: Sep 24 2012 11:45 am

Does One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest count?

Also, The Rock.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Cool Hand Luke!

Posted: Sep 24 2012 02:02 pm

Down by Law is a pretty good movie.

Posted: Sep 24 2012 02:45 pm

The Great Escape is definitely my favorite prison movie. That counts right?

Let's Go to Prison was pretty funny.

Posted: Sep 24 2012 07:16 pm

Does The Green Mile count?

Joined: Jul 29 2012 Posts: 63

I watched this years ago on TCM. It was pretty good. I didn't realized it was based on a real prisoners autobiography until looking up the movie just now.

I haven't seen Death Warrant since I was a kid. Looks like it's going in my Netflix queue.

I don't know how I forgot to mention Runaway Train. This film is a masterpiece.

Joined: Oct 19 2009 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 1479

Tango and Cash counts, right?

Posted: Sep 25 2012 12:40 am

Half Baked?

Posted: Sep 25 2012 06:22 am

Death Warrant was awesome when i was a kid. havent seen it since then, so im afraid it might have not aged well

Posted: Sep 25 2012 11:20 pm

Instinct was pretty good. Anyone else ever see that?

Posted: Sep 26 2012 01:57 am

Instinct with Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr? Yeah that one was pretty good.

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

Green Mile, Shawshank, Papillon, etc. All great movies.

Posted: Sep 26 2012 04:24 am

Bare Behind Bars

Posted: Sep 26 2012 07:00 pm

Posted: Sep 28 2012 02:00 am

Does Diggstown count?

Title: an horse Joined: Feb 26 2012 Posts: 169

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

Ice2SeeYou wrote:

This is pretty much the only prison film I've seen, so...