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Post by london777 on Sept 30, 2018 14:47:19 GMT
The Quare Fellow (1962) directed, and partly scripted by, Arthur Dreifuss was very loosely based on Brendan Behan's hit play of the same title. Dreifuss seems an odd choice. He had a long career of very undistinguished and very American B-movies and turned Behan's multi-faceted play into a typical American anti-capital punishment drama, removing all the humor and examination of Irishness. Patrick McGoohan as a novice warder gets a rare chance to show his talent on-screen but Sylvia Syms seems a bit too "posh" for her role.
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Sept 30, 2018 17:34:03 GMT
A few dealing with WWII Japanese POW camps:
Three Came Home (1950) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) King Rat (1965)
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Post by mattgarth on Sept 30, 2018 17:51:03 GMT
A few dealing with WWII Japanese POW camps:
Three Came Home (1950) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) King Rat (1965) Good ones, Zolo -- and adding: UNBROKEN MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE
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Post by manfromplanetx on Oct 1, 2018 4:31:59 GMT
Skřivánci na niti , Larks on a String (1968) directed by Jiřà Menzel adapted from a novel from the famous Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal , he collaborated closely on the screenplay with his friend Menzel. Larks on a String is a searing political satire, it is a rich humanist drama punctuated with black humour partially obscuring a grim reality, it is a powerful critique of totalitarianism and equally, a powerful celebration of the resilience of the human spirit. The film was actually shot in 1968 whilst Czechoslovakia was enjoying a brief moment of political liberalization. However production timing could not have been worse, the Soviet invasion restored a repressive Communist regime who instantly banned the film, it was not released again until 1990. Czechoslovakia was a country which had previously enjoyed much social freedom, an oppressive era followed in the early 1950s, the setting of the film. The story tells of an odd group of political prisoners thrown together, rounded up from their everyday lives. Labelled "Bourgeois Dissidents" and deemed counter-revolutionary by the hard-line communist authorities, they are relocated to a bleak Industrial city where they are imprisoned, interned at a steel re-processing plant. The men are forced into re-education, experienced at the plant through hard manual and collective labour. The rationale of the authority is to incorporate, integrate those from the defeated, disenfranchised classes into the countries new social framework... Highly Recommended !!
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Oct 1, 2018 5:32:54 GMT
Good to see some of the Brits fine pics have been mentioned thus far, so here's another >
McVicar (1980) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0081144/reference
Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee me!
Can't you hear that's what I say.
John McVicar is a tough uncompromising armed robber, after being sent to a maximum security prison for 23 years he dreams of escaping every day. As his reputation grows and friendships are formed, it would appear that his friend Wally Probyn may have figured a way out of this tough rigid prison.
In 1979 America had The Warriors and The Wanderers, at pretty much the same time us British had Quadrophenia and McVicar to hold dear to our hearts, both films produced out of The Who Films Ltd, both films eminently quotable to a certain age group that were of the teenage persuasion. I love McVicar, I really do, based on the true life story of McVicar, well from his own accounts written in his book, "McVicar by Himself", the film boasts a Who soundtrack and a script that positively sparkles with wit and anger speak. Yes the charges of the film making hardened criminals seem likable characters is a fair one, but not only does the film show the disgust {and rightly outright hatred} for sex offenders, it also showcases just what a hard job the prison officers have, this is something that many of the user comment writers here have failed to acknowledge.
Roger Daltrey takes on the role of McVicar and dons a career best, gruff, perfectly in shape and a wide boy arrogance that comes off as gold dust in this particular piece. Backing him up is wonderful turns from Brian Hall {comic gold}, Steven Berkoff {clearly enjoying himself}, Matthew Scurfield {frighteningly unnerving} and Peter Jonfield. Once the escape happens the film switches in tone as McVicar tries to make some sense of his life, it's an emotional switch that tones the film down but never the less takes us successfully to the highly accomplished finale. We are then left with a wonderful quote from John McVicar himself and we are told just what this tough as nails armed robber actually did with himself from that point on.
Perhaps it's because I was a teenager when the film came out, that I love it so much? Or maybe the script just appeals to me on a very primal level? Either way I'm always going to be a fan of it, and McVicar remains to me, along with Quadrophenia and Scum, British standards to revisit every single year.
I don't care how late it is I'm not going home 8/10
Bronson (2008) been mentioned yet? - www.imdb.com/title/tt1172570/reference
Rescue Dawn (2006) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0462504/reference
Brubaker (1980) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0080474/reference
One of my favourite sub-genre of films, incarceration based, so it's great to see the great noir and French pics get a mention. I will no doubt remember more later
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Oct 1, 2018 5:36:48 GMT
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Post by manfromplanetx on Oct 1, 2018 5:56:20 GMT
Good to see some of the Brits fine pics have been mentioned thus far, so here's another >
Even better , Great to see the return of a revered Classic Film Board Friend
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Oct 1, 2018 6:00:08 GMT
Good to see some of the Brits fine pics have been mentioned thus far, so here's another >
Even better , Great to see the return of a revered Classic Film Board Friend Aye Up Champ!
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Oct 1, 2018 6:05:46 GMT
Bloody Hell! I should be sent to the big house myself for forgetting one of my favourite films ever - and then forgetting a version of that film in one of my favourite genres! The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0028141/referenceTortured by a Nation for his Act of Mercy! The Prisoner of Shark Island is directed by John Ford and written by Nunnally Johnson. It stars Warner Baxter, Gloria Stuart, Harry Carey, John Carradine, Ernest Whitman, Francis McDonald, Joyce Kay, Claude Gillingwater and Frank McGlynn. Music is by R.H. Bassett and Hugo Friedhofer and cinematography by Bert Glennon. After setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth (McDonald), Dr. Samuel A. Mudd (Baxter) is tried as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (McGlynn). Sentenced to life imprisonment at the military prison of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Mudd desperately tries to stay sane and fight a vicious regime in the hope of one day proving the unjust nature of his sentence. A personal favourite of Ford's, it's not hard to see why given that The Prisoner of Shark Island is supreme film making. Based on the true story of Samuel Mudd, there is perhaps unsurprisingly some little fudging of the facts, but this in no way detracts from the truthful basis of this incredible human interest story. Time is afforded to the joy at the end of the Civil War, Lincoln's weariness (McGlynn classy as usual), the assassination on that desperate day April 14th 1865, Mudd's family life and moral fibre and then the night he abided by his Hippocratic Oath and administered medical aid to the man who had just murdered the president. These are all delicately handled scenes by Ford, who aided by Johnson's screenplay manages to hit home to us the fragile nature of the Mudd incident that is harnessed by a country grieving with anger. Once the trial arrives, the film shifts to another level, the delicacy of Ford's framing of characters and Johnson's rich dialogue passages are replaced by striking imagery and an impassioned performance by the wonderful Baxter. The hooded prisoners on trial for their lives and the wooden gallows outside the court chill the blood, then Baxter delivers his heart tugging three pronged defence monologue that is as good a piece of acting as was given in the 30s. Sentenced passed, execution off camera strikes a chord and then Mudd sits alone and forlorn in a darkened cell, filtered light shards imprison Mudd and let us know that Glennon has arrived to takes us up yet another notch. What then unfolds is a superb depiction of the horrors of prison life, Fort Jefferson is a dank and desperate place, a place of misery for the prisoners, especially for Mudd, who has the patriotic but sadistic Sergeant Rankin (Carradine brilliant) after his blood. Ford is alive to the benefits of Carradine's nasty performance, so has him lighted as malevolent and angled like a horror movie protagonist. Some of the shots during the prison sequences are clinical on impact value, such as Mudd on his cell window sill or one capture as he stares down through a floor grate, shadows and light showing Glennon at his best and giving us a shot fit to grace the best film noirs of the 40s. The rest is history as written, the desperation of an escape attempt, the yellow fever outbreak and his eventual pardon by President Andrew Johnson (this would be 1869 in reality). Nicely packaged by Ford who closes the picture down by having Mudd and Buck (Whitman an impressive presence throughout the picture), his one time black slave and loyal friend, return home to their families, harmony restored after such hardships. There is inevitably some annoyance by critics and film fans alike that the black characters are racial stereotypes, but this is a 1936 film depicting a story unfolding in 1865/67, Ford and Johnson's work here is representative of its times. And in no way, to my film loving mind, hurts this picture in any way. Classic cinema in its purest form from the writing table to finished product, it's highly recommended viewing. 9.5/10 Hellgate (1952) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0044698/referenceHellgate, the citadel of terror in the blazing heat of the Romara Desert. Hellgate is directed by Charles Marquis Warren who also co-writes the screenplay with John C. Champion, the latter of which also produces. Andrew V. McLaglen is the assistant director. It stars Sterling Hayden, Ward Bond, Joan Leslie, James Arness, Peter Coe, John Pickard and Robert Wilkie. Music is scored by Paul Dunlap and cinematography by Ernest W. Miller. "It is not for us to decide at this date that the man, Gilman Hanley, was the victim of a nations unintentional injustice. Rather, it is our duty to see that the fate that befell him can never again befall any man". Oliver Wendell Holmes, Justice, U.S, Supreme Court. Lets cut to the chase, there was no Hellgate Prison, no Romara Desert and no Gilman Hanley. The film is set in New Mexico but filmed in California. And, as the few reviews about it will attest to, this is ultimately The Prisoner of Shark Island remade as a Western. But what a treat for Western fans it is. Doorway of the Damned! The Curse of Convicts! The Shame of America! Sweaty, moody and full of testosterone, Hellgate is also compact and firmly dealing in the innocent good guy suffering at the hands of a pathetic justice system. Hayden is our good doctor Hanley, well veterinarian actually, who administers basic first aid to a Guerilla outlaw and gets sent to America's Devil's Island. The prison is out in the desert, surrounded by a rock formation and the cells are underground lock ups in the caves. Punishment for misbehaving is slow whipping or a stint in the baking oven! Even if the convicts get out of the rock valley, there's Pima Indians waiting to hunt them down and secure a bounty for their heads. Hanley is in trouble, sadistic Lt. Tod Voorhees (Bond of course) doesn't much care for him, as he tells him, "You'll find I have a special regard for Guerillas", not only that but he is in a shared cell with some right characters, including Redfield (Arness), one tough mother who doesn't much care for another guy taking up the monthly water ration. What will follow is machismo moments, fights, torture, battle of wills, death and escape attempts, while anyone who has seen Prisoner of Shark Island will know that disease enters the fray and gives us a finale of punch the air satisfaction. Not all the acting is first grade stuff, though Hayden is perfect for this role, and the abruptness of the key Typhus infection turnaround for the finale kind of feels like a cheat after having endured some quality claustrophobia for the previous 75 minutes. But this is still a tight and taut production, an unquenchable thirst of moody black and white 50s cinema. Which for anyone else like me who loves Westerns and anything prison based, is manna from heaven. 8/10
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Oct 2, 2018 15:35:05 GMT
Coming Out of the Ice (1982), about an American who had the bad fortune of being sucked into the Soviet Gulag system for decades. Pretty harrowing story (based on real events that happened to a real person).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0083749/?ref_=rvi_tt
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Post by teleadm on Oct 2, 2018 17:30:30 GMT
I don't think this one has been mentioned: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich 1970, based on a novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Oct 2, 2018 17:36:42 GMT
teleadm: I read the book, never saw the movie. The book was good.
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Post by teleadm on Oct 2, 2018 17:57:26 GMT
teleadm : I read the book, never saw the movie. The book was good. It's been many years since I watched the movie, never read the book, but those I watched it with had and they said that it misses out all of Ivan's thoughts, which was a vital part of the story and thereby missed the mark.
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Post by Rufus-T on Oct 2, 2018 18:21:27 GMT
Saw this very bad Linda Blair female prison movie on TV called Red Heat, thinking it was the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie of the same title around the same time. Giving that it had many pretty girls, I did finish the movie
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Post by teleadm on Oct 2, 2018 19:09:20 GMT
Girls in Prison 1956 "What happens to girls without men?" was used as a tagline.
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Post by Rufus-T on Oct 2, 2018 19:23:07 GMT
Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972), a Japanese sexploitation movie.
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Post by Rufus-T on Oct 2, 2018 19:25:24 GMT
Prison on Fire (1987) - Actually an excellent Hong Kong prison film.
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Post by london777 on Oct 2, 2018 22:22:45 GMT
Now Barabbas (1949) dir: Gordon Parry was adapted from William Douglas-Home's play. Cedric Hardwicke plays the Prison Governor trying to introduce a more humane regime. Plenty of familiar Brits pop up as prisoners and staff, including early roles for Richard Burton and Kenneth More. Richard Greene, then a major star (Britain's answer to Tyrone Power), has the main role as a charming murderer awaiting hanging. Douglas-Home, whose brother later became Prime Minister, was a leading light in the campaign against capital punishment.
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Post by forca84 on Oct 6, 2018 0:08:08 GMT
Haven't seen these mentioned, but all were very good: An Innocent Man (1989) Felon (2008) Animal Factory (2000) Dog Pound (2010) Life (1999) The Green Mile (1999) Starred Up (2013) The Hurricane (1999) Nice to see "Dog pound" get a shout out. Cripe what a bleak film. But had to keep watching.
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Post by forca84 on Oct 6, 2018 0:11:15 GMT
I thought the film "Lockdown" was pretty good. Although the film eventually leads to prison... Doesn't start in it.
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