Prison movies I've watched so far

by en_blanche | created - 16 Nov 2011 | updated - 11 May 2022 | Public

Prison movies

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1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

R | 142 min | Drama

82 Metascore

Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.

Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler

Votes: 2,890,916 | Gross: $28.34M

2. American History X (1998)

R | 119 min | Crime, Drama

62 Metascore

Living a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.

Director: Tony Kaye | Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien

Votes: 1,186,909 | Gross: $6.72M

3. Cell 211 (2009)

113 min | Action, Crime, Drama

The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.

Director: Daniel Monzón | Stars: Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines, Manuel Morón

Votes: 70,801

4. Animal Factory (2000)

R | 94 min | Crime, Drama

65 Metascore

A young man goes to prison and a tough, older convict takes him under his wing as a mentor.

Director: Steve Buscemi | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, Danny Trejo, Mark Boone Junior

Votes: 14,654 | Gross: $0.04M

5. Hunger (2008)

Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

82 Metascore

Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.

Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw

Votes: 73,576 | Gross: $0.15M

6. Stone (2010)

R | 105 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

58 Metascore

A convicted arsonist looks to manipulate a parole officer into a plan to secure his parole by placing his beautiful wife in the lawman's path.

Director: John Curran | Stars: Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich, Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy

Votes: 42,926 | Gross: $1.80M

7. Bent (1997)

NC-17 | 105 min | Drama, History, Romance

In 1930s Berlin, a gay Jew is sent to a concentration camp under the Nazi regime.

Director: Sean Mathias | Stars: Lothaire Bluteau, Clive Owen, Mick Jagger, Brian Webber

Votes: 8,824 | Gross: $0.37M

8. Brubaker (1980)

R | 131 min | Crime, Drama

54 Metascore

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 | Stars: Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, Morgan Freeman, Jane Alexander

Votes: 19,446 | Gross: $37.12M

9. The Experiment (2001)

R | 120 min | Drama, Thriller

59 Metascore

For two weeks, 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards in a prison. The "prisoners" have to follow seemingly mild rules, and the "guards" are told to retain order without using physical violence.

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski, Wotan Wilke Möhring

Votes: 96,122 | Gross: $0.14M

10. The Experiment (2010)

R | 96 min | Drama, Thriller

26 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.

Director: Paul T. Scheuring | Stars: Adrien Brody, Cam Gigandet, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace

Votes: 57,193

11. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

PG | 112 min | Action, Biography, Crime

76 Metascore

Alcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possibly successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world.

Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau

Votes: 147,543 | Gross: $43.00M

12. The Rock (1996)

R | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

58 Metascore

A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.

Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, John Spencer

Votes: 358,322 | Gross: $134.07M

13. Murder in the First (1995)

R | 122 min | Drama, Thriller

An eager and idealistic young attorney defends an Alcatraz prisoner accused of murdering a fellow inmate. The extenuating circumstances: his client had just spent over three years in solitary confinement.

Director: Marc Rocco | Stars: Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Embeth Davidtz

Votes: 30,692 | Gross: $17.38M

14. The Green Mile (1999)

R | 189 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy

61 Metascore

A tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.

Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt

Votes: 1,408,576 | Gross: $136.80M

15. Führer Ex (2002)

Unrated | 105 min | Drama

Repentant ex neo-Nazi Ingo Hasselbach's autobiographical experiences are the basis for "Fuhrer Ex". Two friends dream of escaping the oppression of communist GDR in 1980s in Berlin. When ... See full summary »

Director: Winfried Bonengel | Stars: Aaron Hildebrand, Christian Blümel, Jule Flierl, Detlef Kapplusch

Votes: 1,551

16. Felon (2008)

R | 104 min | Crime, Thriller

58 Metascore

Locked up for killing an intruder in self-defense, a family man must cope with life in the violent penal system.

Director: Ric Roman Waugh | Stars: Stephen Dorff, Marisol Nichols, Vincent Miller, Anne Archer

Votes: 83,587 | Gross: $0.04M

17. Locked Up (2004)

Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

Dennis is a new inmate. Mike is an older black inmate. Together the two face hostile prison officals and inmates in their attempts to become a loving couple.

Director: Jörg Andreas | Stars: Marcel Schlutt, Mike Sale, Ralph Steel, David Parik

Votes: 1,130

18. I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

R | 98 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime

65 Metascore

A cop turns con man once he comes out of the closet. Once imprisoned, he meets the second love of his life, whom he'll stop at nothing to be with.

Directors: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa | Stars: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro

Votes: 99,811 | Gross: $2.04M

19. In Hell (2003)

R | 98 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A man must survive a prison where hardened criminals battle to the death for the wardens' entertainment.

Director: Ringo Lam | Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lawrence Taylor, Lloyd Battista, Carlos Gómez

Votes: 21,508

20. Mean Machine (2001)

R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

45 Metascore

A football star jailed for assault leads a group of inmates in a match against prison guards.

Director: Barry Skolnick | Stars: Vinnie Jones, David Kelly, David Hemmings, Ralph Brown

Votes: 41,831 | Gross: $0.09M

21. Midnight Express (1978)

R | 121 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

59 Metascore

Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.

Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli

Votes: 88,285 | Gross: $35.00M

22. Primal Fear (1996)

R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

47 Metascore

An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.

Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, John Mahoney

Votes: 247,285 | Gross: $56.12M

23. Prison Break (2005–2017)

TV-14 | 44 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A structural engineer installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to save his falsely accused brother from a death sentence by breaking themselves out from the inside.

Stars: Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Amaury Nolasco, Robert Knepper

Votes: 579,852

24. Release (I) (2010)

R | 87 min | Drama, Romance

Father Jack is imprisoned for a crime that he has committed. The inmates suspect him of paedophilia and begin to persuade his teenage cellmate of this. His true crime is confessed to a prison guard with whom Jack has fallen in love.

Directors: Darren Flaxstone, Christian Martin | Stars: Daniel Brocklebank, Garry Summers, Bernie Hodges, Wayne Virgo

Votes: 643

25. Sleepers (1996)

R | 147 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

49 Metascore

After a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, an unexpected random encounter with a former guard gives them a chance for revenge.

Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric

Votes: 237,668 | Gross: $49.10M

26. I Just Didn't Do It (2006)

143 min | Drama

A young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.

Director: Masayuki Suô | Stars: Ryô Kase, Asaka Seto, Kôji Yamamoto, Masako Motai

Votes: 1,908

27. The Escapist (2008)

Not Rated | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

56 Metascore

Frank is 14 years into a life sentence when he decides to break out of the London prison to set things right with his ill junkie daughter. He plans an ingenious escape requiring 4 inmates with different skills.

Director: Rupert Wyatt | Stars: Brian Cox, Damian Lewis, Joseph Fiennes, Seu Jorge

Votes: 17,407 | Gross: $0.01M

28. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

PG-13 | 94 min | Drama, War

55 Metascore

Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Zac Mattoon O'Brien

Votes: 246,707 | Gross: $9.03M

29. The Last Castle (2001)

R | 131 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

43 Metascore

A court-martialed General rallies together twelve hundred inmates to rise against a corrupt and sadistic warden.

Director: Rod Lurie | Stars: Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Steve Burton

Votes: 85,327 | Gross: $18.21M

30. The Longest Yard (2005)

PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Sport

48 Metascore

Prison inmates form a football team to challenge the prison guards.

Director: Peter Segal | Stars: Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds, Chris Rock, Nelly

Votes: 195,205 | Gross: $158.12M

31. The McKenzie Break (1970)

PG | 108 min | Action, Drama, War

During WW2, German POWs in Britain plot to escape from their prison camp in Scotland.

Director: Lamont Johnson | Stars: Brian Keith, Helmut Griem, Ian Hendry, Jack Watson

Votes: 1,702

32. Screwed (I) (2011)

Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Drama

The film is a semi-biographical story based on the experiences of former prison guard Ronnie Thompson who spent seven years working in some of the UK's most dangerous prisons. Based on ... See full summary »

Director: Reg Traviss | Stars: James D'Arcy, Noel Clarke, Frank Harper, Kate Magowan

Votes: 2,305

33. Escape from New York (1981)

R | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

76 Metascore

In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.

Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence

Votes: 157,632 | Gross: $25.24M

34. Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama

34 Metascore

A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free.

Director: F. Gary Gray | Stars: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb, Colm Meaney

Votes: 320,063 | Gross: $73.34M

35. Locked Down (2010)

R | 99 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

Danny, a respected cop, is setup after an investigation goes wrong. While laying low in his new jail cell, Danny is forced to get involved in the inmates underground cage fighting circuit. ... See full summary »

Director: Daniel Zirilli | Stars: Tony Schiena, Rashad Evans, Vinnie Jones, Dwier Brown

Votes: 2,654

36. Let's Go to Prison (2006)

R | 84 min | Comedy, Crime

27 Metascore

When a career criminal's plan for revenge is thwarted by unlikely circumstances, he puts his intended victim's son in his place by putting him in prison...and then joining him.

Director: Bob Odenkirk | Stars: Dax Shepard, Will Arnett, Chi McBride, David Koechner

Votes: 26,482 | Gross: $4.61M

37. Oz (1997–2003)

TV-MA | 55 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

A series chronicling the daily activities of an unusual prison facility and its criminal inhabitants.

Stars: Ernie Hudson, J.K. Simmons, Lee Tergesen, Dean Winters

Votes: 106,741

38. The Mayor of Hell (1933)

Passed | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

Five members of a teen-age gang, including leader Jimmy Smith, are sent to the state reformatory, presided over by the melodramatically callous Thompson. Soon, Patsy Gargan, a former ... See full summary »

Directors: Archie Mayo, Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Madge Evans, Arthur Byron, Allen Jenkins

Votes: 1,842

39. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)

R | 123 min | Drama, War

53 Metascore

During WWII, a British colonel tries to bridge the cultural divides between a British POW and the Japanese camp commander in order to avoid bloodshed.

Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano

Votes: 20,037 | Gross: $2.31M

40. Big Stan (2007)

R | 105 min | Action, Comedy

A weak con man panics when he learns he's going to prison for fraud. He hires a mysterious martial arts guru who helps transform him into a martial arts expert who can fight off inmates who want to hurt or love him.

Director: Rob Schneider | Stars: Rob Schneider, David Carradine, Sally Kirkland, Jennifer Morrison

Votes: 47,269

41. A Man Escaped (1956)

Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Thriller, War

A captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.

Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod

Votes: 25,023

42. On the Inside (I) (2011)

R | 95 min | Drama, Thriller

A decent but troubled young man is sent to a psychiatric institution for the criminally insane and soon finds himself in a fight for his life battling ghosts inside his head and very real enemies all around him.

Director: D.W. Brown | Stars: Nick Stahl, Dash Mihok, Olivia Wilde, Pruitt Taylor Vince

Votes: 2,166

43. An Innocent Man (1989)

R | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama

39 Metascore

A man is framed by two corrupt cops for drugs. After he gets out of prison, he comes after them.

Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Tom Selleck, F. Murray Abraham, Laila Robins, David Rasche

Votes: 7,650 | Gross: $20.05M

44. Shutter Island (2010)

R | 138 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

63 Metascore

Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US marshals, are sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley

Votes: 1,458,061 | Gross: $128.01M

45. We're No Angels (1989)

PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Crime

48 Metascore

Two fugitives pass themselves off as priests in the hope of evading capture and passing the police blockade at the border with Canada.

Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Demi Moore, Hoyt Axton

Votes: 24,682 | Gross: $10.56M

46. Dog Pound (2010)

Not Rated | 91 min | Crime, Drama

57 Metascore

Three juvenile delinquents are sentenced to a correctional facility where they encounter gang violence, death, and harassment from staff and other inmates.

Director: Kim Chapiron | Stars: Adam Butcher, Shane Kippel, Matthew Morales, Slim Twig

Votes: 13,524

47. The Consequence (1977)

Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Romance

Thomas, the son of a prison warden, falls for and seduces inmate Martin. When Martin is released from jail, they try to build a relationship and a life together but no one will let them alone.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Ernst Hannawald, Werner Schwuchow, Hans-Michael Rehberg

Votes: 1,037

48. Into the Abyss (2011)

PG-13 | 107 min | Documentary, Crime, Drama

74 Metascore

Conversations with death row inmate Michael Perry and those affected by his crime serve as an examination of why people - and the state - kill.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Richard Lopez, Michael Perry, Damon Hall

Votes: 17,359 | Gross: $0.22M

49. Alcatraz (2012)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama

In 1963, all the prisoners and guards mysteriously disappear from Alcatraz. In the present day, they resurface and a secret agency are tasked with re-capturing them.

Stars: Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Jonny Coyne, Parminder Nagra

Votes: 40,288

50. Get the Gringo (2012)

R | 96 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

60 Metascore

A career criminal nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a young boy.

Director: Adrian Grunberg | Stars: Mel Gibson, Kevin Balmore, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Jesús Ochoa

Votes: 111,660

51. Citizen Gangster (2011)

Not Rated | 105 min | Crime, Drama

56 Metascore

WWII vet Eddie Boyd is torn between providing for his young family and an unfulfilled dream of becoming a Hollywood star. He discovers a way to do both, but his dream leads him down a path of danger and tragedy.

Director: Nathan Morlando | Stars: Scott Speedman, Kelly Reilly, Kevin Durand, Joseph Cross

Votes: 4,597

52. In the Name of the Father (1993)

R | 133 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

84 Metascore

An Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.

Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Alison Crosbie, Philip King

Votes: 187,212 | Gross: $25.01M

53. Trick (I) (2010)

95 min | Action

Kidnappers demand six million in ransom, but the United Nations does not negotiate with terrorists. One of the best counterfeiters is serving a lengthy prison term and the agent who arrested him needs his help.

Director: Jan Hryniak | Stars: Piotr Adamczyk, Marian Dziedziel, Andrzej Chyra, Jerzy Trela

Votes: 498

54. The Car Man (2001 TV Movie)

90 min | Drama, Romance

A mysterious stranger arrives in a small town community, leading the locals into greed, sex and murder.

Director: Ross MacGibbon | Stars: Alan Vincent, Saranne Curtin, Will Kemp, Etta Murfitt

Votes: 156

55. Les Lyonnais (2011)

R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Drama

After growing up in a poor gypsy camp, Edmond Vidal, aka Momon, has retained a sense of family, unfailing loyalty and pride in his origins. Most of all, he has remained friends with Serge ... See full summary »

Director: Olivier Marchal | Stars: Gérard Lanvin, Tchéky Karyo, Daniel Duval, Lionnel Astier

Votes: 8,822

56. King of Devil's Island (2010)

Not Rated | 116 min | Action, Drama

Norwegian winter, early 20th century. On the boys home Bastoy, a new inmate leads the boys to a violent uprising against a brutal regime. How far is he willing to go to attain freedom?

Director: Marius Holst | Stars: Benjamin Helstad, Trond Nilssen, Stellan Skarsgård, Kristoffer Joner

Votes: 19,967 | Gross: $0.01M

57. Sex in Chains (1928)

107 min | Drama

A young man is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term in prison. There he forms a close relationship with his cellmate and upon his release his wife is concerned as to how prison has changed the man she married.

Director: William Dieterle | Stars: William Dieterle, Gunnar Tolnæs, Mary Johnson, Paul Henckels

Votes: 316

58. The Ninth Day (2004)

Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Thriller, War

67 Metascore

A drama loosely based on Jean Bernard's Nazi-era prison diary.

Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl, Hilmar Thate, Bibiana Beglau

Votes: 1,948 | Gross: $0.07M

59. The Counterfeiters (2007)

R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, History

78 Metascore

The story of the Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by Germany during World War II.

Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky | Stars: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach

Votes: 47,189 | Gross: $5.48M

60. Cool Hand Luke (1967)

GP | 127 min | Crime, Drama

92 Metascore

A laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.

Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D. Cannon

Votes: 188,629 | Gross: $16.22M

61. Papillon (1973)

R | 151 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

58 Metascore

A French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon

Votes: 138,440 | Gross: $53.27M

62. Crulic - The Path to Beyond (2011)

73 min | Documentary, Animation, Biography

While being in Poland, Romanian Claudio Crulic is wrongly accused of theft. In jail he goes on a hunger strike.

Director: Anca Damian | Stars: Vlad Ivanov, Jamie Sives, Sandrine Bonnaire

Votes: 818

63. Borstal Boy (2000)

Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Romance

47 Metascore

Irish teenager political activist and future writer Brendan Behan is befriended in a British borstal (reformatory) by a liberal warden.

Director: Peter Sheridan | Stars: Shawn Hatosy, Danny Dyer, Eamon Glancy, Ian McElhinney

Votes: 2,571 | Gross: $0.09M

64. Death Race (2008)

R | 105 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

43 Metascore

Ex-con Jensen Ames is forced by the warden of a notorious prison to compete in our post-industrial world's most popular sport: a car race in which inmates must brutalize and kill one another on the road to victory.

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson | Stars: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane

Votes: 219,012 | Gross: $36.32M

65. Lock Up (1989)

R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama

52 Metascore

With only six months left of his sentence, inmate Frank Leone is transferred from a minimum security prison to a maximum security prison by a vindictive warden.

Director: John Flynn | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Donald Sutherland, John Amos, Sonny Landham

Votes: 46,455 | Gross: $22.10M

66. The Hill (1965)

Approved | 123 min | Drama, War

81 Metascore

In a North African military prison during World War II, five new prisoners struggle to survive in the face of brutal punishment and sadistic guards.

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Alfred Lynch

Votes: 15,179

67. Mrs. Soffel (1984)

PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Romance

Diane Keaton stars as a prison warden's wife who falls in love with a death row convict (Mel Gibson.) Believing he's innocent, she helps him and his convicted brother escape.

Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Diane Keaton, Mel Gibson, Matthew Modine, Edward Herrmann

Votes: 3,561 | Gross: $4.39M

68. Kajínek (2010)

118 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Deals with the most famous criminal in Czech Republic, the lawyer who continuously tries to free him; the circle of people on both sides of the law who want to keep him in jail and his infamous escape from prison.

Director: Petr Jákl | Stars: Tatiana Dyková, Konstantin Lavronenko, Vladimír Dlouhý, Boguslaw Linda

Votes: 937

69. The Great Escape (1963)

Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller

86 Metascore

Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.

Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson

Votes: 259,071 | Gross: $12.10M

70. Von Ryan's Express (1965)

Approved | 117 min | Action, Adventure, War

An American POW leads a group of mainly British prisoners to escape from the Germans in WWII.

Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Raffaella Carrà, Brad Dexter

Votes: 15,150 | Gross: $17.11M

71. Brute Force (1947)

Passed | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

80 Metascore

At a tough penitentiary, prisoner Joe Collins plans to rebel against Captain Munsey, the power-mad chief guard.

Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne De Carlo

Votes: 11,552

72. L'Argent (1983)

Not Rated | 85 min | Crime, Drama

95 Metascore

A counterfeit bill that starts off as a schoolboy prank leads to incarceration and violence.

Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Christian Patey, Sylvie Van den Elsen, Michel Briguet, Vincent Risterucci

Votes: 11,850

73. Bad Boys (1983)

R | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

53 Metascore

Chicago crime kid Mick O'Brien is sent to reform school after accidentally killing a rival's kid brother.

Director: Rick Rosenthal | Stars: Sean Penn, Reni Santoni, Jim Moody, Eric Gurry

Votes: 17,082 | Gross: $9.20M

74. Proteus (2003)

Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, Romance

47 Metascore

An interracial gay love story set in early 18th century South Africa about two men -- a black prisoner living in a Cape Town penal colony and a Dutch sailor -- who weather injustices as a result of their affair.

Directors: John Greyson, Jack Lewis | Stars: Rouxnet Brown, Shaun Smyth, Neil Sandilands, Kristen Thomson

Votes: 703

75. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Wrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis

Votes: 14,446 | Gross: $1.42M

76. Escape Plan (2013)

R | 115 min | Action, Thriller

49 Metascore

When a structural-security authority finds himself set up and incarcerated in the world's most secret and secure prison, he has to use his skills to escape with help from the inside.

Director: Mikael Håfström | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 50 Cent, Vincent D'Onofrio

Votes: 257,570 | Gross: $25.13M

77. Hei no naka no chûgakkô (2010 TV Movie)

Drama

"Hei no Naka no Chuugakou" centers around Asahi Junior High School, which is located within Nagano Matsumoto Boy's prison in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture - the only public school in ... See full summary »

Director: Makoto Kiyohiro | Stars: Seiji Chihara, Isao Hashizume, Takuzô Kadono, Akio Kaneda

Votes: 28

78. The Great Raid (2005)

R | 132 min | Action, Drama, War

48 Metascore

Taking place towards the end of WWII, 500 American Soldiers have been entrapped in a camp for 3 years. Beginning to give up hope they will ever be rescued, a group of Rangers goes on a dangerous mission to try and save them.

Director: John Dahl | Stars: Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, James Franco, Robert Mammone

Votes: 23,989 | Gross: $10.17M

79. Hart's War (2002)

R | 125 min | Drama, War

49 Metascore

A law student becomes a lieutenant during World War II, is captured and asked to defend a black prisoner of war falsely accused of murder.

Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard, Cole Hauser

Votes: 55,349 | Gross: $19.08M

80. Triumph of the Spirit (1989)

R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History

In Greece during World War II, a young Jewish boxer, his girlfriend, and their families are sent to Auschwitz. When the camp guards learn of his boxing abilities, they force him to participate in weekly boxing matches.

Director: Robert M. Young | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, Robert Loggia, Wendy Gazelle

Votes: 2,787 | Gross: $0.41M

81. There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)

R | 126 min | Comedy, Western

72 Metascore

A charming but totally ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison. He enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates

Votes: 5,238 | Gross: $0.64M

82. Boys of Abu Ghraib (2014)

R | 102 min | Drama, Thriller, War

34 Metascore

An American soldier deployed at Abu Ghraib finds himself behind the walls of the infamous Hard Site, where he develops a secret friendship with an Iraqi detainee.

Director: Luke Moran | Stars: Luke Moran, Sean Astin, Sara Paxton, Omid Abtahi

Votes: 2,367

83. Starred Up (2013)

Not Rated | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

81 Metascore

Eric Love, 19, is locked up in prison. On his first day, he assaults another inmate and several guards. He's offered group therapy and his dad, an inmate as well, tries to talk sense into him. Can he be rehabilitated?

Director: David Mackenzie | Stars: Jack O'Connell, Ben Mendelsohn, Rupert Friend, Sam Spruell

Votes: 48,703 | Gross: $0.03M

84. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

PG-13 | 105 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

68 Metascore

A substance designed to help the brain repair itself gives advanced intelligence to a chimpanzee who leads an ape uprising.

Director: Rupert Wyatt | Stars: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, Karin Konoval

Votes: 560,058 | Gross: $176.76M

85. Coldwater (2013)

Not Rated | 104 min | Drama, Thriller

45 Metascore

A teenage boy is sent to a juvenile reform facility in the wilderness. As we learn about the tragic events that sent him there, his struggle becomes one for survival with the inmates, counselors, and the retired war colonel in charge.

Director: Vincent Grashaw | Stars: P.J. Boudousqué, James C. Burns, Chris Petrovski, Octavius J. Johnson

Votes: 4,418

86. The Hole (1960)

Not Rated | 131 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

Distrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.

Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: André Bervil, Jean Keraudy, Michel Constantin, Philippe Leroy

Votes: 20,393 | Gross: $0.03M

87. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War

88 Metascore

British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.

Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa

Votes: 233,429 | Gross: $44.91M

88. The Railway Man (2013)

R | 116 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

59 Metascore

A former British Army officer, who was tortured as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during World War II, discovers that the man responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and sets out to confront him.

Director: Jonathan Teplitzky | Stars: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgård, Jeremy Irvine

Votes: 42,665 | Gross: $4.44M

89. Healing (I) (2014)

R | 112 min | Drama

Inspired by true events, HEALING is a story of redemption, the discovery of hope and the healing of the spirit - in the most unlikely place for the most unlikely men.

Director: Craig Monahan | Stars: Hugo Weaving, Don Hany, Xavier Samuel, Mark Leonard Winter

Votes: 1,091

90. Unbroken (I) (2014)

PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Biography, Drama

59 Metascore

After a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, Olympian Louis Zamperini spends a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before he's caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.

Director: Angelina Jolie | Stars: Jack O'Connell, Miyavi, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund

Votes: 182,815 | Gross: $115.64M

91. Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

Approved | 107 min | Drama, Western

A fiercely independent cowboy gets himself locked up in prison to escape with an old friend.

Director: David Miller | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau, Michael Kane

Votes: 9,964

93. The Escapist (2002)

R | 88 min | Action, Crime, Drama

The skilled pilot Denis Hopkins lives with his pregnant wife Valerie and has a comfortable lifestyle. When the gang of criminals headed by the sadistic Ricky Barnes breaks in his seaside ... See full summary »

Director: Gillies MacKinnon | Stars: Philip Barantini, Andy Serkis, Barry Barnes, Michael T Bates

Votes: 1,723

94. Chicago (2002)

PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical

81 Metascore

Two death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.

Director: Rob Marshall | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Taye Diggs

Votes: 243,475 | Gross: $170.69M

95. Chattahoochee (1989)

R | 98 min | Biography, Drama

In 1955 Florida, a Korean vet has a breakdown and is incarcerated in a "maximum security" mental health prison, where patients are abused.

Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Frances McDormand, Pamela Reed

Votes: 2,426 | Gross: $0.26M

96. Lockout (2012)

PG-13 | 95 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

48 Metascore

A man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. is offered his freedom if he can rescue the President's daughter from an outer-space prison taken over by violent inmates.

Directors: James Mather, Steve Saint Leger | Stars: Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare, Vincent Regan

Votes: 100,967 | Gross: $14.33M

97. Standing Tall (2015)

R | 120 min | Drama

59 Metascore

A juvenile judge and a special educator are convinced that they can save the young delinquent Malony from himself and his violent ways.

Director: Emmanuelle Bercot | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Rod Paradot, Benoît Magimel, Sara Forestier

Votes: 3,860 | Gross: $0.02M

98. Shoeshine (1946)

Not Rated | 87 min | Drama

Two shoeshine boys in postwar Rome, Italy save up to buy a horse, but their involvement as dupes in a burglary lands them in juvenile prison; the experience take a devastating toll on their friendship.

Director: Vittorio De Sica | Stars: Rinaldo Smordoni, Franco Interlenghi, Annielo Mele, Bruno Ortensi

Votes: 8,117

99. The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)

R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History

67 Metascore

In 1971, twenty-four male students are selected to take on randomly assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.

Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez | Stars: Ezra Miller, Tye Sheridan, Billy Crudup, Olivia Thirlby

Votes: 46,149 | Gross: $0.64M

100. Son of Saul (2015)

R | 107 min | Drama, War

91 Metascore

A Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.

Director: László Nemes | Stars: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont

Votes: 51,975 | Gross: $1.78M



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