Prison Dramas I've Reviewed
by classicsoncall | created - 01 Aug 2012 | updated - 8 months ago | PublicI thought this would be an interesting category. Here's a list of prison movies I've watched and reviewed on the IMDb. It's presented in IMDb ranking order.
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1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
R | 142 min | Drama
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: 2,887,162 | Gross: $28.34M
"I'm a convicted murderer who provides sound financial planning."
2. The Green Mile (1999)
R | 189 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
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: 1,406,522 | Gross: $136.80M
"I couldn't help it boss, I tried to take it back but it was too late."
3. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
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: 258,813 | Gross: $12.10M
"Give up your hopeless attempt to escape."
4. Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2019)
TV-14 | 132 min | Drama
A story of love between a mentally-ill father who was wrongly accused of murder and his lovely six year old daughter. Prison will be their home. Based on the 2013 Korean movie Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013).
Director: Mehmet Ada Öztekin | Stars: Aras Bulut Iynemli, Nisa Sofiya Aksongur, Deniz Baysal, Celile Toyon Uysal
Votes: 55,586
"My father is the same age as me."
5. 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: 14,433 | Gross: $1.42M
"I'll be a model prisoner if it kills me."
6. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
GP | 127 min | Crime, Drama
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: 188,466 | Gross: $16.22M
"Yeah, well, sometimes nothing means a real cool hand."
7. Papillon (1973)
R | 151 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
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: 138,335 | Gross: $53.27M
"Forget France, and put your clothes on."
8. Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Not Rated | 147 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A surly convicted murderer held in permanent isolation redeems himself when he becomes a renowned bird expert.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand
Votes: 19,291
"I guess you're a lifer pal, just like me."
9. Down by Law (1986)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two men are framed and sent to jail, where they meet a murderer who helps them escape and leave the state.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi
Votes: 55,277 | Gross: $1.44M
"Yeah, it's a sad and beautiful world, pal."
10. Caged (1950)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Hope Emerson
Votes: 4,700
"Pile out you tramps! It's the end of the line!"
11. The Defiant Ones (1958)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama
Two chained-together escaped convicts, White and Black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Cara Williams, Theodore Bikel
Votes: 17,820
"Looks like you two boys are in for trouble."
12. Brute Force (1947)
Passed | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
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: 11,535
"What's OK? Nothing's OK. It never was and it never will be."
13. Midnight Express (1978)
R | 121 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
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: 88,204 | Gross: $35.00M
"The bad machine doesn't know he's a bad machine."
14. Felon (2008)
R | 104 min | Crime, Thriller
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: 83,539 | Gross: $0.04M
"When your life is defined by a single action, you change the concept of time."
15. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A Highway Patrol Officer, two criminals and a station secretary defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct office against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer, Martin West
Votes: 55,575
"Anybody got a smoke?"
16. Escape from Sobibor (1987 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama, History, War
German death camp in Sobibor, Poland, killed two hundred fifty thousand Jews. It had the most successful prisoner escape in World War II on October 14, 1943.
Director: Jack Gold | Stars: Alan Arkin, Joanna Pacula, Rutger Hauer, Hartmut Becker
Votes: 9,819
"But what is there to do but survive?"
17. 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: 30,662 | Gross: $17.38M
"I don't need a lawyer. I need a friend."
18. Shot Caller (2017)
R | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A newly released prisoner is forced by the leaders of his gang to orchestrate a major crime with a brutal rival gang on the streets of Southern California.
Director: Ric Roman Waugh | Stars: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Omari Hardwick, Lake Bell, Jon Bernthal
Votes: 98,384
"A warrior's deadliest weapon is his mind."
19. Each Dawn I Die (1939)
Approved | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A corrupt D.A. (Thurston Hall) with political ambitions is angered by news stories implicating him in criminal activity and decides to frame the reporter (James Cagney) for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: James Cagney, George Raft, Jane Bryan, George Bancroft
Votes: 3,732
"Learnin' kind of fast, ain't ya mug?"
20. Runaway Train (I) (1985)
R | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Two escaped convicts and a female railway worker find themselves trapped on a speeding train with no brakes and nobody driving.
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy | Stars: Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, Kyle T. Heffner
Votes: 32,973 | Gross: $7.94M
"Boy, this is gonna be somethin'...
21.
The X-Files (1993–2018)
Episode:
The List
(1995)
TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Enemies of a prison inmate who was executed in the electric chair begin dying one by one.
Director: Chris Carter | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Bokeem Woodbine, Badja Djola
Votes: 4,316
"How does it feel to be on death row, Warden?"
22. Brubaker (1980)
R | 131 min | Crime, Drama
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: 19,434 | Gross: $37.12M
"You want more from me you'll have to earn it."
23. Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)
Not Rated | 132 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A former boxer-turned-drug runner lands in a prison battleground after a deal gets deadly.
Director: S. Craig Zahler | Stars: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Don Johnson, Udo Kier
Votes: 75,629
"You just lost your minimum freedom."
24. The Longest Yard (1974)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A sadistic warden asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time in his prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on (and get pummeled by) the guards.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad
Votes: 21,418 | Gross: $7.13M
"Young people can learn a great deal from a skillfully played football game."
25. The Big House (1930)
Passed | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A convict falls in love with his new cellmate's sister, only to become embroiled in a planned break-out which is certain to have lethal consequences.
Directors: George W. Hill, Ward Wing | Stars: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery
Votes: 2,590
"We're gonna have a lot more trouble with that bird, you'll see."
26. Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
Not Rated | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fed up with the inhumane prison living conditions, a general prison riot breaks out, leading to hostage-taking, a stand-off with the guards and eventual negotiations with the prison administration officials.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Neville Brand, Emile Meyer, Frank Faylen, Leo Gordon
Votes: 2,425
"Let me at the screws!"
27. 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
Excuse me boss, I ain't no lawyer, I can't talk without thinking.
28. Get the Gringo (2012)
R | 96 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
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: 111,620
You know, you gotta love murderers who recycle.
29. Escape from Pretoria (2020)
PG-13 | 106 min | Biography, Crime, Mystery
Based on the real-life prison break of two political captives, Escape From Pretoria is a race-against-time thriller set in the tumultuous apartheid days of South Africa.
Director: Francis Annan | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber, Ian Hart, Mark Leonard Winter
Votes: 43,514
"What we'd always accepted, we would now reject."
30. Convicted (1950)
Passed | 91 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A D.A. becomes the prison warden where he tries to help an inmate he prosecuted, because he believes his sentence was excessive.
Director: Henry Levin | Stars: Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Millard Mitchell, Dorothy Malone
Votes: 1,486
"I said prosecute, not persecute."
31. Invisible Stripes (1939)
Passed | 81 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ex-con who wants to go straight has difficulties trying to reintegrate into society while on parole.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: George Raft, Jane Bryan, William Holden, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 1,921 | Gross: $0.11M
You think changin' your uniform means anything, you'll still be wearin' stripes. You may not be able to see 'em, but they'll be there alright.
32.
Night Gallery (1969–1973)
Episode:
Finnegan's Flight
(1972)
TV-PG | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Charlie Finnegan is serving a life sentence in a federal penitentiary and longs to escape. Fellow prisoner Pete Tuttle tries to help him, with the aid of his talent for hypnosis.
Director: Gene R. Kearney | Stars: Burgess Meredith, Cameron Mitchell, Barry Sullivan, Kenneth Tobey
Votes: 234
I dream about being out there.
33. Crime School (1938)
Passed | 85 min | Crime, Drama
A gang of underprivileged teenagers are sentenced to serve two years in a reform school after almost killing a criminal fence who attacked them.
Directors: Lewis Seiler, William Clemens | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, The Dead End Kids, Gale Page, Billy Halop
Votes: 1,400
It don't take no brain to get burned.
34. San Quentin (1937)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An army trainer becomes captain of the prison yard and in time, falls for the sister of a hardened inmate.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart, Barton MacLane
Votes: 2,237
Well Jamieson, there's your new Army.
35. Women's Prison (1955)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A sadistic prison warden takes out her sexual frustration on her women inmates. While a caring physician tries to improve the jail's brutal atmosphere, a pair of rebellious inmates take matters into their own hands.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Ida Lupino, Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter
Votes: 1,152
Make trouble, you get trouble...
36. Parole Girl (1933)
67 min | Crime, Drama
A young woman released on parole vows to ruin the life of the man who insisted on sending her to jail.
Director: Edward F. Cline | Stars: Mae Clarke, Ralph Bellamy, Marie Prevost, Hale Hamilton
Votes: 355
You're working a clever racket girly, but you got caught.
37. Cell 2455, Death Row (1955)
Approved | 77 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Whit, condemned and awaiting execution, reviews the events of his life that has brought him to Cell 2455 on San Quentin's Death Row, a story he had told in a autobiography that became a ... See full summary »
Director: Fred F. Sears | Stars: William Campbell, R. Wright Campbell, Marian Carr, Kathryn Grant
Votes: 487
Warden, why do they have to kill me?
38. The Longest Yard (2005)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Sport
Prison inmates form a football team to challenge the prison guards.
Director: Peter Segal | Stars: Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds, Chris Rock, Nelly
Votes: 195,006 | Gross: $158.12M
It's an honor to be locked up here, Sir.
39. Within the Law (1939)
Passed | 65 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Shopgirl Mary Turner, sentenced to prison for someone else's theft, is released and takes revenge upon those who wronged her in powerful but lawful ways.
Director: Gustav Machatý | Stars: Ruth Hussey, Tom Neal, Paul Kelly, William Gargan
Votes: 332
"The law's always good if you have it on your side."
40. Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A police sergeant must rally the cops and prisoners together to protect themselves on New Year's Eve, just as corrupt policeman surround the station with the intent of killing all to keep their deception in the ranks.
Director: Jean-François Richet | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Gabriel Byrne, Maria Bello
Votes: 81,915 | Gross: $19.98M
"Hey gangster. You make any resolutions, hmm?"
41. Prison Break (1938)
Approved | 72 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Joaquin Shannon arrives home from a cruise on his fishing boat. His first mate, Charles Nelson, is to marry Shannon's sister the next day. Nelson gets drunk and Shannon finds him near the ... See full summary »
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Barton MacLane, Glenda Farrell, Paul Hurst, Constance Moore
Votes: 316
You may be a big shot to some o' these guys, but to me you're just a cheap crook.
42. Convicted Woman (1940)
Approved | 65 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Jobless Betty Andrews, although innocent, is convicted of a department store theft and, despite the best efforts of her lawyer and noted social worker Mary Ellis and a reporter, Jim Brent ... See full summary »
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Rochelle Hudson, Frieda Inescort, June Lang, Lola Lane
Votes: 285
"If they are not criminals when they get here, they certainly are when they leave."
43. Up the River (1930)
Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When paroled trustee Steve and former inmate Judy who try to put their criminal lives behind them are blackmailed, two career criminals come to their rescue.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 1,376
Remember who you're playin' with, a bunch o' crooks.
44. Riot (1969)
R | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A riot in a state prison is staged to cover up an escape attempt, during which many inmates and guards are killed. Shot on location at Arizona State Prison.
Director: Buzz Kulik | Stars: Jim Brown, Gene Hackman, Mike Kellin, Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Votes: 657
We're going to elevate the mood of the entire population...
45. Prison Ship (1945)
Approved | 58 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
At the end of WW2, a Japanese freighter sails with Allied prisoners as cargo but, sensing doom, the prisoners plan to overpower their guards and capture the prison-ship.
Director: Arthur Dreifuss | Stars: Nina Foch, Robert Lowery, Richard Loo, Ludwig Donath
Votes: 169
"I'll try to stall them as long as I can."
46. The Steel Jungle (1956)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A power struggle emerges among convicts condemned to prison life.
Director: Walter Doniger | Stars: Perry Lopez, Beverly Garland, Walter Abel, Ted de Corsia
Votes: 171
That killer is as cute as a bug in a rug.
47. Penitentiary (1979)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Sport
A hitchhiker named Martel Gordone gets in a fight with two bikers over a prostitute, and one of the bikers is killed. Gordone is arrested and sent to prison, where he joins the prison's ... See full summary »
Director: Jamaa Fanaka | Stars: Leon Isaac Kennedy, Wilbur 'Hi-Fi' White, Thomas M. Pollard, Hazel Spears
Votes: 1,235
If you don't handle the fools, they handle you.
48. 20, 000 Cheers for the Chain Gang (1933)
TV-PG | 20 min | Short, Musical, Comedy
Four convicts escape from a chain gang. Shortly thereafter, changes are made at the prison, because a blue ribbon commission will be investigating conditions there. The changes include ... See full summary »
Director: Roy Mack | Stars: Jerry Bergen, The Rollickers, Novia, The Pickens Sisters
Votes: 235
Hey fellas, lets' escape!
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