Prison Movies
by petje-skg | created - 12 Oct 2016 | updated - 26 Apr 2020 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
PG | 112 min | Action, Biography, Crime
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: 147,457 | Gross: $43.00M
2. The Escapist (2008)
Not Rated | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
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: 17,401 | Gross: $0.01M
3. 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: 19,307
4. Victory (1981)
PG | 116 min | Drama, Sport, War
As allied P.O.W.s prepare for a soccer game against the German National Team to be played in Nazi-occupied Paris, the French Resistance and British officers are making plans for the team's escape.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Pelé, Bobby Moore
Votes: 33,274 | Gross: $10.85M
5. Escape Plan (2013)
R | 115 min | Action, Thriller
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: 257,467 | Gross: $25.13M
6. Bronson (2008)
R | 92 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Tom Hardy, Kelly Adams, Luing Andrews, Katy Barker
Votes: 140,903 | Gross: $0.10M
7. Chopper (2000)
R | 94 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Chopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.
Director: Andrew Dominik | Stars: Eric Bana, Simon Lyndon, Vince Colosimo, Renée Brack
Votes: 41,519 | Gross: $0.23M
8. Dead Man Walking (1995)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama
A nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.
Director: Tim Robbins | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry
Votes: 101,785 | Gross: $39.39M
9. Hunger (2008)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
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: 73,556 | Gross: $0.15M
10. 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: 88,251 | Gross: $35.00M
11. 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: 70,774
12. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
PG-13 | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friend", escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge.
Director: Kevin Reynolds | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Christopher Adamson, JB Blanc
Votes: 148,485 | Gross: $54.23M
13. The Experiment (2001)
R | 120 min | Drama, Thriller
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: 96,099 | Gross: $0.14M
14. 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: 57,177
15. A Prophet (2009)
R | 155 min | Crime, Drama
A delinquent Muslim man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss. But his gradual rise through the mob's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb
Votes: 102,189 | Gross: $2.08M
16. 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: 138,389 | Gross: $53.27M
17. In the Name of the Father (1993)
R | 133 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
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: 187,129 | Gross: $25.01M
18. 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: 188,544 | Gross: $16.22M
19. 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: 258,944 | Gross: $12.10M
20. 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: 1,407,599 | Gross: $136.80M
21. 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: 2,889,046 | Gross: $28.34M
22. Mean Machine (2001)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
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: 41,823 | Gross: $0.09M
23. Lockdown (2000)
R | 105 min | Drama, Thriller
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.
Director: John Luessenhop | Stars: Richard T. Jones, De'aundre Bonds, Gabriel Casseus, Master P
Votes: 2,734 | Gross: $0.45M
24. Carandiru (2003)
R | 145 min | Crime, Drama
Stories of crime, revenge, love, and friendship at the Carandiru Penitentiary, the largest prison in Latin America.
Director: Hector Babenco | Stars: Enrique Diaz, Wagner Moura, Caio Blat, Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos
Votes: 21,935 | Gross: $0.21M
25. Starred Up (2013)
Not Rated | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
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: 48,693 | Gross: $0.03M
26. 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: 83,565 | Gross: $0.04M
27. Doing Hard Time (2004 Video)
R | 100 min | Action, Drama
A father's eight year old son is murdered in a gangland shooting. The father (Boris Kodjoe) gets himself thrown into prison to avenge his son's death.
Director: Preston A. Whitmore II | Stars: Boris Kodjoe, Michael Kenneth Williams, Sticky Fingaz, Reagan Gomez-Preston
Votes: 1,805
28. Bad Boys (1983)
R | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
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: 17,070 | Gross: $9.20M
29. Undisputed (2002)
R | 94 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When heavyweight champion George "Iceman" Chambers lands in prison, the resident gangster arranges a boxing match with the reigning prison champ.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Wesley Snipes, Ving Rhames, Peter Falk, Michael Rooker
Votes: 34,403 | Gross: $12.76M
30. Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing (2006 Video)
R | 98 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Sequel to the 2002 film. This time, Heavyweight Champ George "Iceman" Chambers is sent to a Russian Jail on trumped-up drug charges.
Director: Isaac Florentine | Stars: Michael Jai White, Scott Adkins, Ben Cross, Eli Danker
Votes: 39,224
31. Undisputed 3: Redemption (2010 Video)
R | 96 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Boyka is back. This time he is fighting in the first ever inter-prison tournament with one knee.
Director: Isaac Florentine | Stars: Scott Adkins, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Mark Ivanir, Hristo Shopov
Votes: 44,564
32. Gridiron Gang (2006)
PG-13 | 125 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Teenagers at a juvenile detention center, under the leadership of their counselor, gain self-esteem by playing football together.
Director: Phil Joanou | Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Xzibit, L. Scott Caldwell, Leon Rippy
Votes: 80,665 | Gross: $38.43M
33. 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: 195,121 | Gross: $158.12M
34. Animal Factory (2000)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama
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: 14,642 | Gross: $0.04M
35. Half Past Dead (2002)
PG-13 | 98 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A man goes undercover in a hi-tech prison to find information to help prosecute those who killed his wife. While there he stumbles onto a plot involving a death-row inmate and his $200 million stash of gold.
Director: Don Michael Paul | Stars: Morris Chestnut, Steven Seagal, Matt Battaglia, Ja Rule
Votes: 16,746 | Gross: $15.36M
36. Lock Up (1989)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama
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: 46,441 | Gross: $22.10M
37. 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: 19,440 | Gross: $37.12M
38. The United States of Leland (2003)
R | 108 min | Drama
A young man's experience in a juvenile detention center that touches on the tumultuous changes that befall his family and the community in which he lives.
Director: Matthew Ryan Hoge | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Don Cheadle, Kevin Spacey, Chris Klein
Votes: 24,273 | Gross: $0.34M
39. Bound by Honor (1993)
R | 180 min | Crime, Drama
Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on step-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Damian Chapa, Jesse Borrego, Benjamin Bratt, Enrique Castillo
Votes: 34,027 | Gross: $4.50M
40. American History X (1998)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama
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: 1,186,381 | Gross: $6.72M
41. The Hurricane (1999)
R | 146 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Denzel Washington, Vicellous Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber
Votes: 102,488 | Gross: $50.67M
42. Goodbye Bafana (2007)
R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History
Goodbye Bafana is the true story of a white South African racist whose life was profoundly altered by the black prisoner he guarded for twenty years. The prisoner's name was Nelson Mandela.
Director: Bille August | Stars: Joseph Fiennes, Dennis Haysbert, Diane Kruger, Patrick Lyster
Votes: 12,238
43. 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: 2,782 | Gross: $0.41M
44. Life (I) (1999)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
In 1932, two strangers are wrongfully convicted and develop a strong friendship in prison that lasts them through the 20th century.
Director: Ted Demme | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Obba Babatundé, Nick Cassavetes
Votes: 54,784 | Gross: $63.84M
45. Death Race (2008)
R | 105 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
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: 218,929 | Gross: $36.32M
46. Con Air (1997)
R | 115 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Newly-paroled ex-con and former U.S. Ranger Cameron Poe finds himself trapped in a prisoner-transport plane when the passengers seize control.
Director: Simon West | Stars: Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Colm Meaney
Votes: 319,306 | Gross: $101.12M
47. 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: 75,696
48. South Central (1992)
R | 98 min | Crime, Drama
A former gangster fresh out of prison wants to change his life for the better and must save his 10 year old son who has already chosen a gang life.
Director: Stephen Milburn Anderson | Stars: Glenn Plummer, Byron Minns, Lexie Bigham, Vincent Craig Dupree
Votes: 6,714 | Gross: $1.37M
49. A Prayer Before Dawn (2017)
R | 116 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The true story of an English boxer incarcerated in one of Thailand's most notorious prisons as he fights in Muay Thai tournaments to earn his freedom.
Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire | Stars: Joe Cole, Vithaya Pansringarm, Cherry Miko, Panya Yimmumphai
Votes: 26,193
50. Crown Heights (2017)
R | 94 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
When Colin Warner is wrongfully convicted of murder, his best friend Carl King devotes his life to proving Colin's innocence.
Director: Matt Ruskin | Stars: LaKeith Stanfield, Nnamdi Asomugha, Natalie Paul, Luke Forbes
Votes: 2,925 | Gross: $0.24M
51. 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: 98,567
52. 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: 19,960 | Gross: $0.01M
53. Caesar Must Die (2012)
Unrated | 77 min | Drama
Inmates at a high-security prison in Rome prepare for a public performance of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."
Directors: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani | Stars: Cosimo Rega, Salvatore Striano, Giovanni Arcuri, Antonio Frasca
Votes: 6,813
54. O.G. (2018)
TV-MA | 113 min | Drama
Louis awaits release from prison after nearly 24 years in, when young Beech is incarcerated.
Director: Madeleine Sackler | Stars: Jeffrey Wright, Theothus Carter, William Fichtner, Boyd Holbrook
Votes: 2,877
55. Animal (2005 Video)
R | 93 min | Drama, Action
A notorious gangster nicknamed "Animal" must reconcile his past in order to make a future for his criminally-minded son.
Director: David J. Burke | Stars: Ving Rhames, Terrence Howard, Chazz Palminteri, Jim Brown
Votes: 2,161
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