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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.
- Olivia Rutigliano
- The Great Escape, dir. John Sturges (1963) The Great Escape, a based-on-a-true-events, three-hour-long epic about a group of Allied(/Antifa) prisoners who attempt a gigantic escape from a Nazi POW camp, has everything—and everyone!
- A Man Escaped, dir. Robert Bresson (1956) Robert Bresson’s harrowing prison escape drama (which has a much longer title in French: Un condamné à mort s’est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut, which means “An inmate condemned to die has escaped, or the wind blows where it will”) will send your blood pressure through the roof.
- Cool Hand Luke, dir. Stuart Rosenberg (1967) There’s nothing quite like Cool Hand Luke, a stirring, multi-layered film about an “original” of a man named Luke Jackson (Paul Newman), who is sentenced to two years in a rural Southern prison (for the minor, anti-Capitalist crime of decapitating parking meters) and who completely refuses to conform to the warden’s behavioral rules, peacefully rebelling against petty tyranny and giving all the other prisoners hope.
- The Fugitive, dir. Andrew Davis (1993) Okay, so, technically in The Fugitive, the wrongfully-convicted Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) does not *break out of prison* so much as run away after several prisoners hijack their transport bus and attempt to escape, but the stakes are the same.
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Watch this video on YouTube. Video Courtesy of YouTube. This film chronicles the journey of Andy Dufresne, a man convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sentenced to life in prison.
- The Green Mile (1999) Directed by Frank Darabont, the Green Mile is a gripping and emotionally charged drama set on death row at a Louisiana prison during the Great Depression.
- American History X (1998) Watch this video on YouTube. Video Courtesy of YouTube. The film follows the journey of Derek Vinyard, a former neo-Nazi skinhead, who is sentenced to prison for his involvement in a hate crime.
- The Rock (1996) Alcatraz Island, located in San Francisco Bay, is renowned for its former maximum-security federal prison, often referred to as “The Rock.”
- Cool Hand Luke (1967) One of Paul Newman’s most iconic roles, Luke Jackson is a chain-gang prisoner who refuses to buckle to authority, repeatedly attempting to escape and keep his individualistic spirit in an environment designed to crush exactly that.
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994) So this one is a total no brainer, as it’s widely considered to be one of the best movies of all time full stop. You’ve probably seen it ten times already, but if you haven’t it stars Tim Robbins as a man wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his wife – and tracks his experiences in jail, his friendship with Morgan Freeman’s lifelong convict and ultimately his… well, that would be saying too much.
- Hunger (2008) Before Shame, Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender burst onto the scene with this gut-wrenching tale of Irish republican Bobby Sands, who led the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike at Belfast’s Maze Prison in an attempt to gain political prisoner status.
- The Rock (1996) Michael Bay’s action romp has Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery breaking into prison – specifically, Alcatraz – rather than out of it, in order to stop Ed Harris’ rogue general from unleashing a deadly nerve gas on San Francisco.
- The Shawshank Redemption. It had to be "Shawshank." The extraordinary film adapted from a Stephen King novella is a hopeful, nearly perfect experience about an unexpected friendship formed behind prison walls.
- A Man Escaped. French master filmmaker Robert Bresson has a notably distant style, and he employs largely non-professional actors, limited music and stylistic choices to tell his stories.
- Cool Hand Luke. "What we've got here is... failure to communicate" goes the famous line from the effortlessly cool movie "Cool Hand Luke," which features an incredible performance from screen icon Paul Newman.
- Starred Up. David Mackenzie's "Starred Up" is the most recent film in the top reaches of the list, but it's a rare example of a movie that becomes an instant classic upon release.
The 45 Best Prison Escape Movies, Ranked by Crimereads. "Not every movie that features a prison escape or escaped prisoners is a Prison Escape Movie. To be on this list, a movie must centrally feature the escape, both tonally and practically, emphasizing the conditions that create the need for the escape, the process of planning and ...
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Oct 3, 2024 · Step into the world behind bars with our expertly curated list of the best prison movies of all time. These films offer a nuanced glimpse into the lives of convicts, often exploring themes of redemption, hope, and the human will to survive against all odds.
