Top 10 Prison Films
Prison certainly wouldn’t seem like the ideal setting for a film but it’s created some of the most dramatic and often hilarious moments on screen. To celebrate to release of Dog Pound, in cinemas this Friday, we’re taking a look at some of the best prison movies in cinema history.
DOG POUND IS REASED IN UK CINEMAS ON AUGUST 27TH
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| Dog Pound follows the stories of Butch, Davis and Angel, three young offenders who are new arrivals at the Enola Vale Correctional Facility. Life at the facility is tough and the three teenagers forge a friendship where they each look out for one another. But as their endurance is stretched to the limit will their friendship survive? An action-packed drama from director Kim Chapiron! |
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| This French subtitled film follows Malik El Djeb (Tahar Rahim) as he is sentenced to six years in prison for a petty crime. At nineteen years old and of French Arab decent he is easily led and quickly befriended by a Corsican mafia group, led by Cesar Luciani. In order to survive the duration of his sentence, Malik must embark on a series of errands in order to earn the respect of the group. |
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| Vinnie Jones stars as Danny ‘Mean Machine’ Meehan, a shamed ex-England captain convicted of assaulting two police officers. Resented by his inmates for fixing a football match between England and Germany, his time in prison is tough. Can he win his inmates over with his passion for the great game? A great British remake of the 1974 film The Longest Yard. |
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| A classic ‘never judge a book by its cover’ tale, The Green Mile centers around the life of Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), a skeptical prison guard on death row in the 1930s. Edgecomb’s beliefs are tested when John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) arrives at the prison, convicted of murdering two teenage girls. At eight feet tall, the prisoners and guards are quick to judge Coffey, but is he as dangerous as he seems or is their more to him that meets the eye? |
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| The Shawshank Redemption (1995) Convicted and sentenced to life for the murder of his wife and her lover, successful banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) strikes up a friendship with fellow prisoner and entrepreneur Red (Morgan Freeman). The film centers around their unconventional friendship and was nominated for seven Oscars at the 1995 Academy Awards. |
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| In The Name of the Father (1994) In the Name of the Father is the story of Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day Lewis), a person believed to be the ringleader of the Guildford Four, who were wrongly imprisoned for the 1974 IRA bombing of a pub that killed five people. Tortured by the police, the four are forced into confessing their guilt resulting in Conlon’s father and other relatives also being imprisoned. This biographical film is based on the true story of Gerry Conlon and his father who spent fifteen years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. |
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| Based on the popular television sitcom of the same name, this comedy takes a light-hearted look at prison life. Unaware that it is just a diversion for an escape plan, inmate Fletcher (Ronnie Barker) is given the task of arranging a football match between the prisoners and a celebrity team. But when him and his cell mate Lennie (Richard Beckinsale) get caught up in the escape they have to break back into the prison to avoid getting into trouble. Pure comedy gold! |
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| After being caught trying to smuggle drugs out of Turkey, Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is sentenced to more than thirty years in prison. While there he is made an example of; tortured mentally and physically he is pushed to the limit. If Hayes wants to escape he has two choices to appeal or the ‘Midnight Express.’ |
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| Steve McQueen takes center stage as “Cooler King” Hilts, a POW determined to escape from the prison where he is being held. After stealing a German motorcycle, Hilts escapes the prison by vaulting the bike over the six-foot barbed-wire fence resulting in one of the most memorable escapes in film history. |
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| After killing a prison guard, inmate Robert Stroud (Burt Lancaster) is sentenced to execution. With the help of his mother’s intervention his sentence is reduced to life imprisonment, which he must serve in solitary confinement. With nothing to help pass the time, he befriends a baby sparrow in the yard. Igniting a passion he didn’t know he had, Stroud’s interest in caring for birds gives his sad existence a new sense of purpose. |