Top 400 Prison Movies – Prisonmovies.net

Top 300 4. The Hill (1965, UK)

Deserters and other wartime miscreants fight for dignity and justice in a desert prison.

Undercover warden unearths corruption. Prisoners unearth interred colleagues.

Keenly observed film of the '74 Bathurst riot, and the best Australian prison movie by a long shot.

Questions about sin, morality and possible redemption in a taut prison drama.

The IRA's Bobby Sands starves himself to death in the Maze Prison in 1981. Provocative and beautifully shot.

A long term prisoner and the eagle he rehabilitates approach release with the same uncertainty.

Harrowing film about a fresh-faced kid and an imposing lifer, sharing the one cell. Enough said.

A gentle comedy that says some important things about reintegration and community acceptance.

Fine portrait of a headstrong teenager in juvenile detention who falls for a young man in the same facility.

Surprisingly good film of a young rapper finding freedom, of sorts, in prison.

Romantic comedy with an Irishman, his counsellor, an escape plot and a strange moral centre.

Comfortable as the top bunk in a snug cell: Norman Stanley Fletcher, Mr Mackay and plenty of witty repartee.

A compelling triangular piece involving a predator, his prey and the prey's protector.

Sad, moving remake of a 1987 film of an honourable man descending into madness in a wartime prison.

Newly convicted special agent rescues President's daughter from outta control outer space prison.

Compelling portrait of Britain's most violent prisoner as cabaret artist and monster.

An innocent man struggles in prison. Supposedly India's answer to The Shawshank Redemption.

Decent flick of the Donald Powell Wilson autobiography - a prison psychologist and his six inmate helpers.

Wholesome Disney comedy about a young detainee whose luck changes.

Beautiful dentist falls for a bit of rough, in the best British tradition.

Young prisoner seeks out her mother (also in prison) whom she's never met. A bleak survival story with a twist.

A new Prison Officer tips the bucket on the Truth about Life as a Prison Officer.

The film that made allusions to ending up in a Turkish prison so much more evocative than, say, a Swiss prison.

Anti-hanging drama based around two prison officers, one old, one new, the unseen man on death row, and that man's wife.

First hand account of the prisoner-turned-journalist's 1968 escape from Durham Prison.

Harrowing, fist-in-the-guts depiction of a day in the life of a marine Corps brig.

The Big House is the Big Daddy of prison movies; arguably the first in the genre. Can still hold its own, too.

New York gangster cops 20 years in a Deep South prison farm, and sets out to scheme his way out.

Surprisingly absorbing flick of a supernatural cell and its lawyer inhabitant. Not the horror movie it purports to be.

Out-of-place prisoner falls for the warden's daughter but when pushed, sides with the cons.

Supernatural force is unleashed from an execution chamber in a super old prison.

A child molester is dropped into the midst of self-righteous inmates, with predictable results.

A self-revealing black magic book takes over the lives of the four inhabitants of a shared cell.

Above-average tale of conflicting loyalties, the criminal code, and falling in love with the Warden's daughter.

Prison movie genre meets teacher-works-with-tough-disadvantaged-students movie genre.

Bent anti-hero guard faces big dilemma when two corrupt paths are in conflict with each other.

Spanish-language version of the granddaddy of all prison movies, The Big House (1930).

Modern action flick with an angry young man avenging the wrongs done to him, his girl and his unborn child.

A gritty film about three very different cellmates - with classic prison movie features.

Decent, regular guy is forced to survive in brutal prison. Now, there's an idea for a new movie!

A great 50s women's prison movie from the 60s: riots, a warden falling in love with an inmate, and lots of perfect hair.

Humphrey Bogart plays prisoner in a mediocre movie featuring an upright, if awfully conflicted, Captain of the Yard.

Entertaining '70s action flick which asks us to hope that a 9-time murderer gets away with the loot.

Brave but flawed story of a Bishop held hostage in prison and made to confront his past.

Old-fashioned comedy-drama involving an escape from prison to commit daring robbery, and then a break back in.

Young boy is taken under the wing of shaven-headed hard man. With only the purest of intent, it must be said.

Depressing story highlighting the procession of African Americans wasting their lives in jail.

Unexceptional but inoffensive innocent woman in a harsh prison system film, based on a true story.

Optimistic tribute to an Indiana boys' reformatory and the capacity of its staff to turn lives around.

Two women accused of drug smuggling protest innocence but don't seem to want to find the real culprit. If there is one. Odd.

Average offering based on the true story of Carl Upchurch, prisoner turned defender of the downtrodden.

Tough guy, bent on escape to see cancer-ridden girl, is frustrated by bent tough guard.

Redeemable teenager is slowly sucked into the criminal milieu and towards a life of crime.

A sacked headmaster finds himself a convict and a prison Governor, both by mistake.

Framed DA in prison; a different take on the 1931 flick The Criminal Code's take on a DA in prison.

Enjoyable comedy-horror with eerie goings on years after the murder of a warden on his electric chair.

Supernatural healer causes a stir in a spaceship prison specialising in scientific experimentation.

A warden's dilemma - keep some ill-gotten loot, or exonerate an innocent man on Death Row.

Familiar themes as anthropologist prisoner and prison psychiatrist go head-to-head.

Gentle farce with three over-aged, innocent men accused of terrorism by over-zealous police.

Honourable freedom-fighting Indian doctor vs. brutal, sadistic jailers in the British Raj.

Inoffensive offering in which a bigot finds redemption and love in prison. Not with his cellmate.

Good-hearted but ludicrous story of a counsellor helping a young prisoner find her self-worth.

Young woman goes to co-ed jail with her beau, only to ditch him for the prison doctor.

Warden's wife becomes the warden's wife because of her love for a prisoner in her husband's prison.

Worthy prison adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, played by real prisoners in a real Northern Ireland jail.

Wasted rich man lands a front-row seat as a spectator in a transgender jail unit.

Predictable comedy: tall soft rich white man engages short black law-abiding man to school him in all things prison.

A defrocked gay priest and a Prison Officer get unfrocked together.

A troupe of ex-cons from San Quentin take an amateurish prison production on the road.

Uneven Laurel & Hardy effort in what is thought to be the first ever full length full-length talkie prison comedy.

So-so 60's story of a 30's con who beats the chair in Sing Sing and through art finds his way out in the 40's.

One-dimensional view of the Bobby Sands hunger strike era - Maze Prison, 1981.

Shoot 'em up women's prison revolt drama masquerading as a film with something serious to say about the exploitation of prisoners.

Wheeler & Woolsey find romance and a football match in prison, anticipating The Longest Yard series.

Pretty uninspiring account of the real life escape of 12 men from Colorado State Prison in 1947.

Episodes of a TV series spliced into a movie of a prisoner struggling to deal with his relationship with his dying father.

If youre looking for a film that extols the virtues of the death penalty, this aint that film.

Ridiculous action flick in which squarehead prisoner saves all good people from all bad people.

White prisoner, looked after on death row by a black guard, in a film that could have been much better.

Unsatisfying story of an abused, unlikeable teenager wrestles with his demons while in prison on a manslaughter charge.

20 minutes of silent slapstick, starring Buster Keaton as civilian, prisoner and guard - almost all at once.

Innocent girl abroad becomes imprisoned girl abroad in xenophobic thriller.

Wonderful military cadence scenes steal the show in a mediocre military prison film.

Ludicrous action flick; a cop seeks revenge for the killing of his wife by obliterating half the prison.

Preposterous film about a cop, a Russian crime figure who killed the cop's wife, and their prison showdown.

Lukewarm horror flick with ghouls let loose in an old bricked-up section of an ageing prison.

Early talkie in which a gangster takes on his rival for his girl's affections from his Death Row cell.

The sister of a murdered prisoner goes to jail to avenge her death. Very '80s.

Quaint, but not very good, action flick involving an escape from a super-max prison in space.

Nasty prison boss uses prison dogs nastily in a sort of nasty B Grade thriller.

Dad desperate to see his daughter keeps escaping from sci-fi prison. Largely lame.

Harrowing account of the torture and killing of a prisoner in a four-out cell.

Two men spend 65 years in prison together for a crime they didn't commit. Ho ho ho!

A triple-murderer is joined by a suicidal prostitute to wait out his final hours ahead of the gallows and 'the majesty of death'.

Racist white man finds redemption and tolerance through sharing a cell with a black adversary.

Realistic look at prison life that forgets that real doesn't always equal interesting.

An awful exercise in American chauvinism from a Chinese director and Belgian actor.

Lacklustre comedy about getting back at a judge by making his wrongly convicted son's time in jail more difficult.

Excerpt from:
Top 400 Prison Movies - Prisonmovies.net

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero