Jump to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Surly Horns

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.
Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business & Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Advertise... Tailgate Donations

Featured Replies

1) Shot Caller. NCW is Incredible. 
2)Blood in Blood Out. Miklo looks whiter than me, but the rest of the movie works. 
3) American Me
4) Escape from Alcatraz  

Edited by billfromlaketravis

Blackmail, 1939, Edward G. Robinson.  A fugitive from a chain gang becomes an oil-well firefighter and meets the man who framed him.

Blackwell's Island, 1939, John Garfield. A reporter sends a mobster to prison, then goes in after him posing as a convict.

Castle on the Hudson, 1940, John Garfield. Sing Sing's warden lets a convict visit his girlfriend on the honor system, but something goes wrong.

Each Dawn I Die, 1939, James Cagney.  An innocent reporter is found guilty of murder and is sent to jail while his friends at the newspaper try to find out who framed him.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, 1932, Paul Muni.  An innocent man is sent to a prison farm, where he endures the dehumanizing effects of a cruel criminal justice system.

Invisible Stripes, 1939, George Raft.  An ex-convict joins bank robbers t finance his younger brother's honest business.

These are what I can think of at the moment.  There were a lot of them made in the 1930's starring Robinson, Raft, Bogart, Garfield, Muni, etc.

 

 

The French are good with basic prison movies - Le Trou and Army of Shadows (both in the 60s) are both great.

The Prophet if you want a newer French prison movie. 

Goddamn Shawshank shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as good prison procedurals like Escape from Alcatraz and certainly not the great films that have a prison element like Bridge OTR Kwai and Grand Illusion.

Murder in the First 

The Last Castle

Brawl in Cell Block 99

In the Name of the Father 

Sleepers

American History X

 

Cool Hand Luke, the girl washing the car is classic 

Birdman of Alcatraz, Burt Lancaster  

Edited by Brandywine

51 minutes ago, Brandywine said:

Cool Hand Luke, the girl washing the car is classic 

Birdman of Alcatraz, Burt Lancaster  

Can’t believe it took til post 11 for Cool Hand to pop up.  One of my favorite movies of all time, let alone a prison movie.   

Brubaker

Midnight Express

Lets go to prison

Edited by Onboard 2.0

43 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Brubaker

Midnight Express

Lets go to prison

brubaker is underrated. 

 

14 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

brubaker is underrated. 

 

For sure, any movie with Yafet Koto is a winner.  Lots of great character actors in that flick.  Redford just had to be the straight guy.

11 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

/thread 

 One of my favorites, but as prison movies go, Midnight Express is in a league above Shawshank.  Maybe it's that whole furr-in film angle, or the exotic local, or the reality of the story.

Bad Boys with Sean Penn was good from what I remember. 

6 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Bad Boys with Sean Penn was good from what I remember. 

Love that movie, if for nothing else, coke cans in a pillowcase on the kurgan.

30 minutes ago, RPM said:

 

Jimmy was in a few prison movies if I recall correctly.

21 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Love that movie, if for nothing else, coke cans in a pillowcase on the kurgan.

Yep, only 2 x was the kurgan ever defeated in battle .......

30 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Jimmy was in a few prison movies if I recall correctly.

Yeah, he and Warner Brothers were on a hot streak with crime films in the 30's - 40's. This film is a duel edged sword. He's a gangster, but he's hiding as the warden of a reformatory trying to change things for the kids. He had a heart of gold!

13 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Runaway Train?

Starts out in a prison anyway.

 

Oceans Eleven, Blues Brothers both say hey.

5 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Oceans Eleven, Blues Brothers both say hey.

Nope. Ex-con does not a prison pic make.

This one is a pretty god overlooked Tom Selleck film.

Escape at Dannemora  is probably the best prison film/series in the last 20 years.

 

Edited by RPM

15 hours ago, tantric superman said:

The Prophet if you want a newer French prison movie. 

good movie

5 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Love that movie, if for nothing else, coke cans in a pillowcase on the kurgan.

Plus, we find out what happened to Richie Valen's brother, Bob.

Sad.

Cool%20Hand%20Luke%201.jpg?itok=3mdY1skv

 

2 hours ago, RPM said:

Nope. Ex-con does not a prison pic make.

This one is a pretty god overlooked Tom Selleck film.

Escape at Dannemora  is probably the best prison film/series in the last 20 years.

 

I agree I was posting those as examples of movies starting in prison that had nothing to do with prison.  Should have maybe been more clear.

Edited by Onboard 2.0

It's Cool hand Luke, Papillon,  Midnight express, Shawshank, and Stalag 13 in no particular order as the best IMO.

4 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

I agree I was posting those as examples of movies starting in prison that had nothing to do with prison.  Should have maybe been more clear.

 

 

The train itself is a prison. The prisoners escape from one prison only to find themselves trapped in another.

The train is an allegory, or a metaphor, or something.

 

 

I haven’t seen it in a long time, but I recall liking “Carandiru”.

Does “In the Name of the Father” count?

1 hour ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

 

The train itself is a prison. The prisoners escape from one prison only to find themselves trapped in another.

The train is an allegory, or a metaphor, or something.

 

 

Or  a red herring.  Metaphors, allegories ?  It's a prison movie we don't need no eh-stinking metaphors or allegories.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...
Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business & Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Advertise... Tailgate Donations

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.