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The 15 Best Prison Movies

By Johnny Cat in Movies & SciFi on Nov 27, 2009 at 7:52 pm


200px-Bad_Boys_(1983_film_poster)A setting such as a prison, jail, work farm, or what have you is fertile fodder for drama, character, and plot in a story.  So it’s no surprise that there have been a lot of films made with that setting as a centerpiece.

Gunaxin has compiled a list of the fifteen best, including one I would be riveted to every time it aired on HBO in the 80’s: Bad Boys starring Sean Penn, which landed at number seven on the list.

Shortly after portraying everyone’s favorite surfer dude Jeff Spicoli, Penn signed up to play a teen hood sent to a rough and tumble juvenile detention center reserved for the baddest of the bad. Gritty and brutal, this movie is not for the faint of heart.

Did your favorite make the list?

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COMMENT
  1. DaveL
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 8:12 pm

    Congratulations... you just made a comprehensive list of all the prison movies seen by most people. Next time... leave an important one out to serve as ink bait for better comment numbers.

  2. DrJones
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    How about "The Rock?"

    Classic!

  3. Dennis
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 10:37 pm

    Maybe these don't qualify:

    Slaughterhouse Five
    O Brother Where Art Thou
    Schindler's List
    Life is Beautiful

    Two of my favorites that are on the list:
    The Green Mile
    The Shawshank Redemption

  4. earl
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 10:38 pm

    As soon as I saw "prison movies" Cool Hand Luke popped into my mind and danged if it ain't No. 1. I've been using Strother Martin's "failure to communicate" line for years.

  5. Johnny Cat
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 10:41 pm

    While The Rock may be a stretch, I can think of a few other movies. Down By Law, Empire of the Sun, Caged Heat, Lockdown, Rio Bravo, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang.

    And I too was glad to see my top two in the top two.

  6. Michael W
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    I think the movie has to take place primarily locked up.

    Bridge over River Kwai.

  7. Douglas
    Nov 28th, 2009 at 7:46 am

    Having "Bad Boys" on that list is fantastic, but to forget "American Me" is a travesty.

  8. felixthecat
    Nov 28th, 2009 at 7:58 am

    The Glass House- Alan Alda, Vic Morrow

  9. pwscott
    Nov 28th, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    "What we have here is failure to communicate." Where are all the women in prison movies. Last I checked it was about 25. :P

  10. Geekazoid
    Nov 28th, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    I agree with Douglas, how the heck can they leave out American Me? That has to be one of the more 'real' prison movies out there.

    Along with Blood In, Blood Out.

  11. griff
    Nov 28th, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    Good list but missing two classics; Sly's Lock Up and Tom Selleck's An Innocent Man.
    I haven't seen either of them in over 10 years so they could be shit now, still, I'll stick with them out of stubbornness

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