Prison Movies
by karljhickey14 | created - 11 Jul 2016 | updated - 12 Apr 2023 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Big House (1930)
Passed | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A convict falls in love with his new cellmate's sister, only to become embroiled in a planned break-out which is certain to have lethal consequences.
Directors: George W. Hill, Ward Wing | Stars: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery
Votes: 2,594
2. The Criminal Code (1930)
Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After a failed attempt at running for governor, D.A. Mark Brady is appointed warden of the state prison where many of the criminals he prosecuted are incarcerated.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings, Boris Karloff
Votes: 1,380
3. 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
Passed | 78 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Brash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Arthur Byron, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 2,960
4. Each Dawn I Die (1939)
Approved | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A corrupt D.A. (Thurston Hall) with political ambitions is angered by news stories implicating him in criminal activity and decides to frame the reporter (James Cagney) for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: James Cagney, George Raft, Jane Bryan, George Bancroft
Votes: 3,735
5. San Quentin (1937)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An army trainer becomes captain of the prison yard and in time, falls for the sister of a hardened inmate.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart, Barton MacLane
Votes: 2,237
6. White Heat (1949)
Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly
Votes: 35,774
7. Brute Force (1947)
Passed | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
At a tough penitentiary, prisoner Joe Collins plans to rebel against Captain Munsey, the power-mad chief guard.
Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne De Carlo
Votes: 11,551
8. Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
Not Rated | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fed up with the inhumane prison living conditions, a general prison riot breaks out, leading to hostage-taking, a stand-off with the guards and eventual negotiations with the prison administration officials.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Neville Brand, Emile Meyer, Frank Faylen, Leo Gordon
Votes: 2,433
9. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
PG | 112 min | Action, Biography, Crime
Alcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possibly successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau
Votes: 147,513 | Gross: $43.00M
10. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
GP | 127 min | Crime, Drama
A laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D. Cannon
Votes: 188,620 | Gross: $16.22M
11. A Man Escaped (1956)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Thriller, War
A captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod
Votes: 25,019
12. Riot (1969)
R | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A riot in a state prison is staged to cover up an escape attempt, during which many inmates and guards are killed. Shot on location at Arizona State Prison.
Director: Buzz Kulik | Stars: Jim Brown, Gene Hackman, Mike Kellin, Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Votes: 657
13. Big House, U.S.A. (1955)
Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Gerry Barker finds a lost boy whose rich father is extorted into paying a ransom for his return but the boy accidentally dies and Gerry goes to prison.
Director: Howard W. Koch | Stars: Broderick Crawford, Ralph Meeker, Reed Hadley, William Talman
Votes: 1,158
14. Crashout (1955)
Approved | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The survivors of a prison break set out on an arduous journey to retrieve some loot.
Director: Lewis R. Foster | Stars: William Bendix, Arthur Kennedy, Luther Adler, William Talman
Votes: 740
15. Caged (1950)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Hope Emerson
Votes: 4,716
16. Women's Prison (1955)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A sadistic prison warden takes out her sexual frustration on her women inmates. While a caring physician tries to improve the jail's brutal atmosphere, a pair of rebellious inmates take matters into their own hands.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Ida Lupino, Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter
Votes: 1,153
17. The Hole (1960)
Not Rated | 131 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Distrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: André Bervil, Jean Keraudy, Michel Constantin, Philippe Leroy
Votes: 20,390 | Gross: $0.03M
18. Canon City (1948)
Approved | 82 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Twelve inmates plan a prison break from the Colorado State Penitentiary but one of them reluctantly joins the group.
Director: Crane Wilbur | Stars: Scott Brady, Jeff Corey, Whit Bissell, Stanley Clements
Votes: 443
19. Convicted (1950)
Passed | 91 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A D.A. becomes the prison warden where he tries to help an inmate he prosecuted, because he believes his sentence was excessive.
Director: Henry Levin | Stars: Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Millard Mitchell, Dorothy Malone
Votes: 1,488
20. House of Numbers (1957)
Approved | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
San Quentin prison inmate Arnie Judlow asks his twin brother Bill and his wife Ruth to assist him in a daring escape plan.
Director: Russell Rouse | Stars: Jack Palance, Harold J. Stone, Edward Platt, Barbara Lang
Votes: 618
21. The Concrete Jungle (1960)
TV-14 | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In the UK, after pulling a racetrack robbery, repeat offender Johnny Bannion hides the loot in a farmer's field but the police and the local mob come looking for Johnny and the money.
Director: Joseph Losey | Stars: Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Margit Saad
Votes: 1,764
22. San Quentin (1946)
Passed | 66 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Ex con Lawrence Tierney, hunts a supposedly reformed inmate, MacLane who escapes during a trip to San Francisco.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Lawrence Tierney, Marian Carr, Barton MacLane, Harry Shannon
Votes: 391
23. Outside the Wall (1950)
Passed | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A paroled convict's infatuation with a gold-digger nurse working at a sanitarium leads him to crime.
Director: Crane Wilbur | Stars: Richard Basehart, Marilyn Maxwell, Signe Hasso, Dorothy Hart
Votes: 410
24. The Last Mile (1959)
Approved | 81 min | Drama, Thriller
A prison break is attempted the same night an execution occurs on death row.
Director: Howard W. Koch | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Frank Overton, Michael Constantine, John Vari
Votes: 358
25. Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951)
Approved | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
At California's Folsom Prison, escape attempts and riots are on the rise due to the old-school sadistic style of management of a brutal warden.
Director: Crane Wilbur | Stars: Steve Cochran, David Brian, Philip Carey, Ted de Corsia
Votes: 417
26. The Steel Jungle (1956)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A power struggle emerges among convicts condemned to prison life.
Director: Walter Doniger | Stars: Perry Lopez, Beverly Garland, Walter Abel, Ted de Corsia
Votes: 171
27. Experiment Alcatraz (1950)
Approved | 57 min | Crime, Mystery
A doctor tests his theory that blood diseases can be cured by atomic radiation by using prison inmates as experiments.
Director: Edward L. Cahn | Stars: John Howard, Joan Dixon, Walter Kingsford, Lynne Carter
Votes: 344
28. Black Tuesday (1954)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Gangster Vincent Canelli and bank robber Peter Manning escape from Death Row minutes before their execution by electric chair.
Director: Hugo Fregonese | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Jean Parker, Peter Graves, Milburn Stone
Votes: 651
29. Betrayed Women (1955)
70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The governor appoints lawyer Jeff Darrow to open an investigation on the reported cruelties inflicted on the inmates of the Bayou Reformatory For Women. The investigation is opposed by Mrs.... See full summary »
Director: Edward L. Cahn | Stars: Carole Mathews, Beverly Michaels, Peggy Knudsen, Tom Drake
Votes: 107
30. Blonde Bait (1956)
Passed | 71 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
U.S. State Department agent Kent Foster, on the trail of a murderous traitor, Nick Randall, hopes to trap Randall through singer/stripper Angela Booth. The latter has promised to marry ... See full summary »
Director: Elmo Williams | Stars: Beverly Michaels, Jim Davis, Joan Rice, Richard Travis
Votes: 173
31. I Want to Live! (1958)
Approved | 120 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A prostitute, sentenced to death for murder, pleads her innocence.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent, Theodore Bikel
Votes: 7,370
32. Why Must I Die? (1960)
86 min | Crime, Drama
Dottie Manson commits a murder for which club singer Lois King is arrested, tried, and condemned to die. The story line wanders through the trial and Miss King's final hours on Death Row. ... See full summary »
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Terry Moore, Debra Paget, Bert Freed, Juli Reding
Votes: 150
33. Yield to the Night (1956)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
Woman abused by men meets a man she thinks loves her. He cheats, she kills his mistress. Based on Ruth Ellis, last woman executed in Britain. Less than
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Diana Dors, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Marie Ney
Votes: 1,484
34. Cell 2455, Death Row (1955)
Approved | 77 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Whit, condemned and awaiting execution, reviews the events of his life that has brought him to Cell 2455 on San Quentin's Death Row, a story he had told in a autobiography that became a ... See full summary »
Director: Fred F. Sears | Stars: William Campbell, R. Wright Campbell, Marian Carr, Kathryn Grant
Votes: 490
35. The Story of Molly X (1949)
Approved | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After gang leader Rick is killed, his wife Molly takes over his gang but a robbery goes wrong and Molly finds herself in jail where she undergoes a personal transformation.
Director: Crane Wilbur | Stars: June Havoc, John Russell, Dorothy Hart, Connie Gilchrist
Votes: 211
36. Unchained (1955)
75 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A convict in a medium-security prison is torn between his need to finish his sentence and get back to his wife and family, and his desire to escape the confines of prison.
Director: Hall Bartlett | Stars: Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch, Barbara Hale, Chester Morris, Todd Duncan
Votes: 231
37. Under the Gun (1951)
Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After a cunning, unscrupulous mobster is sentenced to a Florida prison farm, he launches a deadly escape plan.
Director: Ted Tetzlaff | Stars: Richard Conte, Audrey Totter, John McIntire, Sam Jaffe
Votes: 200
38. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Wrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis
Votes: 14,444 | Gross: $1.42M
39. The White Trap (1959)
58 min | Crime, Drama
Serving a jail sentence for a crime he didn't commit, Paul Langley makes several attempts to escape from prison, in order to clear his name. He also has other problems, his wife is about to go into labor with their first baby.
Director: Sidney Hayers | Stars: Lee Patterson, Conrad Phillips, Ewen Solon, Michael Goodliffe
Votes: 88
40. Escape by Night (1963)
75 min | Crime, Drama
A prisoner transport bus hijacked to free one inmate. Other prisoners locked in petrol-soaked barn, warned not to escape. Police find freed prisoner dead in crash, race to find bus and prisoners before barn catches fire.
Director: Montgomery Tully | Stars: Terence Longdon, Jennifer Jayne, Harry Fowler, Peter Sallis
Votes: 251
41. Women Without Men (1956)
71 min | Crime, Drama
Comedy and drama as three women, including one with her baby, escape from prison.
Directors: Elmo Williams, Bert Glazer | Stars: Beverly Michaels, Joan Rice, Thora Hird, Avril Angers
Votes: 87
42. Young and Willing (1954)
Approved | 72 min | Crime, Drama
Frank "women in prison" story that sympathetically tracks several inmates through their imprisonment and subsequent return to society. Some are successfully rehabilitated; some are not.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Glynis Johns, Diana Dors, John Gregson, Olive Sloane
Votes: 311
43. The Wayward Girl (1957)
Approved | 71 min | Drama
Framed by her stepmother for manslaughter, a convict turns to a parole racket.
Director: Lesley Selander | Stars: Marcia Henderson, Peter Walker, Katherine Barrett, Whit Bissell
Votes: 51
44. The Way to the Gold (1957)
94 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
An old inmate tells his cellmate, who's up for parole, about the location of a 35-year old gold loot and the released convict goes looking for it in Arizona.
Director: Robert D. Webb | Stars: Jeffrey Hunter, Sheree North, Barry Sullivan, Walter Brennan
Votes: 92
45. Marked Girls (1938)
102 min | Drama
Juliette, an innocent woman, is wrongly sentenced to prison for attempted murder. After her release, she married an industrialist to whom she did not speak of her tumultuous past.
Director: Roger Richebé | Stars: Viviane Romance, Renée Saint-Cyr, Marguerite Deval, Jean Worms
Votes: 28
46. ...and the Wild Wild Women (1959)
95 min | Drama
A harsh study about the grim realities of life in a female prison environment. The story concerns a young girl sent to prison who experiences the entire prison subculture. The inmates she ... See full summary »
Director: Renato Castellani | Stars: Anna Magnani, Giulietta Masina, Cristina Gaioni, Anita Durante
Votes: 577
47. The Sinners (1949)
108 min | Drama, Romance
Story takes place in a dreadful girls' reformatory. A couple of lovers will try to escape from this living hell.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Serge Reggiani, Jean Davy, Monique Mélinand, Suzy Prim
Votes: 144
48. Raw Deal (1948)
Approved | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe) has taken the rap for Rick (Raymond Burr), who double-crosses him with a flawed escape plan and other means intended to get rid of him.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt, John Ireland
Votes: 5,611
49. Kiss of Death (1947)
Approved | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A crook arrested for a jewelry heist initially refuses to give up his accomplices, but he changes his mind once his wife dies under worrying circumstances.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark
Votes: 9,577
50. Kiss of Death (1995)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A reformed convict goes undercover with the help of an angry detective to ensnare a psychotic mobster.
Director: Barbet Schroeder | Stars: David Caruso, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicolas Cage, Helen Hunt
Votes: 20,242 | Gross: $14.94M
51. Call Northside 777 (1948)
Approved | 112 min | Drama, Film-Noir
Chicago reporter P.J. McNeal re-opens a decade-old murder case.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: James Stewart, Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb, Helen Walker
Votes: 10,244
52. The Killer Is Loose (1956)
Passed | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An unhinged, deceptively mild-mannered bank robber escapes prison, seeking revenge on the cop who accidentally killed his wife during a gun battle.
Director: Budd Boetticher | Stars: Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey, Alan Hale Jr.
Votes: 2,487
53. Dillinger (1945)
Passed | 70 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
John Dillinger begins his life of crime as a petty thief, meets his future gang in prison and eventually masterminds a series of daring robberies.
Director: Max Nosseck | Stars: Lawrence Tierney, Edmund Lowe, Anne Jeffreys, Eduardo Ciannelli
Votes: 2,141 | Gross: $4.00M
54. Invisible Stripes (1939)
Passed | 81 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ex-con who wants to go straight has difficulties trying to reintegrate into society while on parole.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: George Raft, Jane Bryan, William Holden, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 1,923 | Gross: $0.11M
55. Red Light (1949)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The former employee of a trucking company, currently in prison for embezzlement, plans his eventual revenge against his former boss.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: George Raft, Virginia Mayo, Gene Lockhart, Raymond Burr
Votes: 1,145
56. Hell on Frisco Bay (1955)
Unrated | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After 5 years in prison, ex-cop Steve Rollins is paroled and searches for the San Francisco mobsters who framed him for manslaughter.
Director: Frank Tuttle | Stars: Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, Joanne Dru, William Demarest
Votes: 734
57. Hellgate (1952)
Approved | 87 min | Western
A man is framed and sent to toughest prison in the territory.
Director: Charles Marquis Warren | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Joan Leslie, Ward Bond, James Arness
Votes: 531
58. Boys in Brown (1949)
Approved | 85 min | Crime, Drama
A slice of life in a British Borstal reform institution for young criminals.
Director: Montgomery Tully | Stars: Jack Warner, Richard Attenborough, Dirk Bogarde, Jimmy Hanley
Votes: 304
59. My Brother's Keeper (1948)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
War hero George Martin escapes prison handcuffed to crook Willie Stannard. They obtain railway tickets. Pursued by police and press, George aims to break free from Willie and escape.
Director: Alfred Roome | Stars: Jack Warner, Jane Hylton, George Cole, Bill Owen
Votes: 316
60. Escape (1948)
Approved | 78 min | Thriller
A convict sentenced to three years for killing a detective escapes from a prison and goes on the run aided by a local girl.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Rex Harrison, Peggy Cummins, William Hartnell, Norman Wooland
Votes: 426
61. Jailbreak (1962)
62 min | Crime, Drama
A family of burglars and safecrackers plan a heist at a jewelry store. When one of the family--who is the safecracking expert--gets arrested and jailed, they hatch a plan to break him out so he can take part in the robbery.
Director: Francis Searle | Stars: Peter Reynolds, Avice Landone, David Kernan, Carol White
Votes: 102
62. Castle on the Hudson (1940)
Approved | 77 min | Crime, Drama
An arrogant mobster, sentenced to a long prison term in Sing Sing, becomes a changed man when given a chance by the fair and progressive warden.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: John Garfield, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Burgess Meredith
Votes: 861
63. Road to the Big House (1947)
Approved | 74 min | Crime, Drama
In 1929, middle-class bank clerk Eddie Clark, unhappy with his lot in life and jealous of prosperous George Bates, an ex-suitor of his loyal wife Agnes, steals $200,000 from his bank, with ... See full summary »
Director: Walter Colmes | Stars: John Shelton, Ann Doran, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, Richard Bailey
Votes: 34
64. For Them That Trespass (1949)
Approved | 95 min | Crime, Drama
Christy Drew, an aspiring young writer trying to broaden his experience, gets involved with Frankie Ketchen and her two suitors, Herb Logan and Jim Heal. One night, Jim finds Frankie has ... See full summary »
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Stephen Murray, Richard Todd, Patricia Plunkett, Rosalyn Boulter
Votes: 139
65. The Ceremony (1963)
Not Rated | 105 min | Crime, Drama
A bank robber is sentenced to prison for committing a murder during the robbery. His brother comes up with a plan to break him out of prison--but on the condition that his brother's girlfriend "date" him first.
Director: Laurence Harvey | Stars: Laurence Harvey, Sarah Miles, Robert Walker Jr., Lee Patterson
Votes: 255
66. Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Not Rated | 147 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A surly convicted murderer held in permanent isolation redeems himself when he becomes a renowned bird expert.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand
Votes: 19,314
67. King of Alcatraz (1938)
Approved | 68 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
A convict who has just escaped from Alcatraz Prison takes over a passenger ship. Two of the ship's crew hatch a plot to overpower him and rescue the ship's passengers.
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Gail Patrick, Lloyd Nolan, Harry Carey, J. Carrol Naish
Votes: 115
68. Blackwell's Island (1939)
Approved | 71 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
In 1934, a New York reporter infiltrates a crime syndicate by befriending its boss who is serving time inside Blackwell Island prison.
Directors: William C. McGann, Michael Curtiz | Stars: John Garfield, Rosemary Lane, Dick Purcell, Victor Jory
Votes: 511
69. Castle on the Hudson (1940)
Approved | 77 min | Crime, Drama
An arrogant mobster, sentenced to a long prison term in Sing Sing, becomes a changed man when given a chance by the fair and progressive warden.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: John Garfield, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Burgess Meredith
Votes: 861
70. The House Across the Bay (1940)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
An aircraft designer falls for the wife of an imprisoned gangster. All goes well until the gangster gets out of prison...
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: George Raft, Joan Bennett, Lloyd Nolan, Walter Pidgeon
Votes: 661
71. Prison Nurse (1938)
Approved | 67 min | Drama, Film-Noir
A state prison is threatened by approaching floods, an epidemic of typhoid fever breaks out among the inmates, the prison's only doctor falls sick, there are only three nurses to administer... See full summary »
Director: James Cruze | Stars: Henry Wilcoxon, Marian Marsh, Bernadene Hayes, Ben Welden
Votes: 97
72. Up the River (1930)
Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When paroled trustee Steve and former inmate Judy who try to put their criminal lives behind them are blackmailed, two career criminals come to their rescue.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 1,376
73. Prison Break (1938)
Approved | 72 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Joaquin Shannon arrives home from a cruise on his fishing boat. His first mate, Charles Nelson, is to marry Shannon's sister the next day. Nelson gets drunk and Shannon finds him near the ... See full summary »
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Barton MacLane, Glenda Farrell, Paul Hurst, Constance Moore
Votes: 319
74. Prison Farm (1938)
Approved | 67 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
A young woman falls in love with with an armed robber. She gets arrested while visiting him in prison, and winds up in prison herself.
Director: Louis King | Stars: Shirley Ross, Lloyd Nolan, John Howard, J. Carrol Naish
Votes: 98
75. City Without Men (1943)
Approved | 75 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A young woman's husband has been imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. In order to be near him to try to help him get his sentence overturned, she moves into a boardinghouse near the prison whose residents are the wives of inmates.
Director: Sidney Salkow | Stars: Linda Darnell, Edgar Buchanan, Michael Duane, Sara Allgood
Votes: 175
76. Prison Train (1938)
Passed | 64 min | Crime, Drama
Frankie Terris and Mannie Robbins are the two most powerful gangsters in their city. Frankie has a young sister, Louise, whom he has kept at a boarding school away from the stench of his ... See full summary »
Director: Gordon Wiles | Stars: Fred Keating, Dorothy Comingore, Clarence Muse, Faith Bacon
Votes: 161
77. Man Called Rocca (1961)
102 min | Crime, Drama
(1961) Jean Paul Belmondo, Christine Kaufman. In this fine thriller, JP's friend ends up in prison. JP then tracks down the man responsible.
Director: Jean Becker | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Christine Kaufmann, Béatrice Altariba, Mario David
Votes: 557
78. McVicar (1980)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama
John McVicar was a notorious London criminal known as "Public Enemy No. 1" for armed bank robberies. He was captured and imprisoned in a high security facility, but continued attempting escapes.
Director: Tom Clegg | Stars: Roger Daltrey, Adam Faith, Cheryl Campbell, Billy Murray
Votes: 2,362
79. Two Way Stretch (1960)
TV-PG | 78 min | Comedy, Crime
While in prison, Dodger plots the perfect heist: break out, steal diamonds, get back before noticed. With days left on sentence and a solid alibi, he's confident nothing can go wrong.
Director: Robert Day | Stars: Peter Sellers, David Lodge, Bernard Cribbins, Wilfrid Hyde-White
Votes: 2,643
80. Scum (1979)
R | 98 min | Crime, Drama
An uncompromising story of life in a British juvenile offender institution in the '70s.
Director: Alan Clarke | Stars: Ray Winstone, Mick Ford, Julian Firth, John Blundell
Votes: 13,091
81. Scum (1991 TV Movie)
R | 78 min | Crime, Drama
This is the hard and shocking story of life in a British borstal for young offenders. The brutal regime made no attempt to reform or improve the inmates and actively encouraged a power ... See full summary »
Director: Alan Clarke | Stars: Ray Winstone, David Threlfall, Martin Phillips, Davidson Knight
Votes: 2,786
82. The Green Mile (1999)
R | 189 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt
Votes: 1,408,434 | Gross: $136.80M
83. Front Page Woman (1935)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Romance
A woman reporter tries to prove she's just as good as any man, but runs into trouble along the way.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Bette Davis, George Brent, Roscoe Karns, Wini Shaw
Votes: 1,724
84. Millionaires in Prison (1940)
Approved | 64 min | Crime, Drama
As a crop of millionaire inmates struggles to acclimate to prison life, inmate Nick Burton watches out for everyone's interests on the inside.
Director: Ray McCarey | Stars: Lee Tracy, Linda Hayes, Raymond Walburn, Morgan Conway
Votes: 200
85. Brubaker (1980)
R | 131 min | Crime, Drama
The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, Morgan Freeman, Jane Alexander
Votes: 19,444 | Gross: $37.12M
86. The Longest Yard (1974)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A sadistic warden asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time in his prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on (and get pummeled by) the guards.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad
Votes: 21,435 | Gross: $7.13M
87. Stir Crazy (1980)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Crime
Set up and wrongfully accused, two best friends are sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. However, no prison cell can keep them locked in a cage.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Georg Stanford Brown, JoBeth Williams
Votes: 30,407 | Gross: $101.30M
88. Mutiny in the Big House (1939)
Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama
A young man forges a check in order to help his mother, but is caught and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The prison chaplain, seeing that the new arrival is a good man who's had some bad ... See full summary »
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Charles Bickford, Barton MacLane, Pat Moriarity, Dennis Moore
Votes: 95
89. Duffy of San Quentin (1954)
Passed | 78 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A group of prisoners are planning an escape. They take hostages. Warden Duffy tries to convince one of the inmates that their plight is useless, and to give up.
Director: Walter Doniger | Stars: Louis Hayward, Joanne Dru, Paul Kelly, Maureen O'Sullivan
Votes: 120
90. The Last Mile (1932)
Passed | 75 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An innocent man sentenced to death gets caught up in a prison riot.
Director: Samuel Bischoff | Stars: Howard Phillips, Preston Foster, George E. Stone, Noel Madison
Votes: 419
91. Lady in the Death House (1944)
Passed | 56 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A young woman is on Death Row for the murder of a man who was blackmailing her family, although she claims she was framed. Her fiance', a doctor who is conducting experiments on reviving ... See full summary »
Director: Steve Sekely | Stars: Jean Parker, Lionel Atwill, Douglas Fowley, Marcia Mae Jones
Votes: 420
92. The Pot Carriers (1962)
84 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
James Rainbow is a first time offender sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. Redband, a trusty and Mouse, a diminutive housebreaker take him under their wing.
Director: Peter Graham Scott | Stars: Ronald Fraser, Paul Massie, Carole Lesley, Dennis Price
Votes: 127
93. The Hill (1965)
Approved | 123 min | Drama, War
In a North African military prison during World War II, five new prisoners struggle to survive in the face of brutal punishment and sadistic guards.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Alfred Lynch
Votes: 15,179
94. Pardon Us (1931)
Approved | 56 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two guys end up in prison after attempting to sell beer to a policeman during Prohibition.
Director: James Parrott | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Marlowe, Wilfred Lucas
Votes: 2,820
95. Convict 99 (1938)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy
A disgraced school master, Benjamin Twist, is mistaken for a tough prison governor and assigned the charge of a prison for particularly hardened criminals. Believing he is being sent to a ... See full summary »
Director: Marcel Varnel | Stars: Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt, Googie Withers
Votes: 542
96. Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Music, Musical
After serving time for manslaughter, young Vince Everett becomes a teenage rock star.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy, Vaughn Taylor
Votes: 9,833 | Gross: $4.00M
97. Escape from San Quentin (1957)
Approved | 81 min | Crime, Drama
An escaped convict decides to quit running and turn himself and his fellow escapee in to the authorities - but not without complications.
Director: Fred F. Sears | Stars: Johnny Desmond, Merry Anders, Richard Devon, Roy Engel
Votes: 110
98. Train to Alcatraz (1948)
Approved | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A group of prisoners being transported by train to Alcatraz prison plot an escape.
Director: Philip Ford | Stars: Don 'Red' Barry, Janet Martin, William Phipps, Roy Barcroft
Votes: 70
99. Over the Wall (1938)
Passed | 67 min | Drama, Romance
Jerry Davis is a street tough and troublemaker who winds up in Sing Sing framed for murder. There he discovers he has a great singing voice, and with the help of prison chaplain Father Connor, Jerry begins to rehabilitate himself.
Director: Frank McDonald | Stars: Dick Foran, June Travis, John Litel, Dick Purcell
Votes: 148
100. You Can't Beat the Law (1943)
Approved | 61 min | Drama
Playboy Johnny Gray is framed and sent to prison after his stolen car is found at a holdup committed by Rico, and while the latter is not suspected, his henchman Harry, Creeper and Red are ... See full summary »
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Edward Norris, Joan Woodbury, Jack La Rue, Milburn Stone
Votes: 89
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