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- The Shawshank Redemption. It had to be "Shawshank." The extraordinary film adapted from a Stephen King novella is a hopeful, nearly perfect experience about an unexpected friendship formed behind prison walls.
- A Man Escaped. French master filmmaker Robert Bresson has a notably distant style, and he employs largely non-professional actors, limited music and stylistic choices to tell his stories.
- Cool Hand Luke. "What we've got here is... failure to communicate" goes the famous line from the effortlessly cool movie "Cool Hand Luke," which features an incredible performance from screen icon Paul Newman.
- Starred Up. David Mackenzie's "Starred Up" is the most recent film in the top reaches of the list, but it's a rare example of a movie that becomes an instant classic upon release.
- The Shawshank Redemption. Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton. 2,886 votes. In this iconic film, a wrongly convicted banker finds himself in a high-stakes game of espionage battling against the corrupt prison authorities.
- The Green Mile. Tom Hanks, David Morse, Michael Clarke Duncan. 2,265 votes. Set in the 1930s, this masterpiece combines supernatural elements with top-notch humor, proving that even death row inmates can have a knack for espionage.
- American History X. Ed Norton, Edward Furlong, Fairuza Balk. 1,360 votes. An intense, gritty examination of the extent to which spying and deception can infiltrate the lives of ordinary people.
- Escape from Alcatraz. Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Jack Thibeau. 1,451 votes. This thrilling classic follows a group of inmates as they plot a daring escape from the notorious island prison.
- Cool Hand Luke (1967) One of Paul Newman’s most iconic roles, Luke Jackson is a chain-gang prisoner who refuses to buckle to authority, repeatedly attempting to escape and keep his individualistic spirit in an environment designed to crush exactly that.
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994) So this one is a total no brainer, as it’s widely considered to be one of the best movies of all time full stop. You’ve probably seen it ten times already, but if you haven’t it stars Tim Robbins as a man wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his wife – and tracks his experiences in jail, his friendship with Morgan Freeman’s lifelong convict and ultimately his… well, that would be saying too much.
- Hunger (2008) Before Shame, Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender burst onto the scene with this gut-wrenching tale of Irish republican Bobby Sands, who led the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike at Belfast’s Maze Prison in an attempt to gain political prisoner status.
- The Rock (1996) Michael Bay’s action romp has Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery breaking into prison – specifically, Alcatraz – rather than out of it, in order to stop Ed Harris’ rogue general from unleashing a deadly nerve gas on San Francisco.
The 25 best prison movies of all time. No description entered. Login to create your own list! The Movie Database (TMDB) is a popular, user editable database for movies and TV shows.
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. Director F. Gary Gray Stars Gerard Butler Jamie Foxx Leslie Bibb 18.
1. The Green Mile. 1999 3h 9m R. 8.6 (1.4M) Rate. 61 Metascore. 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.
Many great prison movies take us deeper, showing us things we didn't expect, whether it's a criminal with surprising kindness, or the brutal conditions faced by inmates the world over.
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