In the Joint

By: Doinel

From Becker’s rumination on the Prisoner’s Dilemma to Bresson’s rumination on the existential condition to B movie exploitation, the prison film covers a lot of ground.

The database doesn’t include “White Angel” from the intriguing Matarazzo Eclipse set which seems to have everything a “women in prison” film should have except Ida Lupino.

• 01
  Le trou
  Jacques Becker
• 02
  A Man Escaped
  Robert Bresson
• 03
  Chicago
  Frank Urson
• 04
  Caged
  John Cromwell
• 05
  I Want to Live!
  Robert Wise
• 06
  I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
  Mervyn LeRoy
• 07
  The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
  Tony Richardson
• 08
  Brute Force
  Jules Dassin
• 09
  One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
  Caspar Wrede
• 10
  Dead Man Walking
  Tim Robbins
• 11
  Jailhouse Rock
  Richard Thorpe
• 12
  Stalag 17
  Billy Wilder
• 13
  The Great Escape
  John Sturges
• 14
  Midnight Express
  Alan Parker
• 15
  The Count of Monte Cristo
  Rowland V. Lee
• 16
  Cool Hand Luke
  Stuart Rosenberg
• 17
  Escape from New York
  John Carpenter
• 18
  Escape from Alcatraz
  Don Siegel
• 19
  Bad Boys
  Rick Rosenthal
• 20
  Borstal Boy
  Peter Sheridan
• 21
  Hunger
  Steve McQueen
• 22
  Chicken Run
  Peter Lord
• 23
  The Bridge on the River Kwai
  David Lean
• 24
  48 Hrs.
  Walter Hill
• 25
  O Brother, Where Art Thou?
  Joel Coen
• 26
  The Shawshank Redemption
  Frank Darabont
• 27
  Birdman of Alcatraz
  John Frankenheimer
• 28
  Kiss of the Spider Woman
  Héctor Babenco
• 29
  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  Miloš Forman
• 30
  Riot in Cell Block 11
  Don Siegel
• 31
  Down by Law
  Jim Jarmusch