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Prose and Cons

By Joanna Robinson | Posted Under Seriously Random Lists | Comments (37)

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Well, this is awkward. Ranylt and I forgot to call each other and coordinate our outfits so now we’re left wearing the same black dress with a flouncy white bow much like Kelly and Brenda on that episode of “90210.” That is to say, it’s unofficial Crime and Punishment Day here at Pajiba! Warden threw a party in the county jail! Let’s rock.

In light of your stunning, vociferous, some (jM) might even say, “explosive” response to the list I posted yesterday, I thought I would challenge your clever minds a bit with a list of very narrow proportions. Movies about prisoners based on books! Ha! Suck on it, you fecalphiles. Once I started thinking about it, however, I realized the prison movie is one I’m awfully fond of. Most of the films on this list will stop my thumb mid-click whenever they are on. I’ve even been known to sit through them twice (thank you, TBS, you truly are a “super” station). I don’t know if it’s the idea of redemption, the convenient confines of a prison setting, or the schmexy uniforms, but I can’t help myself. Also, why couldn’t I think of more (any) female-centric films?


The Green Mile

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Count of Monte Cristo

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Cool Hand Luke

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The Hurricane

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Papillon

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In The Name Of The Father
(RIP, Pete Postlethwaite)

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Shawshank Redemption

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Joanna Robinson has a confession to make. She wrote this article just so she could use the title “Prose and Cons.” She also could have scrapped the article once she saw what Ranylt had posted, but had already spent…like…ten whole minutes compiling a list. Time is money, people.









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Comments

One of these days I'm going to get around to watching Shawshank Redemption. Promise.

Posted by: Xtreme at January 6, 2011 5:05 PM

Hmm, female-centric reminds me of Monster, which might be pro-death penalty? I've got to head over to that discussion and post that. But other than Chicago, which I don't think counts, I've (so far) got nothing for ya.

Posted by: leuce7 at January 6, 2011 5:07 PM

The movie was pure shite (for instance, there's no "redemption in a fountain" scene in the novel), but I love the full title of Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders:

The Fortunes & Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders &c.

Who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and dies a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums . . .

by Daniel Defoe

Posted by: Mike B. at January 6, 2011 5:10 PM

What no love for Midnight Express!
I'd tut but I'm eating.

Posted by: Peanut at January 6, 2011 5:13 PM

Most films dealing with women in prison fall into the grindhouse category, Women In Prison Movies. They generally aren't, how you say, good films.

Here are a couple lists I found in my Daily Googling (and the second totally counts both Chicago and Chicken Run, so take it with a grain of salt):

http://www.horroryearbook.com/542741/the-ultimate-women-in-prison-film-list

http://www.prisonflicks.com/genres.php?filmGenreID=1&sortVar=filmReviewDate&sortDir=down

I wonder how many are based on books?

Posted by: RobP at January 6, 2011 5:20 PM

Paul Newman, mmmmmm. I would drop the soap in his shower every day with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

Posted by: Dingles at January 6, 2011 5:20 PM

Does Quills count?

It takes place in an Asylum not a Prison, and is based on a Play, not a novel, but it's about the Marquis de Sade and has Geoffrey Rush and Kate Winslet in it, so I feel as though it belongs on this list.

Posted by: DominaNefret at January 6, 2011 5:21 PM

I noticed you didn't try to rank them, which was probably wise. I don't know how anyone could choose between Shawshank, Cool Hand Luke, and In the Name of the Father for #1.

Posted by: Todd at January 6, 2011 5:24 PM

I know it's not technically a prison but could One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest count?

Posted by: causaubon at January 6, 2011 5:25 PM

What? No Stir Crazy? He Baaaad!

Posted by: LwoodPDowd at January 6, 2011 5:46 PM

And now I have an overwhelming urge to eat hard-boiled eggs.

Les Miserables
The Third Circle

Up The River
The Petrified Forest
San Quentin
Angels with Dirty Faces.....the hell with it...just about anything Humphrey Bogart made in the 1930s

Posted by: PaddyDog at January 6, 2011 5:47 PM

Count of Monte Cristo

Ah yes. Good ol' Alexandre Dumbass.

Posted by: branded at January 6, 2011 5:50 PM

Midnight Express please

Posted by: Flo at January 6, 2011 5:56 PM

For females, would Changeling count? I think that was based on a book. Though technically it's based on a mental institution and not a prison.

Posted by: ChristianH at January 6, 2011 6:04 PM

"Midnight Express" belongs on this list. It's a pretty good movie, though the guy it portrays had some problems with it.

Posted by: Slash at January 6, 2011 6:09 PM

@ branded:

On behalf of Dumas, I demand satisfaction. I'll have my second contact your second to hash out details like swords v. pistols and for the whole slapping-with-a-glove business.

At dawn, my friend. At. Dawn.

Posted by: Mike B. at January 6, 2011 6:12 PM

Birdman of Alcatraz

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at January 6, 2011 6:24 PM

It seems women are more likely to be shown in padded cells than jail cells. The only women in prison movies I can think of are Brokedown Palace, Chicago, Lady Vengeance, and Stranger Inside. But I think that was a TV movie.

Posted by: jM at January 6, 2011 6:59 PM

"Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter"

Boom, Baxter-Birneyed!

(Yes, I know it wasn't a book, I just can't resist an opportunity to mention Betty Broderick and Meredith Baxter-Birney.)

Posted by: Lainey at January 6, 2011 7:11 PM

At dawn, my friend. At. Dawn.

Dearest Mr. B.,

While I can appreciate your Jagger-like demand for satisfaction, I am previously engaged at dawn. Could we possibly call it high noon or after tea? I have a prior obligation due to a similar unfortunate phrasing "Kiss my pale, dainty Charrière." My apologies for any inconvenience.

Posted by: branded at January 6, 2011 7:26 PM

I can eat fifty eggs.

Posted by: seth at January 6, 2011 7:33 PM

As far as Solzhenitsyn, IMdb shows films based on ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH and THE FIRST CIRCLE.

Posted by: Pat C. at January 6, 2011 7:43 PM

Mr Branded:

After tea is no good. What about Tuesday week? Also, if it would be easier, you could just slap yourself.

(Seriously: The Count of Monte Cristo is pretty amazing. That guy that gets, like, a gallon of blood splattered on him while hiding under the stairs? Bandits? Revenge that turns out to be more complicated than one usually gives Dumas credit for? It's all great stuff.)

Posted by: Mike B. at January 6, 2011 8:22 PM

The Man in the Iron Mask. It should count twice, because he was in two prisons at once. Ah haha. Get it?

Posted by: SaBrina at January 6, 2011 10:19 PM

I love all those on your list Joanna!

Posted by: Theseus at January 6, 2011 10:57 PM

Gee, Stephen King loves prisons, doesn't he? I bet you could draw up a long list of books of his that either take place in a prison, or have some scenes set in a prison, or have someone who's been to prison recently, or even someone who's worked in a prison. Dude's obsessed.

Posted by: Figgy in Honduras at January 6, 2011 11:36 PM

Jesus, Joanna, I love you like I love all the Pajibettes, but:

"The Great Escape."

Once again, you people disappoint me.

Posted by: , at January 7, 2011 1:44 AM

but technically, The Great Escape was also not a prison, it was a P.O.W. camp. if Escape counts, then so does One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Posted by: causaubon at January 7, 2011 1:54 AM

especially if the book is part of the equation when making this "Best of" list. Cuckoo's Nest was a great read.

i would also nominate The 9th Configuration.

Posted by: causaubon at January 7, 2011 1:57 AM

Pete Postlethwaite died? How did I miss this info? I just came to tears...what a terrible loss. He made every single thing he was ever in, better.

Posted by: replica at January 7, 2011 3:27 AM

The only female prison movie I can think of is Longford.

Posted by: Uda at January 7, 2011 8:33 AM

Murder in the First is, in my opinion, one of the best prison movies ever made. Believe it or not, Kevin Bacon is fan-fucking-tastic in the role of Henri Young and probably deserved an Oscar nomination for supporting actor.


Also, In the Name of the Father is probably my second choice for best prison movie ever.

Posted by: Jadine at January 7, 2011 10:03 AM

Escape from Alcatraz is one of my favorites.

Posted by: Kristen at January 7, 2011 10:18 AM

Joanna, great minds, and all. Besides, we both look great in a bow.

LOVE prison movies! I recommend Brute Force to all comers, one of my faves.

Posted by: Ranylt at January 7, 2011 10:47 AM

Posted by: causaubon at January 7, 2011 1:57 AM
---
In "Escape" they were prisoners of war. I think that's different from people committed to a mental institution, though granted both groups are there more or less involuntarily. Nobody got summarily executed for trying to break out of the latter, like happened to 50 of the guys who broke out of Stalag Luft III when they were recaptured.

Posted by: , at January 7, 2011 11:01 AM

Lady Vengeance! Right on, jM! I forgot that about half the movie takes place in prison, because whenever I think about it, I'm always drawn immediately to the climax. I love that movie, though, and definitely my favorite of that pseudo-trilogy (with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy, for those not in the know).

:fist bumps jM:

Posted by: RobP at January 7, 2011 11:05 AM

Has anyone mentioned The Rock? That technically takes place in a prison.

Posted by: Siege at January 7, 2011 11:19 AM

...Nobody got summarily executed for trying to break out of the latter, like happened to 50 of the guys who broke out of Stalag Luft III when they were recaptured.

Posted by: , at January 7, 2011 11:01 AM

i think i woul rather be summarily executed than summarily lobotomised.

"I don't want no frontal lobotomy, I just want a bottle in front of me."

Posted by: causaubon at January 7, 2011 12:17 PM