Colonel Joseph Ryan (Frank Sinatra) is a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot who is shot down over Italy. He is captured by Italian troops and taken to a POW camp, run by the cruel Blackshirt Major Basilio Battaglia (Adolfo Celi). The camp is mainly populated by British prisoners.
Set in 1931, two sisters, 14-year-old Molly and 8-year-old Daisy, and their 10-year-old cousin Gracie live in the Western Australian town of Jigalong. The town lies along the northern part of Australia's rabbit-proof fence, which runs for several thousand miles.
In 1943, having expended enormous resources on recapturing escaped Allied prisoners of war (POWs), the Germans move the most determined to a new, high-security prisoner of war camp. The commandant, Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger (Hannes Messemer), tells the senior British officer, Group Captain Ramsey (James Donald), "There will be no escapes from this camp." Von Luger points out the various features of the new camp designed to prevent escape, as well as the perks the prisoners will receive as an incentive not to try. After several failed escape attempts on the first day, the POWs settle into life at the prison camp.
In 1881 in Old Fort Sumner, New Mexico, William H. Bonney, known as Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson), is passing the time with friends shooting chickens for fun. An old friend of Billy's, Pat Garrett (James Coburn), rides into town with Deputy Sheriff J.W. Bell (Matt Clark) and joins the diversion. Later, over drinks, Garrett informs Billy that the electorate want him out of the country, and that in five days, when he becomes Sheriff of Lincoln County, he'll make Billy leave.
En 1930, Henri Charrière, surnommé « Papillon Pouce-coupé », » est condamné à perpétuité au bagne en Guyane pour meurtre alors qu'il clame son innocence. Il est d'abord envoyé au bagne de Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni en 1933 (où il rencontre Louis Delga), puis sur l'île Saint-Joseph ou sur l'île du Diable. Papillon n'a alors qu'une idée en tête : l'évasion.
Stalag 17 begins on "the longest night of the year" in 1944 in a Luftwaffe prisoner-of-war camp somewhere along the Danube River. The story is narrated by Clarence Harvey "Cookie" Cook (Gil Stratton). The camp holds Poles, Czechs, Russian females and, in the American compound, 640 sergeants from bomber crews, gunners, radiomen, and flight engineers.
The story follows the escape of two men from an Alaska prison, the efforts of a railroad dispatch office to safely stop the out-of-control train they are on, and the hunt by their warden to recapture them. Oscar "Manny" Manheim is a ruthless bank robber and hero to the convicts of Stonehaven Maximum Security Prison. After two previous escape attempts the doors to Manny's cell have been welded shut for three years. A court order compels Manny's nemesis, the vindictive and sadistic Associate Warden Ranken, to release him back into the general prison population. Manny intends to break out a third time with his older brother Jonah Manheim, but is forced to set his escape plan into action in the middle of winter. Ranken employs a serial killer to give Manny the incentive, by stabbing him grievously through his left hand. Jonah fatally stabs the serial killer to death in retaliation, and in turn is severely beaten by the prison guard, leaving him in a high-security hospital wing.
En 1943, près du village de Sobibór dans le Gouvernement général de Pologne, un train de déportés juifs s'arrête devant l'entrée du camp d'extermination. Ce camp est un des maillon de l'Aktion Reinhard. Les déportés sont débarrassés de leurs bagages. Ceux qui déclarent avoir une profession jugée utile sont séparés des autres. Un groupe de prisonniers organise un soulèvement et une évasion à grande échelle.
Alors qu'il doit libérer la fille d'un homme d'affaires richissime incarcérée dans une prison lettonne de haute sécurité, Ray Breslin apprend que sa petite amie, Abigail, a été kidnappée par le fils d'un ancien allié devenu son ennemi juré. Désormais, Breslin doit sauver les deux femmes enfermées dans ce pénitencier surnommé The Devil's Station car personne n'en est jamais sorti vivant. Secondé par Trent DeRosa et Hush, Breslin doit faire vite pour organiser leur évasion...
Three men, previously unknown to each other, are arrested in New Orleans and placed in the same cell. Both Zack (Waits), a disc jockey, and Jack (Lurie), a pimp, have been set up, neither having committed the crime for which they have been arrested. Their cellmate Bob (Benigni, in his first international role), an Italian tourist who understands minimal English, was imprisoned for manslaughter.
During the First World War, two French aviators, aristocratic Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and working-class Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin), embark on a flight to examine the site of a blurred spot on photos from an earlier air reconnaissance mission. They are shot down by a German aviator and aristocrat, Rittmeister von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim). Von Rauffenstein, upon returning to base, sends a subordinate to find out if the aviators are officers and, if so, to invite them to lunch. During the meal, von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu discover they have mutual acquaintances—a depiction of the familiarity, if not solidarity, within the upper classes that crosses national boundaries.
Four long-sentence prisoners are determined to escape. They start digging a tunnel. While they are still at it, the prison direction puts the new convict Gaspard into their cell. They have no choice but to fill him in. At first he's enthusiastic about taking part in the getaway but all of a sudden it shows he will be released soon anyway because the main witness against him had a change in mind. Clueless as they are, Roland, Manu and Géo keep following through on their plan until it becomes evident that Gaspard has betrayed them.
The film opens with an image of a wooden toy horse. Gradually we observe that this is an assembly line in a prison, staffed by prisoners. They sing (La liberté, c'est pour les heureux = "Freedom is for the happy") as they work. Close-ups of two prisoners (Louis and Émile, the film's main protagonists) indicate they've taken a work tool. The prisoner next to Louis occasionally looks on, looking somewhat bored. After dinner everyone goes back to their cell. After feigning sleep during a guard's nightly rounds, Louis and Émile sing the title song as they resume a project of sawing off the prison window. Émile cuts himself, and Louis kindly mends the wound with a handkerchief. The window breaks free and they attempt to escape. Louis is able to get over the retaining wall, but Émile is not successful. Louis escapes, accidentally knocks someone off a bicycle, and rides off on the bicycle. Meanwhile we hear a chorus suggesting he's about to be captured (Ce sera bientôt fini = "It'll soon be over"). Louis heads into a village emblazoned with the words "Finishing Line" - the cyclist he knocked over was in a bicycle race, and Louis has won first prize.
Sergeant James Allen (Paul Muni) returns to civilian life after World War I but his war experience makes him restless. His family feels he should be grateful for a tedious job as an office clerk, and when he announces that he wants to become an engineer, they react with outrage. He leaves home to find work on any sort of project, but unskilled labor is plentiful and it's hard for him to find a job. Wandering and sinking into poverty, he accidentally becomes caught up in a robbery and is sentenced to ten years on a brutal Southern chain gang.
Les Dalton s'évadent de leur prison. Lucky Luke suit leur piste jusqu'au Canada et les capture mais ils s'évadent de nouveau et trouvent refuge chez leur mère, Ma Dalton.