Films with theme "Prison films", sorted by revenue

, 2h25
Directed by Norman Jewison
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Biography
Themes Prison films, Films about racism, Sports films, Martial arts films, Boxing films, Films about capital punishment, Le boxe anglaise
Actors Denzel Washington, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber, John Hannah, Dan Hedaya

The film tells the story of middleweight boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, whose conviction for a Paterson, New Jersey triple murder was set aside after he had spent nearly 20 years in prison. Narrating Carter's life, the film concentrates on the period between 1966 and 1985. It describes his fight against the conviction for triple murder and how he copes with nearly twenty years in prison.

, 1h46
Directed by Frères Coen
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Musical theatre, Action, Adventure, Crime
Themes Films about music and musicians, Films based on mythology, Prison films, Radio, Transport films, Musiques du monde, Musical films, Films based on Greco-Roman mythology, Évasion, Road movies, Buddy films, Films based on Greco-Roman mythology
Actors George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Chris Thomas King, Holly Hunter

Three convicts, Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), known as Everett, Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro) and Delmar O’Donnel (Tim Blake Nelson) escape from a chain gang and set out to retrieve the $1.2 million that Everett buried. The three get a lift from a blind man driving a handcar on a railway. He tells them that they will find a fortune, but not the one they seek. The trio make their way to Pete’s cousin Wash’s house. They remove their chains and sleep in the barn, but Wash betrays them and they are woken by policemen led by Sheriff Cooley, who have them surrounded. The police try to smoke them out, but Wash’s son rescues them.

, 1h57
Directed by Andrew Davis
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Adventure, Crime, Romance, Western
Themes Prison films, Children's films
Actors Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson, Shia LaBeouf, Khleo Thomas

Stanley Yelnats IV is a teenager born to a family who have been cursed with bad luck since his great-great grandfather didn't carry a sorceress, Madame Zeroni, up a mountaintop. He is sent to Camp Green Lake when he is falsely accused of theft. He arrives to find that the camp is a dried-up lake run by the warden, her assistant, Mr. Sir, and the counselor, Dr. Pendanski. Prisoners spend each day digging holes in the desert to "build character." After finding a golden lipstick tube initialed K.B., he begins to suspect the hole-digging isn't for just building character.

, 2h14
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Origin France
Genres Drama, War, Romance
Themes French war films, Medical-themed films, Seafaring films, Prison films, Transport films, Films about psychiatry, Films about disabilities, Political films, Films about capital punishment
Actors Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Clovis Cornillac, Marion Cotillard, Dominique Pinon, Albert Dupontel

Five French soldiers are convicted of self-mutilation in order to escape military service during World War I. They are condemned to face near certain death in the no man's land between the French and German trench lines. It appears that all of them were killed in a subsequent battle, but Mathilde, the fiancée of one of the soldiers, refuses to give up hope and begins to uncover clues as to what actually took place on the battlefield. She is all the while driven by the constant reminder of what her fiancé had carved into one of the bells of the church near their home, MMM for Manech Aime Mathilde (Manech Loves Mathilde; a pun on the French word aime, which is pronounced like the letter "M". In the English-language version, this is changed to "Manech's Marrying Mathilde").

, 2h10
Directed by Paul Haggis
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime, Romance
Themes Prison films, Films about capital punishment
Actors Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Brian Dennehy, Olivia Wilde, Liam Neeson, Ty Simpkins

Lara Brennan (Elizabeth Banks) is convicted of murdering her boss and is sentenced to life in prison. The evidence seems impossible to dispute: her car is parked right next to the car of her boss, she is seen leaving the crime scene seconds before the body is discovered, the murder weapon (a fire extinguisher) has her fingerprints on it and she has the victim's blood on the back of her overcoat. Following the failure of her appeal, Lara's husband John Brennan (Russell Crowe), a professor at a community college, becomes obsessed with the idea of breaking her out of jail, while their son Luke ceases to acknowledge her during their prison visits, saddening Lara. One day, she attempts suicide, and tells John that she cannot survive a life in prison. John promises that this will not be her life.

, 2h34
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Historical
Themes Films about children, Seafaring films, Prison films, Transport films, Aviation films, Political films
Actors Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers, Joe Pantoliano, Leslie Phillips

Japan had been at war with China since 1937 before declaring war on the United States and the United Kingdom. Amidst the war, Jamie Graham, a British upper middle class schoolboy fascinated with Japanese planes and pilots, is enjoying a privileged and spoiled life in the Shanghai International Settlement. At a costume party he attends with his parents, he wanders off and encounters a Japanese airplane that had been shot down. Nearby he finds a camp full of Japanese troops in a trench and is taken aback. Jamie's father finds him and forces him to leave, Jamie not realizing the impending danger. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Japanese begin to occupy the Shanghai International Settlement and in the ensuing chaos to escape the city and catch the next ferry out of Shanghai, Jamie is separated from his parents in the crowds of panicking people. Over the crowds of people Jamie's mother shouts at him to wait for them back at their house and promises that they will come back for him. He spends some time living in his deserted house, occupying his time by waiting and eating remnants of food but eventually he ventures out into the city and finds it bustling with Japanese troops.

, 2h12
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Biography
Themes Prison films, Films about religion, Films about terrorism, Political films, Films about capital punishment, Conflit nord-irlandais
Actors Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson, Pete Postlethwaite, John Lynch, Beatie Edney, Corin Redgrave

Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) is shown in Belfast stripping lead from roofs of houses when security forces home in on the district with armoured cars, and a riot breaks out. Gerry's father, Giuseppe Conlon (Pete Postlethwaite), later saves him from IRA punishment, and he is sent off to London to stay with his aunt, for his own good. Instead, he finds a squat, to explore, as he puts it, "free love and dope". One evening by chance he gains entry to a prostitute's flat and he steals the £700 he finds stashed inside; on that evening in Guildford there is an explosion at a pub that kills four off-duty soldiers and a civilian, and wounds sixty-five others.

, 1h37
Directed by Andreï Kontchalovski, Albert Magnoli
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy thriller, Action, Adventure, Crime
Themes Prison films, Buddy films
Actors Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance, Teri Hatcher, Brion James, Edward Bunker

Beverly Hills LAPD Lieutenant Raymond Tango (Sylvester Stallone) and Downtown Los Angeles Lieutenant Gabriel Cash (Kurt Russell) have earned themselves reputations for disrupting crime lord Yves Perret's smuggling operation in their respective jurisdictions. One day, they are informed of a drug deal taking place later that night. Both detectives meet for the first time at the location, but discover a dead body that is wire-tapped before the FBI arrive and surround the duo. Agent Wyler (Lewis Arquette) finds Cash's backup Walter PPK pistol on the floor with a silencer attached and arrests both Cash and Tango. At their murder trial, Tango and Cash are incriminated by an audio tape, secretly given to Wyler by Perret's henchman Requin and verified in court by an audio expert, which appears to reveal them shooting the undercover FBI agent after discussing a drug purchase. They plead no contest to a lesser charge in exchange for reduced sentences in a minimum-security prison, but are instead transported to a maximum-security prison to be housed with many of the criminals they arrested in the past.

, 1h49
Directed by Patty Jenkins
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Biography, Crime
Themes Feminist films, Prison films, Films about sexuality, Erotic films, LGBT-related films, Films about prostitution, Serial killer films, Political films, Films about capital punishment, Erotic thriller films, Buddy films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film, Lesbian-related films
Actors Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Scott Wilson

After moving from Michigan to Florida, Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute, meets Selby Wall in a gay bar. After initial hostility and declaring that she is not gay, Aileen talks to Selby over beers. Selby takes to Aileen almost immediately, as she likes that she is very protective of her. Selby invites her to spend the night with her. They return to the house where Selby is staying (temporarily exiled by her parents following the accusation from another girl that Selby tried to kiss her). They later agree to meet at a roller skating rink, and they kiss for the first time. Aileen and Selby fall in love, but they have nowhere to go, so Selby goes back to her Aunt's home.

, 1h48
Directed by Julius Avery
Origin Australie
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Prison films, Transport films, Heist films
Actors Ewan McGregor, Brenton Thwaites, Alicia Vikander, Jacek Koman, Damon Herriman, Nash Edgerton

A 19-year-old youth, JR (Brenton Thwaites) is sent to an Australian correctional facility for six months as punishment for a minor crime. During his first few days at the prison, he finds his cellmate is being sexually abused by another group of prisoners led by a man named Dave. JR also comes across the charismatic Brendan Lynch (Ewan McGregor), Australia's public enemy #1 and a notorious armed robber. Lynch is playing a game of correspondence chess when a passing JR points out an unseen checkmate against Lynch, demonstrates the move, and is dismissed. Later, JR finds his cellmate sharpening a shiv with the intention of defending himself against Dave. When Dave and his gang move to attack the cellmate, JR prevents the attack by initiating a fight. Lynch scolds JR for meddling in other people's affairs, and soon after, JR's cellmate is once again sexually assaulted. His cellmate attempts to commit suicide, directing Dave's focus towards JR. When Dave and his gang try to rape JR, Lynch and his men, Sterlo (Matt Nable) and Merv (Eddie Baroo), rescue JR and kill Dave. In exchange for Lynch's protection during JR's sentence, JR agrees to perform tasks for Lynch outside of prison.

, 2h5
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Biography, Action, Adventure, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Prison films, Transport films, Évasion
Actors Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon, Bill Mumy, George Coulouris

1930's France. Henri Charrière (Steve McQueen), a safecracker nicknamed Papillon because of the butterfly tattoo on his chest, is wrongly convicted of murdering a pimp, he is being framed for the crime. He is sentenced to life imprisonment within the penal system in French Guiana. En route, he meets a fellow convict, Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), a forger and embezzler who is convinced that his wife will secure his release. Dega hires Papillon as his bodyguard, but the two eventually develop a friendship.

, 2h16
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Biography, Historical, Crime
Themes Prison films, Films about capital punishment
Actors Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Rafe Spall, Tim Blake Nelson

Après des études à l'université Harvard, Bryan Stevenson est promis à une brillante - et lucrative - carrière d'avocat. Il décide cependant de se rendre en Alabama pour défendre des personnes condamnées à tort. Il est aidé par Eva Ansley, une militante du coin. L'une de ses premières affaires est celle de Walter McMillian, condamné à mort en 1987 pour le meurtre très médiatisé d’une jeune fille de 18 ans. Bryan va être pris dans la complexité des manœuvres juridiques et politiques, tout en luttant contre des actes racistes.

, 1h39
Directed by John Carpenter
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Social science fiction, Action, Adventure, Crime
Themes Post-apocalyptic films, Prison films, Films about religion, Films set in the future, Political films, Dystopian films, Disaster films
Actors Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton

In 1988, following a 400% increase in crime, the United States Government has evacuated Manhattan and turned the island into a giant maximum-security prison in which all inmates serve a life sentence. A 50-foot (15 m) containment wall surrounds the island and routes out of Manhattan have been dismantled or mined. Armed helicopters patrol the rivers and harbor.

, 1h54
Directed by Bennett Miller
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Biography, Crime
Themes Assassinat, Films about writers, Prison films, Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, Films about capital punishment, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins, Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Mark Pellegrino, Katherine Shindle

In 1959, the four dead bodies of the Clutter family are discovered on their Kansas farm. While reading The New York Times, Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is riveted by the story and calls The New Yorker magazine editor William Shawn (Bob Balaban) to tell him that he plans to document the tragedy.

, 3h2
Directed by Michael Cimino
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War
Themes Politique, Prison films, Political films, Évasion, United States Armed Forces in films
Actors Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, Meryl Streep, George Dzundza

In Clairton, a small working-class town in western Pennsylvania, in late 1967, Russian American steel workers Michael "Mike" Vronsky (Robert De Niro), Steven Pushkov (John Savage), and Nikanor "Nick" Chebotarevich (Christopher Walken), with the support of their friends and coworkers Stan (John Cazale) and Peter "Axel" Axelrod (Chuck Aspegren) and local bar owner and friend John Welsh (George Dzundza), prepare for two rites of passage: marriage and military service.