Guest-programmed by Alvin Cobb Jr.
“To fight the walls, to fight myself, to fight the door. You too, Mr. Blanchet, should fight and hope." — Lieutenant Fontaine, A Man Escaped (1956)
A high-stakes subgenre centered around meticulous preparation and courageous execution, the prison escape film taps into themes of resilience, freedom, and the triumph of the spirit against insurmountable odds. Whether it’s Paul Newman’s timeless character study in COOL HAND LUKE, the comedic genius of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder in Sidney Poitier’s STIR CRAZY, the Coen Brothers’ American roots music-filled O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? – all these films bring us somewhere close to hope in the face of the brutality and hypocrisy of an unjust legal system.
Coming up in this Series
Black Mama White Mama
Opens April 24
Lee Daniels (Pam Grier) is a black girl busted for prostitution. Karen Brent (Margaret Markov) is a white girl arrested for her involvement with a loc... Read more
Cool Hand Luke
Opens April 11
"Natural-born world-shaker" Luke Jackson (Paul Newman, in the first of four collaborations with director Stuart Rosenberg) joins the barracks of a Sou... Read more
Escape From Alcatraz
Opens April 28
“We don’t make good citizens, but we make good prisoners.” Based on the unbelievable true story of the 1962 escape of three men from the maximum secur... Read more
Escape from New York
Opens April 10
This bravura sci-fi actioner remains wildly enjoyable and beloved 45 years after its initial release. Set in a far-off dystopian future of 1997 where... Read more
Holes
Opens April 19
“HOLES jumps the rails, leaves all expectations behind, and tells a story that’s not funny ha-ha but funny peculiar.” - Roger EbertBased on Louis Sach... Read more
A Man Escaped
Opens April 24
With the simplest of concepts and sparest of techniques, Robert Bresson made one of the most suspenseful jailbreak films of all time in A Man Escaped.... Read more
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
Opens April 17
The greatest gore-soaked Hong Kong prison breakout love story of 1991—and STILL the Category III (HK’s equivalent to “NC-17”) mug melter that tops all... Read more
Stir Crazy
Opens April 12
"With Gene Wilder, it was no problem. We fell in love instantly." - Richard PryorWhen a case of mistaken identities lands two friends with big ambitio... Read more