Brute Force

In the Westgate Penitentiary, the Warden A. J. Barden (Roman Bohnen) is a weak man, and the institution is actually ruled by the ambitious and sadistic Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyon), who uses violence, fear and treachery to control the prisoners.... Full review

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD)"Brute Force" is a prison drama, directed by Jules Dassin, who was soon thereafter blacklisted in Hollywood, went abroad, made "Rififi," married Melina Mercouri, made "Never on Sunday" etc. etc. "Brute Force" dates from 1947, a moment when... Full review

One of the best prison movies ever made.Jules Dassin's direction is so strong ,so precise,so mind-boggling it packs a real wallop.Hume Cronyn gives a subdued but extremely scary portrayal of a sadistic brute.Always in a suave voice,always saying "I want... Full review

Burt Lancaster in his career made two classic prison story films, Brute Force and Birdman of Alcatraz. Both have their share of fans. Birdman though is much longer and it is solely about Lancaster and his long incarceration. In Brute... Full review

I've read recent reviews of this film that condemn it for being "outdated" or not "relevant". Um, hello? This movie is is fifty-seven years old! As such, we are treated to typical 1940s Hollywood stereotypes and acting methods, not to... Full review

For the era it was made(late 1940's),BRUTE FORCE is surprisingly brutal and vicious in places,pre-dating similar antics from James Cagney two years later in WHITE HEAT. The majority of Hollywood prison movies seem to have riots in them and this... Full review

Ok, ok, I will give away a tad bit of the ending here, but not much. This movie builds decently towards the eventual climactic ending. But wow, what an ending!Rewind and check the camera shot of Burt giving the go-ahead... Full review

Prison movies (and prison TV shows) are a genre unto themselves, and there are many genre requirements:- a good shiving- a good shanking- a machine-shop revenge-shiv-shanking (usu. w/ blow-torches)- lingering close-ups of cement- tastefully-filmed male rape (after 1970)- the insistent... Full review

BRUTE FORCE This intense, powerful drama stars Burt Lancaster as Collins, a prisoner who's got to find a way out, and Hume Cronyn as the sadistic Captain Munsey, who delights in torturing the inmates. Cronyn is masterful -- cast wonderfully... Full review

Burt Lancaster and cellmates plot a daring breakout. Okay, sounds like a thousand other prison movies, but what makes this the top of the prison genre are the elements. Watching the characters in this gem is like staring down a... Full review

But Lancaster was never really as handsome as he was intense, and it is this intensity which forms the moral core of Brute Force . Despite the unmistakably strong beginnings of his Hollywood career (after many decades spent on Broadway), producer Hellinger would make only a handful of films before his untimely death at the age of 44, just six months after the premiere of Brute Force . ... Full Review

BRUTE FORCE was brilliantly directed by Jules Dassin, who makes this film more realistic and thought provoking than almost anything else that came out of Hollywood during this period. The Roan Group has done a magnificent job transferring BRUTE FORCE to Laserdisc. ... Full Review

Brute Force carries a radical, violent message: Society is a rigged system and rebellion is the only meaningful act. The first act ends with an appalling scene in which the inmates take revenge on an informer. ... Full Review

One of the filmmakers to be openly blacklisted by the anti-Communist hoopla of the 1940s and 1950s, director Jules Dassin brought us 1947s crime drama Brute Force . The flick introduces us to some of the inhabitants of overcrowded Westgate... ... Full Article

Before he told "the eight million stories" in The Naked City (1948), his landmark film noir docudrama, Jules Dassin directed what film noir scholars Alain Silver and James Ursini call "arguably the best" of the1940s-era noir prison films: Brute Force... ... Full Article

Lucia - I agree about True Blood - it's been a long time since I watched a programme and couldn't wait for the next episode but True Blood has me hooked. ... Full Article