Prison film Prison film A prison film is a film genre concerned with prison life and often prison escape. These films range from acclaimed dramas examining the nature of prisons, such as "Cool Hand Luke", "Midnight Express", "Brubaker", "Escape from Alcatraz", "The Shawshank Redemption", and "Kiss of the Spider Woman" to actioners like "Lock Up" and "Undisputed", and even comedies satirizing the genre like "Stir Crazy", "Life", and "Let's Go To Prison". Themes repeatedly visited in the action films include escape attempts, gang activities inside the prison, guard and management cruelty, and an entire subgenre of films where the toughest prisoners are
Escape from Alcatraz (film) called it "one of the finest prison films ever made." Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, writing, "For almost all of its length, 'Escape from Alcatraz' is a taut and toughly wrought portrait of life in a prison. It is also a masterful piece of storytelling, in which the characters say little and the camera explains the action." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" awarded 3 stars out of 4, calling it "very entertaining and well made. The principal problem is a too-quick ending that catches us by surprise." Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times"