Prison Break - Season Two

Description

After escaping from prison, Lincoln Burrows & Michael Scofield are on the run with one goal in mind â?" clear Lincolnâ??s name and uncover the hidden $5 million.

Customer Reviews:

Big Drop-Off from Season One.......2007-09-16

The plots lines develop too quickly in this season and the slowly building suspense from season one is gone by the end of season two. The timing of the different stories is too ridiculous to track. I suspend my belief of reality quite a bit for shows like these but this season of Prison Break asked too much of me.

With that said, it remains one of the better shows on television, thanks to the superb acting and character development -- particularly T-bag and Michael. I hope this season is simply a blip in a longer running great series. I hope.

Awesome, pure adrenaline rush from start to finish!!.......2007-09-16

Just simply awesome season, watch it, rent it, buy it, it's worth every penny, better than season 1, can't wait for the third season!!!

Too Little Too Late.......2007-09-12

Ok, someone tell my why it took a year to get this thing on dvd. The third season is over and those of us (including me) who missed the first part of the 2nd season were looking forward to getting this dvd set to patch together the transition from the Big Break to Season 3.

It disappoints. The sophomore slump is at work bigtime. Season 3 had something going for it. Season 2 is filled with lame happenstance, chewing up the time until the writers could figure out where they wanted to take the Brothers Grimm. Michael's in-prison confidence, successful risk-taking and strategic thinking is not working so well on the outside. Someone (Mahone) finally figures out that the wall-to-wall tatoo on Mike might have some meaning and just happens to find the tatoo parlor which did the handiwork, which just happened to take photos of all the tatoos (why would Mike let them do that?) So there's the story line for the beginning of this season, Mahone following along with the tattoos and trying to decipher their meaning. I watched the first 2 episodes of season 2, skipped ahead to episodes 5 and 6, and had to stop. This is so lame. And late. Late and lame. If it weren't so late, like months after season 3 concluded, it would have been a useful bridge in the story line.

Someone convince me that I'm wrong. I would like to be wrong. Seasons 1 and 3 were so good.

An amazing ride! .......2007-09-11

Being a new fan, I just discovered this show about 2 months ago. I watched season 1 in a week and could not wait for season 2 to be released. I tried to ration the episodes, but it had me repeatedly saying "just one more before I sleep!" LOVED IT! Every bit as good as the 1st season - fun, exciting, and extremely addicting... The story sucks you in!

As good as the best seasons of '24'........2007-09-10

It probably isn't surprising that the Fox Broadcast Network has yet again come up with a great serial action drama that beats the pants off most of everything else on TV now.

'Prison Break' has probably got the best writing staff the industry has, next to '24' and a few other notable shows. Each episode has a cliff-hanger ending, and every commercial break is a cliff-hanger in of itself. So it just keeps you wanting to come back for more.

Season 2 moves the production crew from Chicagoland to Dallas, TX. The crew was able to use the greater Dallas area to double as every setting that they needed. Although IMO, it didn't pass for Utah very well. But for the most part, it did very well. They even converted a urban area of Dallas to look like Panama City.

I didn't get into this show until I saw the first season on DVD, but it immediately hooked me and I watched most of the second season on air, until the feds pulled the plug on DISH Network's distant network feeds last December (I used to catch the West Coast feed). So I missed the last 9 episodes of Season 2. But anyway, I loved how they wrapped up the conspiracy from Season 1. So that they can more or less start over with a new story in Season 3.

I will admit though, that like Michael Scofield in the series, I too have fallen in love with Sara Tancredi. I just feel her pain in the story lines.

Average customer rating:

Love it
Cool
An Addictive Series
One of the best!
Nail biting Television Adventure!

Prison Break - Season One
Starring: Prison Break
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000FKO3GW
Release Date: 2006-08-08

Amazon.com

Season one of Prison Break is great television. Here's the set-up. Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) is framed and wrongfully convicted for assassinating the Vice President's brother. Lincoln's brother Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), who just happens to have designed Illinois' Fox River Penitentiary where Lincoln is on death row, hatches an elaborate escape plan. Michael's plan involves getting himself incarcerated in Fox River and smuggling the prison's blueprints by having them hidden in tattoos that cover his entire torso. Once inside, Michael must form alliances with a rogue's gallery of felons with their own sometimes unsavory motives. Meanwhile, on the outside, Lincoln's lawyer and one-time girlfriend Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney), pursued by Secret Service agents, attempts to unravel the conspiracy that sent her man to the slammer.

Prison Break is anchored by tight, suspenseful writing clearly relished by the largely little-known cast. Standouts include Robert Knepper as the murderer/pedophile T-Bag, who somehow makes such a despicable character likeable. Stacey Keach of Mike Hammer fame plays the warden-with-a-heart-of-gold, who clashes with Captain Brad Bellick (Wade Williams) over whether to rehabilitate the inmates or makes their lives more miserable. Peter Stormare, famous for his skills with a wood chipper in Fargo, turns in a deliciously menacing performance as mob boss John Abruzzi, while Amaury Nolasco's winsome Fernando Sucre shares a cell and secrets with Miller's Scofield. Watching the show one gets a sense that this is the opening salvo of Wentworth Miller's career, which will doubtless include roles as assassins, detectives, super heroes, and perhaps the champion of staring contests. Midway through the season it's explained that Scofield is a genius with an heightened sensitivity to other peoples' suffering, which sums up what makes the show so great--the mind-bendingly intricate plot is a framework for moments when people make others suffer and cope with the burden of their own suffering.

The six-disc set includes 22 addictive episodes, audio commentary on selected episodes, three featurettes, and alternate and deleted scenes. As with most TV shows on DVD, the "previously on Prison Break" intros can get tiresome, but that's what the fast forward button is for. --Ryan Boudinot

Break Out of Prison

Interviews With the Cast of Prison Break
The Big House: Movies About Prison Life
TV That'll Confuse You If You Don't Watch Every Episode

Description

Fox's Breakout Hit of the 2005-2006 Season!

Most men would do anything to get out of Fox River Penitentiary, but Michael Scofield will do anything to get in. His brother Lincoln has been sentenced to die for a crime he did not commit, and the only way to save him is from the inside out. Armed with prison blueprints and an impossibly intricate escape plan, Michael gets himself incarcerated, and the race against time is on. Now, he'll need all of the cunning, daring, and luck he can muster…along with the assistance of some of the prison's most vile and dangerous felons.

Customer Reviews:

Love it.......2007-09-17

I bought this on a total whim and ended up loving it! It's exciting and interesting and it doesn't hurt that the main character is really hot!

Cool.......2007-09-16

I very much enjoyed the first season and I am looking forward to watching the second one.

An Addictive Series.......2007-09-11

I am neither a TV person nor a drama person. But the unique qualities of Prison Break have captivated me like a kind of irresistable drug. The story is well-written, the actings are superb.

I find Prison Break as a prism which speculates the duality of human beings. Good ones can be bad and bad ones can be good, well, at least sometimes. And of course, Wentworth Miller is a fantastic actor who suits the role perfectly. I would highly recommend Prison Break to anyone who are still intellectually active and morally aware of the injustice which happens in this society. 5+ stars.

One of the best!.......2007-09-04

This has to be one of the best television series of all time. The acting and writing is outstanding. The action scenes are filmed very well and the puzzle that the writers try to have you piece together is exciting.

A must see for any action junkie or the viewer that loves great acting and writing.

Nail biting Television Adventure!.......2007-09-03

Part adventure, part soap opera, Season One of PRISON BREAK is a riveting ride! Handsomely produced and perfectly cast, every episode is a collection of cunningly crafted cliffhangers sure to keep you rapt. Earnest protagonist Wentworth Miller is supported by a great ensemble and the series itself is a creative spin on episodic adventure.

The special features are a nice bonus, but the great thing about having the entire season in one DVD collection is being able to watch for as long as you can without interruption.

First rate all the way.

Average customer rating:

a fine movie
Brute Force
Brute Force
WE ARE ALL TRAPPED!
Uncompromisingly Brutal, Pessimistic, and Affecting.

Brute Force (Criterion Collection)
Starring: Burt Lancaster , Hume Cronyn , Charles Bickford , Yvonne De Carlo , and Ann Blyth
Director: Jules Dassin
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000MTEFOQ
Release Date: 2007-04-17

Amazon.com

Jules Dassin's brooding, brutal drama about a prison wound to the breaking point by a sadistic captain of the guards is a classic film noir as well as one of the greatest prison films ever made. Burt Lancaster (in only his third film but already commanding the screen like a pro) is the savvy prison veteran whose clashes with Hume Cronyn (the ambitious guard with a god complex) land him first in solitary then in the claustrophobic drain pipe, a muddy, airless work detail that slowly kills every man assigned to it. With the help of his cellmate buddies and former gangland boss Charles Bickford he hatches a plan to break out, but Cronyn has his own plans for the unbreakable prisoner. Dassin's oppressive prison is thick with atmosphere: cavernous buildings and halls that echo with the footsteps of inmates and the clanking of bars, overcrowded cells that seem to close in on the men, a busy machine shop where the film's most memorable scene takes place--the ruthless assassination of a stoolie in a pounding metal press. Cinematographer William Daniels, a master of Hollywood's soft-focus glamour, creates a harsh, hard-edged look for the film, softened only by looming shadows. A sense of doom hovers over everything, culminating in an explosive finale, but the barbaric, brutish violence hangs in the air long after the film is over. --Sean Axmaker

On the DVD
Criterion's beautiful restored print of Brute Force is accompanied by a small collection of supporting materials, including a commentary track by longtime film noir experts Alain Silver and James Ursini. They give a good brief on the film's history, such as the disagreements between producer Mark Hellinger and director Jules Dassin on the subject of the movie's use of flashbacks--an approach that would break the claustrophobia of the prison sequences and introduce female characters. Hellinger wanted the backstory, Dassin objected, and the producer won; but the point is definitely arguable. Prison-movie specialist Paul Mason gives a useful 15-minute talk, partly on Brute Force and partly on the genre of prison movies. Criterion's booklet has an excellent essay by critic Michael Atkinson, a vintage 1947 profile of the colorful columnist-turned-producer Hellinger, and an intriguing, bitter exchange of letters between Hellinger and Production Code chief Joseph Breen on the subject of the film's censorship problems. --Robert Horton

Description

As hard-hitting as its title, Brute Force was the first of Jules Dassin's forays into the crime genre, a prison melodrama that takes a critical look at American society as well. Burt Lancaster is the timeworn Joe Collins, who, along with his fellow inmates, lives under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey (a riveting Hume Cronyn). Only Collins's dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains? Matter-of-fact and ferocious, Brute Force builds to an explosive climax that shows that man's desperation for freedom knows no bounds.

Customer Reviews:

a fine movie.......2007-07-20

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

Brute Force is about a group of people attempting to escape from a prison. The prison has a particularly sadistic guard who beats the prisoners savagely. The film also has a prison riot in it which is somewhat intense.

The special features are audio commentary by Alain Silver and James Ursini, an interview with Paul Mason, author of a book on the depiction of prison life in popular culture, a trailer and a photo gallery.

This was an exciting film and is sure to please.

Brute Force.......2007-06-21

Made just prior to "Naked City," Dassin's gritty prison melodrama puts a twist on the archetypal bust-out scheme by revisiting, in flashback, the pre-penitentiary lives of Collins--ably played by an intense young Lancaster--and his crew, colorfully brought to life by character actors Whit Bissell, Howard Duff, and John Hoyt. In a fine performance, Charles Bickford appears as the prison's gruff de facto leader and newspaper editor who throws in his lot with Collins. The other ace in Dassin's deck is Cronyn, playing a corrupt, savage prison guard bent on bringing "discipline" to his inmates, while nursing a megalomaniacal ambition to replace the wimpy Warden. Aside from the ominous noir visuals, Dassin explores issues endemic to prison life and wraps them up in an ugly finale meant to evoke a Nazi bloodbath.

Brute Force.......2007-05-12

Excellent movie! Unlike today's movies with lots of special effects and very little story developement with dialogue, this movie is the opposite.
A must-see for all Burt Lancaster fans.

WE ARE ALL TRAPPED!.......2006-04-08

"BRUTE FORCE", ever since I first saw it on TV forty years ago,has been one of my favorite films.Directed with great vigor by Julues Dassin,it tells the story of "the men on the inside",and "the women on the outside.Burt Lancaster,Jeff Corey,Howard Duff,and John Hoyt,are some of the men "on the inside",Ann Blyth,Ella Raines,Anita Colby,and Yvonne DeCarlo are the woman on" the outside".Hume Cronyn gives a masterfull performance as the sadistic,fascist Caption of the guards.All the male characters, which also includes Charles Bickford,Sam Levine,and Roman Bohnen (as Warden Barnes) are oustanding,the women less so.This is not an easy DVD to get,so I wish someone maybe Universal,the original releasing company,would come out with a full-length commetary,with a special emphasis ,on the political repercussions that were felt by many members of the cast and crew of this and other left-leaning films.The films message is definitily anti-capitalist.The film rates 5 Stars,the DVD,with no special features rates a 3 and half Star rating.

Uncompromisingly Brutal, Pessimistic, and Affecting........2005-06-30

"Brute Force" is one of the most violent film noirs of the classic era, as well as one of the most pessimistic -and this is after some violence was removed to comply with the Production Code. The story takes place within the confines of Westgate Penitentiary, an overcrowded prison whose deficient living conditions and sadistic guards make the inmates' lives nearly unbearable. Prison life is no less than a war between the inmates and guard Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn), who routinely uses blackmail and torture to control the prisoners. When the warden revokes all the inmates' privileges in response to the deaths of two men, inmate Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) hatches a violent and risky escape plan with his cellmates and a senior, well-respected prisoner named Gallagher (Charles Bickford).

Director Jules Dessin doesn't let a glimmer of hope into this film. The violence is brutal and wholly without sentiment or regret. The utter hopelessness of the situation in the prison is overwhelming. Brute force is the only means in Westgate Penitentiary. The standout performance is by Hume Cronyn as the Nazi-inspired Captain Munsey, an unabashed sadist who uses social Darwinism to rationalize absolute dominance of the prisoners, who are, after all, behind bars, not free to challenge him. The prison doctor, a disgraced surgeon named Walters (Art Smith), numbs himself with alcohol and articulates the film's themes. "Do you know what this prison is?" he says. "One big human bomb!"

The film is a little too long, and the flashback scenes of wives and girlfriends are superfluous. This is perhaps the most blatantly existential film noir. It takes the position of Sartrean philosophy, articulated by Dr. Walters, which is juxtaposed with Nietzschean philosophy, articulated by Capt. Munsey. I'm not normally captivated by either of these schools of thought, but "Brute Force" kept me interested for the duration of the film. It is a brutal, beautiful film with sharp dialogue, solid character writing, and great attention to detail.

The DVD (Image Entertainment 1999): This is a good print of the film with no obvious image or sound problems. Bonus features include filmographies of director Jules Dessin, writer Richard Brooks, and 3 of the film's stars. (Choose "Filmographies", then "next" to see them.) The "Stills and Pressbook Gallery" (4 minutes) is a slideshow, with accompanying them music by Miklos Rozsa, of production stills, posters, and advertisements for the film.

Average customer rating:

Thieving boy
neglected masterpiece

The Criminal
Starring: Stanley Baker , Sam Wanamaker , Grégoire Aslan , Margit Saad , and Jill Bennett
Director: Joseph Losey
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
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ASIN: B00006LPCD
Release Date: 2002-12-03

Description

The Hard-Boiled Crime Classic From The Director Of THE SERVANT And THE GO-BETWEEN. Stanley Baker (HELL IS A CITY, ZULU) stars as underworld kingpin Johnny Bannion, sprung from prison by his best friend Mike Carter (Sam Wanamaker) to mastermind a daring racetrack heist. But when Johnny is sent back to jail shortly after hiding the stolen loot, he must survive an ordeal of brutality and betrayal at the hands of his fellow convicts and former accomplices in this gritty drama that was originally advertised as "The Toughest Film Ever Made In Britain!"

Patrick Magee (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) co-stars in this grim crime classic (also known as THE CONCRETE JUNGLE) directed by American expatriate Joseph Losey from a powerful script by Jimmy Sangster (FEAR IN THE NIGHT) and Oscar TM -nominee Alun Owen (A HARD DAY'S NIGHT), and featuring a haunting score by John Dankworth and Cleo Laine.

Customer Reviews:

Thieving boy.......2005-11-14

The Criminal (aka The Concrete Jungle) is, for my money at least, one of Joseph Losey's two best films (the other being King and Country), but it never really garnered the kind of success or reputation it deserved, possibly because it had the misfortune to open on the same day as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, which completely overshadowed it. Billed as `the most violent film ever made in Britain,' even 45 years on it's still vicious stuff. Indeed, in the entire cast of characters that populate Alun Owen's excellent and unsentimental screenplay - irredeemable crooks, vicious prison warders, prison governors who don't really want to know, amoral molls and assorted perverts and thugs - the only two people in the entire film who aren't totally corrupt are Laurence Naismith's arresting officer (who is still not above letting on about his informants) and the piano tuner who appears in one brief scene. The plot is a simple enough variation on Touchez Pas au Grisbi, with Stanley Baker's con pulling off a big job and immediately being ratted out by one of his partners who wants a bigger share, but the stark execution and background is what carries it. Certainly its vision of the British prison system as a Hellish melting pot of refuse of all persuasions - Irish, Australian, Italians, West Indians, the mentally disturbed - where the guards don't only turn a blind eye to vicious beatings but even facilitate them is a kick in the groin to the more sedate cop movies of the day.

It's also full of memorable little moments, from the prison weasel spreading the news of an informant's return inbetween lines of Knick Knack Paddywhack to Kenneth J. Warren's inability to say anything without incorporating the word `loike.' Robert Krasker's black and white cinematography has more bite to it than most of its contemporaries, from the hard stark edges of the prison scenes to the bleak half-snowscape of the haunting final shots, while Johnny Dankworth's score makes great use of Cleo Laine's mournful prison balled ("All my loving, all my joy/Came from loving a thieving boy"]). The supporting cast is impressive, offering a virtual who's who of perfectly cast 60s British character actors, including many faces that would later memorably turn up among the ranks in Baker's Zulu). Unlike the wave of British gangster flicks to litter the straight-to-video shelves post-Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, this feels like the real thing rather than a bunch of nicely brought up middle class kids playing dress-up. For some curious reason Anchor Bay's otherwise excellent transfer omits the end credits, played over a melancholy shot of prisoners walking in circles in a stark and wintery exercise yard.

neglected masterpiece.......2003-09-22

This film has seemingly been forgotten, it's not usually mentioned in the pantheon of 'great' british gangster films or even the best work of it's director.

often called a 'realistic' film it's more an expressionist handling (minus the shadowy lighting of hollywood film noirs) of typical material, this makes it a bit of a shock on first viewing and might explain why it isn't as highly regarded as it ought to be. It's setting is a cold, snowy winter in london, there is no night time neon city lighting, the action outside prison takes place almost entirely during the day or indoors when darkness falls. It is also a quiet film (except of course when the violence and the screaming erupt), that added to the setting and the stark photography create a very a alien world in which the central character just doesn't belong.

Johnny Bannion (Stanley Baker) reminds me of Pacino's Tony Montana in 'Scarface' (however unlike pacino in that film Baker's stature isn't symbolic of his impotent rage given his heavy build and large frame), he's an irish hoodlum who has risen fairly high but doesn't have what it takes to get to the very top. In Tony's case he isn't ruthless enough and is guarenteed to fall as quickly as he rose due to his own weaknesses. Likewise Bannion is guarenteed to fall, he's a hard nut capable of taking anyone on but he just doesn't belong with the morons and treacherous schemers in his line of work. His appartment is decorated with modern art, it's implied he has a gift for maths and he doesn't really seem at home at a party his fellow mobsters throw for him. He's impatient with everyone, when he erupts in anger it is tinged with petulant sorrow (Baker's thuggish profile and stoic hardness belies a feral, anxious, wounded yet restrained performance), so much so that it arouses contempt in his gangster friends who comment behind his back. When he rebukes Sam Wannamaker's character repeatedly he seems a frustrated child, frustrated at both the life he leads and having to associate and rely on characters such as this. He is totally unaware that wannamaker's sly smile and constant glances betray a man itching to usurp him. And like in Scarface, where Montana can never be his boss Sosa, Bannion just isn't as ruthless as his underlings or his superiors, they're big time, he's small time. His being able to beat two men senseless in his prison cell is nothing compared to the cold hearted deviousness and ambition of his lieutenant who does not have his strength or capacity for physical violence. Both Tony and Johnny possess a dubious sense of honour that those around them do not, in both films there is no honour among thieves and they fail to grasp and adhere to that. Neither of them can accept the system around them. In Tony's case he's endlessly railing against capitalism, in Bannion's he is unable to hide his dismay and anger at the actions of the selfish, corrupt, manipulative and sadistic head warder, something i can't imagine would ever bother the other crime bosses in the film. But then the warder would never dream of moving against them because he can tell the difference between those with real power and those without, even if they are at similar levels in the hierarchy

In 'The Criminal' all this is subtlely conveyed despite and because of what would seem outlandish and anachronistic direction for a crime drama made in the second half of the 1960s.
Losey's way of impressing this man's alienation on us are brilliant, the film has a dreamy quality due to the snowy landscapes and the way he incorporates almost expressionist techniques and performances in his film without it destroying it's hard nosed feel. The insane scottish inmate played by Tom Bell has a tortured monologue where the the prison around him goes black and in close up he explains why he is different to those around him. The camera pulls back and light returns to reveal that Bannion, to whom he is supposedly talking is not listening.

When Bannion falls he falls hard, the cell block he commands turn against him having been fooled into thinking he is an informer (although this is also a part of bannion's scheme to escape and unfortunately his 'friends' scheme to kill him). The grass/snitch/tout he has beaten by a crony in the opening of the film even gets to turn the tables on him. The prison sections at the beginning and end seem to me a forerunner of Alan Clarke's 'Scum'. Patrick Magee (in a non horror role for once) is very much a hysterical yet melifuous 60s predecessor of the warders in that film.

A word must go to the music, that adds to the chilly wintry feeling, so quiet a film that when the light jazzy score by John Dankworth plays seemingly inappropriately it adds to the overall effect. The prison ballad sung by Cleo Laine over the title credits is haunting, never has a song seemed so apt at the start of a film. It is a promise of a unique experience, a promise that the film then makes good, i can't quite think of another like it. Losey's greatest achievement on screen, so different to the hollow, stylistically flat and totally stereotypical English rubbish he is perhaps best known for (although his curio for Hammer studios 'These are the Damned' is excellent too, if uneven). It goes beyond the smart little film noirs he made in Hollywood like 'the Prowler'.

'Get Carter' and 'The Long Good Friday' seem to be the benchmark of British organised crime movies these days, a major difference between them and 'the Criminal' is that it is a great film. It's different, but it rewards in bleakness, nuance and brutality.

Amazon.com

Peter Cattaneo's Lucky Break is a likable comedy that suffered by being compared with his earlier hit The Full Monty, but is attractive enough in its own right. Charming, incompetent bank robber Jimmy Hands (James Nesbitt), five years into a 12-year sentence, puts together an escape plan that exploits the desire of the stage-struck prison governor (Christopher Plummer) to see his musical about the life of Nelson performed. The plan gets ever more complicated as he finds himself wanting to wreck the career of a bullying prison officer, trying to outwit an unpleasant thug who wants to supplant his original accomplices, and weighing the idea of escape at all against his growing relationship with anger-management trainer Annabel (Olivia Williams).

This is an intelligent caper film with some underlying serious tones. Jimmy slowly comes to realize that crime involves mixing with some unpleasant people. The backstage musical stuff--with its wonderfully fatuous ex-Cambridge director and a score just the right side of dreadful--is hilarious, and the plot's convoluted central scam is efficient as it plays out. If there is an overall failure, it comes from the clash between the film's farcical elements and the bittersweet quality of its central relationship, as well as Timothy Spall's portrayal of the victimized Cliff. --Roz Kaveney

Customer Reviews:

Surprisingly awful.......2007-06-19

After passing on The Full Monty in favour of Brassed Off, the now all-but defunct Film Four were quick to throw money at Peter Cattaneo's next comedy and confidently launched a huge marketing campaign for Lucky Break secure in the knowledge that they had the big local hit of the year. Subsequent excuses for the film's disastrous performance at the box-office varied from good weather putting people off going to the cinema to the revelation that the screenwriter had done time for IRA offences (subsequently overturned, but still about as endearing to the British public as Al Qaeda are to Americans). For some reason no-one mentioned the fact that it's not any good. At all.

A grab-bag of second-hand ideas from Two-Way Stretch, The Tall Guy and others, it's a laugh-free zone that goes out of its way to avoid surprises while failing to ever find its own tone, nodding to half-baked attempts realism and wildly underdeveloped comedy without ever committing to either. Even the tried-and-trusted routines don't work here: Bill Nighy is just irritating as he tries to splutter some life into unfunny dialogue while Timothy Spall does his dishevelled hamster shtick yet again, while the amateur musical used as a backdrop for the planned prison break seems simply amateurish and unfunny. Quite dreadful.

Under-rated entertainment........2003-11-27

We never heard of this movie, but the cover looked interesting at the video rental store. We were not disappointed. It was funny and entertaining throughout. Being big fans of community theatre, it reminded us of "Waiting for Guffman," another movie we can recommend that didn't get enough attention.

Lots to like.......2003-08-20

I watched this because I watch anything Timothy Spall does. He has a smaller part, but is brilliant, again. Yet everyone else does a fine job a well. Frank harper demonstrates he can play the gamut, as a vicious thug whose look stops clocks. Olivia Williams gradually and reluctantly falls in love, and does so beleivably and tenderly.

There are no caricatures in here, none of the cartoons that people American prison stories. Losers, bad people, and crooks are in prison, and most belong there. But they can change, can grow and can do better.

Amazon.com

McKenzie is a remote, understaffed POW camp in Scotland, where an assortment of German fliers, U-boat men, and soldiers are being held prisoner. The restive POWs stage a well-orchestrated uprising in which they essentially take over the camp. When word of the prisoners' siege gets back to British military higher-ups, they assign rogue Irish officer Captain Connor (Brian Keith) to get to the bottom of things. The Germans have been receiving orders directly from Berlin that call for 28 of the submariners to escape and return to the Deutschland's U-boat fleet. The Germans are led by Schlütter (Helmut Griem), an intelligent, articulate graduate of the Hitler Youth; they have devised an elaborate tunnel and a plot to take them to the Scottish coast, where they will rendezvous with a U-boat to take them back to Germany. The hard-drinking Connor learns of the plan, and stakes his career on letting the Germans escape and tracking them down. Keith is excellent as Connor (though his Irish brogue comes and goes), locked into a three-way battle of wills with the determined Schlütter and the stuffy, by-the-book CO of the camp. The movie's pace and suspense swell as Connor's gambit plays out and the Germans make good their escape plans, all set against the breathtaking scenery of rural Scotland. With intelligent, believable characters and tough direction, this is a sorely neglected World War II POW drama that compares well with better-known films such as Stalag 17 and The Great Escape. --Jerry Renshaw

Description

Brian Keith leads an acclaimed international cast in this poignant and powerful WW II drama fraughtwith action, suspense and the haunting reality of war. Keith stars as Captain Jack Connor,a fast-talking, hard-drinking, tough-as-nails Irishman assigned to investigate an impending escape by a group of German POWs led by the charismatic Kapitan Schleutter (Helmut Griem). The camp commander (Ian Hendry) has been unable to contain the prisoners, but Connor's brash and unusual approach solves the problem...for a while. In a race against timeand with growing animosity from the commanderConnor surpasses even his own previous unorthodox methods when he devises a scheme so daring that it will either make him a hero or prove to be the most fatal mistake of his career.

Customer Reviews:

'The Mckenzie Break' [1970] DVD is dynamic and well paced..........2006-06-17

'The Mckenzie Break' [1970] DVD is dynamic and well paced, and has been digitally transferred in remarkably good condition. Another alternative film in the in the genre of 'The Mckenzie Break,' 'Stalag 17,' 'The Great Escape,' Hart's War,' `Andersonville,' `Empire of the Sun,' `Prisoners of the Sun,' `The Bridge on the River Kwai,' `King Rat,' etc., is 'The Good War' [2004] DVD. Although 'The Good War,' starring Robert Farrior, Roy Scheider & Luca Zingaretti, among others, and written and directed by Giorgio Serafini, pales in comparison, it offers another view of an Axis POW camp in the US [Texas]. Shot in Bulgaria and Utah, 'The Good War' likely will not win the hearts/minds of lovers of the genre; however, based on a true story, it provides an alternatively engaging, if not interesting, perspective that has been somewhat overlooked. Recommended for only the diehard fans of the POW genre and the curious WWII genre viewer.

Battle of wits in classic POW drama - recommended.......2006-05-10

Right from the start you know that THE McKENZIE BREAK will not be like any other POW movie. We see British troops guarding the camp for German POW's. And in the opening minutes the tension is firmly established with the British attempting to shackle 25 officers of the Reich in retaliation for a similar action by Germany - an effort the Germans refuse to cooperate with. It's a clever device and sets the tone perfectly for what director Lamont Johnson sought to do in not glamorizing war "as a game."
Variety described the movie as "a taut, classically crafted World War II POW escape drama," but in fact the movie, which is based on a book by Sidney Shelley, is unlike every other POW movie I can think of in one key respect. From earlier films such as THE COLDITZ STORY through to THE GREAT ESCAPE right up to HART'S WAR, POW drama's have centered on a likeable group of Allied prisoners attempting to escape.
Here the audience sympathies are reversed. The German prisoners are not particularly likeable, even going out of their way to kill one of their own, and in the closing minutes as the net closes around the fleeing escapees the audience hopes that the Allies will catch them in time. It has shades of the drama THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, except in that movie the German is a likeable character and the audience sympathies do swing back and forward between him and his pursuers.
This movie is more focused on the battle of wits between Capt. Jack Connor (the always likeable Brian Keith in a role far removed from perhaps his most famous role in the original THE PARENT TRAP) and Kapitan Schleutter (Helmut Griem.)
After the camp commander (Ian Hendry) has been unable to contain the prisoners, the no-nonsense and brash Connor is brought in and becomes a race against time to prevent the mass escape of prisoners, who have a date with a U-boat off the Scottish coast.
Indeed this movie is as much about the battle between these two men as it is about the drama of escaping POW's. The climax may feature a torpedo boat and Allied plane facing off against a U-boat. But, it is the dramatic climax between Connor and Schleutter that brings the movie to a close.
So, perhaps it's not surprising that Variety also praised the movie as "intelligent" with "strong three dimensiona; portrayals." Nor should it be surprising that I find this as riveting and as exciting as any of the other POW movies that are featured in my DVD collection.
The DVD release includes a "collectible booklet" which is more akin to a flyer, being as it is just a page and a half of text. The full-frame trailer that accompanies the DVD is also of appalling quality with niches and scratches all over the dirty print that has washed out colors and an audio track that does not seem to fit with the visuals.
I recommend this movie for the discerning World War II movie fan.

Great Movie, but who wrote Amazon's plot synopsis??????.......2006-01-05

A very good and entertaining action movie, with a bit of a twist in that it is taken from a different point of view with German POWS in a British camp. Recommended.

Who though wrote the synopsis for Amazon?? The camp is in Scotland, not "Northern England". Even southern Scotland is north of "Northern England". Also what is a "U-Boat Commander Kreigsmarine Captain"? It's actually spelled Kriegsmarine and translates to "Navy" in English. So we have (with misspellings) a "U-Boat Commander Navy Captain". A bit redundant no?

Recommendations: to those interested in a good rainy Saturday entertainment, buy this DVD; to the person who wrote this synopsis I suggest you buy a map of Britain and a German to English Dictionary.

McKenzie Break.......2005-07-01

There's a riot going on in Scotland during the waning years of World War II. The German prisoners in an Allied POW camp are laying siege to the compound and the War Office is getting a little frustrated and more than a little worried. To investigate and quell the situation they decide to send the hard-living, hard-loving, rule-breaking Irish Captain Jack Connor to the scene.
Brian Keith plays Connor in this odd POW drama that more or less turns the genre on its head. The inmates, led by U-boat commander Kapitänleutnant Willi Schlüter (Helmut Griem), are clearly in charge of the situation (darn those Geneva Convention rules!) and the Brits are a whisker away from having a Major Situation on their hands.
Enter Jack Connor, a man not only with a plan but enough insight to perhaps do more for the war effort than bring order and discipline to an isolated prison camp. You see, this is a POW movie, so there are tunnels being dug and breaks being plotted. And there's a big, iron fish to land at the end of that break. If only....
I'm a big fan of Brian Keith and, having watched and loved the first season dvd-set of `Have Gun, Will Travel,' most episodes of which were directed by Lamont Johnson, I was pretty excited about THE MCKENZIE BREAK. Keith is fine in this - as is Griem as his major nemesis, I hasten to add - and Johnson ably handles the action. I wanted to love a movie that turns a genre inside-out, but I ended up only liking it. I thought it something a little more than improbable that the Allies would be so delicate about Geneva Convention rules that they would so lose control of a prison camp. That was the big improbability hurdle I had to overcome, although this movie is studded with them. Add to that a rather ambiguous and inconclusive ending and I can't help feeling disappointed. Considering the talent involved, this one should have soared. As it is, THE MCKENZIE BREAK is a solid, albeit unspectacular, movie.

A solid war movie with an unusual twist!.......2004-02-02

This is one of my favorite war movies, although it certainly never got the acclaim that many bigger-budget films have received. "The McKenzie Break" is the story of a remote British-run POW camp for German Kriegsmariners and Luftwaffe officers in Scotland. The Germans are of course planning an escape, led by the ruthless Captain Schlutter, (a U-Boat Captain determined to get his trained men "back into the war") competently played by Helmut Griem. Brian Keith plays the British intelligence officer given a special assignment to deal with the situation at Camp McKenzie.

Of course, the notion of German POWs plotting to escape an Allied POW camp puts a unique twist on the usual POW theme, and in my opinion it works well in this film. The storyline moves along briskly and holds the viewer's interest. Bravo performances by Brian Keith and Helmut Griem carry the movie, and I felt that the cinematography and the on-location filming gave the film an excellent aura of authenticity. All in all there is a great deal about this film to like.

Product Description

Chow Yun Fat: On Fire Trilogy DTS Digitally Remastered (3 DVD Box Set / Region-3).

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Alpha-- Beta
New Convict Faces Prison Life.

Mutiny in the Big House
Starring: Charles Bickford , Barton MacLane , Pat Moriarity , Dennis Moore , and William Royle
Director: William Nigh
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

ASIN: B00022LJ6U
Release Date: 2004-06-22

Customer Reviews:

Alpha-- Beta.......2007-05-27

Superb quick service always from Johnny!! Alpha slightly dropped the ball on this one by using either a VHS or a duped master print-- oh well, better than nothing for we prison movie afficionados!!

New Convict Faces Prison Life........2005-10-26

Ostensibly based upon journalist Martin Mooney's own experience while in jail, this crisply directed work from a fictional story by Mooney is a tribute for Father Patrick O'Neil of the Order Of St. Benedict, because of his heroic efforts to quell a deadly prison riot before it could worsen (after 12 fatalities), at Canon City, Colorado in October of 1929, for which O'Neil was awarded the Carnegie Medal For Heroism. Young Johnny Gates (Dennis Moore) is assigned to a state penitentiary to serve a stretch of one to fourteen years to atone for forging a ten dollar check meant to assist his indigent mother, and he naturally is bitter and also susceptible to the plotting of his cellmate Red Manson (Barton Maclane) who is organizing a widespread escape attempt. The prison chaplain, Father Joe (Charles Bickford) tries to cultivate a friendship with Johnny, the priest believing that he can help the youth in adjusting to his new surroundings, but Gates is immune to the clergyman's cordiality and, although he accepts a job, through Father Joe's influence, in the prison library he does so due to the urging of Red who intends to use marked passages in library books as code among the conspiring inmates. In several scenes during which Father Joe berates the penal institution system and parole board for their inflexibility when dealing with convicts, some of his arguments are quite strongly advanced. As the breakout try nears, the largely cardboard characters that populate the unabashedly sentimental scenario are placed in expectedly hackneyed circumstances, although the briskly moving affair wins over a viewer because of the general mood of sincerity that is expressed from the screenplay. Bickford is very effective with his playing as Father Joe, granitic as ever and displaying perfect timing, while Dennis Moore, who seldom gains a featured role during his career, contributes a strongly focussed and consistent turn as sullen Johnny Gates. Commendably released upon DVD by Alpha Video with indifferent but acceptable quality, remastering would be helpful to those desirous of adding to their personal collections what is one of the more effective films produced for the Men In Prison genre, so popular during the Great Depression.

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Struggle of a good man against society.

Prison Break
Starring: Ward Bond , Frank Darien , Glenda Farrell , Paul Hurst , and Victor Kilian
Director: Arthur Lubin
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000784XNA
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Customer Reviews:

Struggle of a good man against society........2005-11-22

In one of his rare appearances as a lead, Barton MacLane gives what may be his best performance, playing the part of Joaquin Shannon, an Irish-Portuguese tuna fisherman off the Southern California coast who, due to his protection of his younger brother, is wrongfully convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison. The film has an apparent message, i.e., that a parolee has few rights as a citizen, but this takes up little filmic space while the struggle of Shannon to clear his name produces plenty of action, both in and out of the penitentiary, as he must deal with a cruel adversary, Red Kinkaid (Ward Bond) and still find time to woo his sweetheart, played by Glenda Farrell in one of her softer roles. As opposed to today, the Depression era status of released convicts, as this 1938 work demonstrates, proscribed their marrying, and this disappointment in addition to Shannon's inability to find a job propels him into situations which bring about a showdown with the dangerous Kincaid, for whom Shannon unwittingly served his time. Routinely directed by journeyman Arthur Lubin, the film benefits from effective editing by Jack Ogilvie and skillful work by cinematographer Harry Neumann, with scenes varied among commercial ocean fishing, penitentiary life, taverns,and fog-bestrewn docks preventing any slowdown during this rapidly paced movie, although both dialogue and action are marked by cliché and are somewhat predictable. MacLane's staunch performance is matched in impact by the vigorous Bond, while Farrell, although quick with a quip as ever, is rather winning in her turn as a steadfast paramour; others displaying strong interpretations are Victor Kilian as Farrell's father and Paul Hurst as a convict on the lam.

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