Favorite Prison Movies
A list of our favorite movies about prison, jail, breaking out of prison or jail, or just plain being captured. Check out the Ranks For Nothin' podcast on whatever podcast app you use to hear us talk about these movies. Find us on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify - Episode 132.
List activity
121 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
- 31 titles
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTim RobbinsMorgan FreemanBob GuntonA banker convicted of uxoricide forms a friendship over a quarter century with a hardened convict, while maintaining his innocence and trying to remain hopeful through simple compassion.Matt's 1st Pick
- DirectorRick RosenthalStarsSean PennReni SantoniJim MoodyChicago crime kid, Mick O'Brien, is sent to reform school after accidentally killing a rival's kid brother.Mike's 1st Pick
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsGeorge ClooneyJohn TurturroTim Blake NelsonIn the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.Sean's 1st Pick
- DirectorS. Craig ZahlerStarsVince VaughnJennifer CarpenterDon JohnsonA former boxer-turned-drug runner lands in a prison battleground after a deal gets deadly.Sean's 2nd Pick
- DirectorAndrew DavisStarsShia LaBeoufSigourney WeaverJon VoightA wrongfully convicted boy is sent to a brutal desert detention camp where he joins the job of digging holes for some mysterious reason.Mike's 2nd Pick
- DirectorTony KayeStarsEdward NortonEdward FurlongBeverly D'AngeloLiving a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.Matt's 2nd Pick
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsDenzel WashingtonVicellous ShannonDeborah Kara UngerThe story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.Matt's 3rd Pick
- DirectorNicolas Winding RefnStarsTom HardyKelly AdamsLuing AndrewsA young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson.Mike's 3rd Pick
- DirectorTed DemmeStarsEddie MurphyMartin LawrenceObba BabatundéIn 1932, two strangers are wrongfully convicted and develop a strong friendship in prison that lasts them through the 20th century.Sean's 3rd Pick
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTom HanksMichael Clarke DuncanDavid MorsePaul Edgecomb, the head guard of a prison, meets an inmate, John Coffey, a black man who is accused of murdering two girls. His life changes drastically when he discovers that John has a special gift.Honorable Mention
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobert De NiroKevin BaconBrad PittAfter a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, an unexpected random encounter with a former guard gives them a chance for revenge.Honorable Mention
- DirectorSimon WestStarsNicolas CageJohn CusackJohn MalkovichNewly-paroled ex-con and former U.S. Ranger Cameron Poe finds himself trapped in a prisoner-transport plane when the passengers seize control.Honorable Mention
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsPaul NewmanGeorge KennedyStrother MartinA laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.Honorable Mention
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioEmily MortimerMark RuffaloTwo US marshals are sent to a mental institution on an inhospitable island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient.Honorable Mention
- DirectorPeter SegalStarsAdam SandlerBurt ReynoldsChris RockPrison inmates form a football team to challenge the prison guards.Honorable Mention
- DirectorAndrey KonchalovskiyAlbert MagnoliStarsSylvester StalloneKurt RussellTeri HatcherFramed by their ruthless arch-nemesis, a pair of mismatched LAPD officers must put their differences aside to get even with the brutal crime baron who sent them to rot in a maximum-security prison.Honorable Mention
- DirectorMartin SheenStarsCharlie SheenMartin SheenJay BrazeauA young, fiercely independent Army Private is thrust into a work-camp stockade where he discovers the value of friendship and loyalty in the face of a dangerous enemy from a dynamic group of black prisoners.Honorable Mention
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSteve McQueenJames GarnerRichard AttenboroughAllied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their men to escape from a German camp during World War II.Honorable Mention
- DirectorJean-Stéphane SauvaireStarsJoe ColeCherry MikoVithaya PansringarmThe true story of an English boxer incarcerated in one of Thailand's most notorious prisons as he fights in Muay Thai tournaments to earn his freedom.Honorable Mention
- DirectorTaylor HackfordStarsDamian ChapaJesse BorregoBenjamin BrattBased on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on step-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo.Honorable Mention
- DirectorErnest R. DickersonStarsDamon WayansAdam SandlerJames CaanTwo criminals, Keats and Moses, end their friendship, when Keats turns out to be an undercover cop. Many years later, the two are forced to work together when Keats is assigned to protect Moses as a witness.Honorable Mention
- DirectorJohn R. Cherry IIIStarsJim VarneyGailard SartainBill ByrgeErnest P. Worrell is a bank janitor sent to jail when people mistake his identity for a look-alike.Honorable Mention
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsChanning TatumAdam DriverDaniel CraigTwo brothers attempt to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race in North Carolina.Honorable Mention
- DirectorJoseph RubenStarsVince VaughnAnne HecheJoaquin PhoenixTwo friends must choose whether to help a third friend who was arrested in Malaysia for drug possession.Honorable Mention
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.Honorable Mention
