On the Yard

I saw this film recently on TV - shown in the early hours of the morning. It's an above average prison drama, with excellent performances - especially by John Heard, Ron Faber (Manning, the first time offender), Lane Smith and Mike Kellin; the latter was especially good. I've also read the original novel, which is far tougher (the ascent in the balloon caused a large fire, with many dead). The author has himself served several sentences in the 1950s, so I'm wondering if conditions portrayed in prison are really up to date. All in all, well worth a viewing.

Nowadays not too many people may remember "On the Yard" when this type of film is brought up, but that's too bad as it's not a bad film at all. It does achieve a sort of "docu- realism", treating the daily routine of convicts in a thoroughly straightforward manner. Everything about it is so matter-of-fact, including the violence, the pecking order among the prisoners, the attempts by the guards to keep them in line, etc. It never goes too far into melodrama, although it does have its poignant moments nonetheless. The characters are reasonably interesting if never that commanding, save for the veteran convict played appealingly by the sad eyed Mike Kellin, who keeps trying to get paroled even though he knows that he can't really function on the outside.

A fairly likable John Heard stars as Juleson, who's locked up for the murder of his wife. Desperate for a smoke, he acquires some from jailhouse kingpin Chilly (Thomas G. Waites). However, he soon finds that he will be unable to settle the debt. And the more time that goes on, the more the interest increases. There's also the timid Morris (Joe Grifasi), who's attempting to put together a hot air balloon so he can escape. Chilly realizes that his little empire is threatened by ambitious fellow inmates. And Blake (Lane Smith), the captain of the guards, is likewise determined to put Chilly in his place.

As you can see, there are some top notch character actors in this thing. Also among them are Richard Bright of the "Godfather" series, Dominic Chianese of 'The Sopranos', David Clennon (Waites's future co-star in John Carpenters' "The Thing"), Don Blakely, J.C. Quinn, Eddie Jones, Ben Slack, and James Remar. The casting of Waites (best known as Fox in "The Warriors" and Windows in "The Thing") as the top con is interesting as one has to wonder just what it is about this man that's allowed him to obtain such influence. As it is, he does deliver a subtle, nuanced performance; Chilly is usually not the type to throw his weight around when he can have other people do that for him.

Granted, the subplot about the balloon is hard to swallow, but for the most part, "On the Yard" is a decent tale well told by director Raphael D. Silver, and produced by "Hester Street" director Joan Micklin Silver (Raphaels' wife). Authentic location shooting in a real Pennsylvania institution and an effective music score by Charles Gross also help to make this good entertainment.

Seven out of 10.

On The Yard is a 1979 drama that follows a con artist who gets himself indebted to the leader of a ruthless prison gang while serving his sentence.

Based on Malcolm Braly's 1967 novel of the same name and starring John Heard and Thomas G. Waites, On The Yard is a rugged prison drama that doesn't offer the most exciting story, but takes a realistic approach that keeps its characters center point and interesting. Waites delivers a great performance and really stands out in every scene that he's in keeping you intrigued to see what happens next. It's gritty and tough with a raw quality that captivates your attention right from the get go.

This won't be a film that gets mentioned in the same sentence as other similar flicks in the prison genre, but I thought it was a very good movie. If you've never seen On The Yard before, it's definitely worth checking out.

It was funny to watch. My girlfriend and I agreed this movie was entertaining. I have to say though it's one of the oddest treatments of the protagonist I've ever seen. The movie pretty much leads one to believe that Juleson is the main character, and with John Heard acting the role it seemed like the whole story would revolve around him... and it does, until it doesn't. That was an odd surprise and it definitely felt odd in the movie. The ending is unspectacular as well. They couldn't spend a few thousand more to get a proper ending? Felt like the ending to a TV show with a corny "oh well, this is us and we've got to live with each other" kind of vibe that wraps up in 30 seconds with a couple of one liners and a slap on the back. Using modern movies as a guide it's easy to look back on what to change so overall I thought it was a 6 or a 7 for the time period...

The main plot of ON THE YARD revolves around inmate Juleson borrowing a couple of packs of cigarettes from prison Mr Fix-it Chilly , but Juleson finds himself unable to pay back Chilly which means intrest on the debt and Chilly is a man who doesn`t like non payment .

If the entire movie revolved around its central plot it would have worked far better , but the story is crowded with a few too many characters and subplots . This might have worked in the novel ( Which I haven`t read but I know is well regarded mainly due to the fact that the author wrote it while in a maximum security prison ) but doesn`t really work here . And I`m also led to believe the original novel influenced the HBO prison drama OZ , a show that shares the exact same strength and weakness as this film . Both are gritty , involving and slightly shocking , but both contain too many minor characters who only come to the fore to drive the plot along and then disappear when they`ve done so , and some of the subplots are faintly ridiculous in ON THE YARD especially the one at the end which will have you asking " How did he manage to get all that stuff without the guards noticing ? "

One other thing I disliked about ON THE YARD was the mixed bag of acting . John Heard gives a solid performance as Juleson swinging between fear and fatalistic resignation but I had a problem with Thomas G Waites as Chilly , not so much with his acting but more with his physical appearence . He doesn`t carry enough tatoos , scars or look in any way like he`s an archetypal prison thug , but maybe that`s the whole point ? because he`s running things he can pay other inmates to do the dirty work . Most memorable performance is by Hector Troy as the looney latino hitman Gasolino.

So if you love OZ you`ll certainly like ON THE YARD . It`s by no means a classic but at least it doesn`t descend into the oft used cliche of having inmates gang-raped every ten minutes so it deserves some credit