The 12 Most Engaging Prison Films We've Ever Watched

      These prison films are truly engaging. Got it?

      Many of the finest films actually depict life outside, where prison serves as a metaphor for the mental constraints placed on us by society or our internal anxieties.

      Other prison films focus on actual prisons, designed for both the guilty and the innocent.

      Here are 13 films you'll find difficult to escape from.

      Caged (1950)

      Credit: C/O

      This early installment in the women-behind-bars genre, directed by John Cromwell, follows a 19-year-old married woman (Eleanor Parker) who ends up incarcerated after a failed bank robbery that results in her husband’s death.

      Hope Emerson portrays the cruel prison authority, Evelyn Harper, in a narrative that demonstrates how prison can be an incredibly corrupting force.

      The film secured three Oscar nominations.

      The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

      Credit: C/O

      Is it a prison film? Or a war film? We believe it fits both categories — David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai defies expectations at every turn.

      Set in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Thailand, the movie showcases the conflict between British P.O.W. Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) and his captor, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa). Saito insists that Nicholson and his men construct a railroad bridge over the River Kwai, raising questions about ethics, honor, and maintaining humanity while imprisoned.

      This film was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and rightfully won seven Oscars, including Best Picture. It remains a classic of the 1950s and is enjoyable to watch.

      Escape From Alcatraz (1979)

      Paramount Pictures – Credit: C/O

      As one of the greatest prison films, this Clint Eastwood feature was the actor’s fifth and final collaboration with director Don Siegel. It intricately depicts the events surrounding a real-life escape from the supposed escape-proof Alcatraz Island in 1962.

      Eastwood portrays Frank Morris, the actual inmate whose fate has been unknown since that cold night in the early '60s. He would turn 98 this year, if he is still alive.

      The FBI still keeps the investigation of the escape open.

      The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

      Columbia Pictures – Credit: C/O

      You anticipated this entry, so we’ve included it early in the list.

      Regarded as one of the most cherished films of recent times, adapted from the Stephen King collection Different Seasons, which also inspired Stand by Me and Apt Pupil, The Shawshank Redemption tells the tale of not yielding your spirit.

      Tim Robbins stars as Andy Dufresne, a banker given consecutive life sentences for the murders of his wife and her lover. He befriends Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman) and devises a plan to escape by digging through his cell wall, concealing the hole behind a Rita Hayworth poster.

      It ranks as one of the best prison films and among the best films overall — IMDb has it at No. 1 on its list of the Top 250 Movies.

      Cool Hand Luke (1967)

      Warner Bros.-Seven Arts – Credit: C/O

      Paul Newman captivates as the protagonist, a man of few words (and an egg-eating enthusiast) who refuses to submit to the brutality of his Florida prison camp.

      Strother Martin, portraying the camp captain, famously uttered the line, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate,” which earned a spot in the American Film Institute’s 100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes.

      Fans of Guns N Roses will recall this line from the opening of their song “Civil War.”

      Penitentiary III (1987)

      Cannon Films Distributors – Credit: C/O

      The third entry in a popular series of independent prison films written and directed by Jamaa Fanaka, Penitentiary III is worth watching just for the Midnight Thud fight scene.

      Not familiar with the Midnight Thud? Thud is the prison's most formidable fighter, a powerful little person (played by Raymond Kessler, also known as the WWE’s Haiti Kid) who delivers one of the most thrilling fight scenes ever captured on film when he takes on the protagonist, Too Sweet (Leon Isaac Kennedy).

      Additionally, this film marks the first of two to feature the iconic Danny Trejo, who plays See Veer.

      Con Air (1997)

      Buena Vista Pictures Distribution – Credit: C/O

      Trejo is part of the ensemble cast in Con Air, a film about a prison aboard an airplane, where Cameron Poe (played by Nicolas Cage, looking incredibly stylish) confronts a plane full of felons when mastermind Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom hijacks it.

      This is one of those movies where — if you haven’t seen it in a while — you’ll find yourself saying, “He’s in this too?”