Paul Nevai I decided to watch as many Dassin movies as possible. This was #2 on my list.I am not sure why this is classified as a film-noir but certainly it used a similar style of cinematography. As most other reviewers wrote, it is excellent, exciting, and entertaining.One small quibble that bugged me a lot: the two Italians spoke (perfect) English. Gimme a break.The movie? Highly recommended. The director? Ditto.

Richie-67-485852 Who doesn't like the old prison movie flicks from the golden years of the 40's and 50's? This be one of them. Add some really good actors, a decent story, the age old tale of men wanting their freedom and here you go. Note how the warden is all powerful and has a free hand to do most anything he wants and the cons know it. Today, the cons run the joint and everyone knows it too. But not in this movie and that is why we are entertained. We actually root for the inmates and see them as the good guys and the warden and his bunch as the bad. The emotions are triggered because we want to see justice served in the end and we get irony where you least expect it. As usual, rats are looked down on, some cons are more well known than others and there is a nice little set of flashbacks by a set of convicts on how they got into their mess and why. I thought the flash back scenes just the right length to take us away and then put us back into the movie theme timed perfectly. Good movie to eat while watching, have a snack and tasty drink. Enjoy

tomgillespie2002 When Jules Dassin was placed on the Hollywood Blacklist in 1950 during the making of Night and the City, the director was on a roll. Along with Night and the City, which he filmed before being banned from the production studio, bringing his flourishing career to an immediate halt, Dassin also made The Naked City (1948) and Thieves' Highway (1949), now classics of the noir genre, and Brute Force, possibly the weakest of his noir quartet but a thrilling, insightful film nonetheless. Although set entirely inside prison walls - with a few flashback cutaways - Brute Force is pure pulp noir, featuring a towering lead performance from Burt Lancaster and a tour de force by Hume Conyn as the film's main antagonist.Joe Collins (Lancaster) has just done a stint in solitary. Being lead back to his cell by chief of security Captain Munsey (Conyn), Joe maintains his innocence and that the knife he was found with was planted on him. It turns out that Joe is indeed innocent of his alleged crime, and along with his friends from cell R17, knows who the culprit is. Their own brand of justice involves guiding the offender with flame-throwers onto a huge plate press while the guards are distracted by a brawl. With so much violence occurring inside the prison walls, Warden Barnes (Roman Bohnen) is put under pressure to control the inmates through strict discipline and the guards enforcing their authority. This catches the attention of the ambitious Munsey, and the likable Dr. Walter (Art Smith), who although constantly inebriated, can see the bubbling tensions and inevitable explosions of violence that are due to come.The film's title is suitably apt for the attitudes of the two opposing factions. Joe and his crew plan their escape by taking the prison with an arsenal of weapons at their disposal, while Munsey, using the warden's wavering support as an opportunity to rise through the ranks, starts to manipulate the prisoners into becoming informers and gleefully beating upon a prisoner when he refuses to talk. It's about the ugliness of brute force, and disastrous results that come from employing it. Munsey is a small man, but delights in imposing his authority on the weak and the restrained like a bullying victim getting revenge on the big boys who stole his lunch money. It's riveting throughout, but could have done without the flashback scenes, where it is revealed that the gang are all locked up as a result of some femme fatale or other. It builds to a ferocious climax, where the inmates fight the guards, ending on a note as suitably grim as it's portrayal of the durability of the prison system.

nomoons11 After watching this you will have seen only 1 of a handful of roles in movie history as evil as the prison guard played by Hume Cronyn. He's is just that nasty. There are no redeeming qualities about him.I haven't seen too many prison flicks where I rooted for the prisoners but this one you'll be on the edge of your seat hoping these guys get outta that place. Hume Cronyn plays a deputy prison warden and is just absolutely brutal to the prisoners. He does everything he can to make their lives miserable...in his sneaky little way. The warden is a fair guy but just cares about keeping his job and leaves everything up to his deputy warden. Big mistake.Burt Lancaster is one of a handful of prisoners who have had it and decide to hatch a plan to get out...at any cost. When you see it, you can't blame em. The ending of this film is just fantastic and ultra violent. Even for the year this was made.I can't recommend a prison flick higher than this one. It'll make you think twice about committing your first crime because if you do, you may get a guy like Hume Cronyn the rest of your life wakin' you up.