I was a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

[Lincsong]

This Paul Muni film was quite controversial at the time it was released. Some say it changed the Penal System. Who has seen it and what do you think about the films portrayals?

 

[Sefton]

Oddly enough the film is sitting on my shelf nearby as I was going to watch it tonight. Got my avatar from it. I'll give my two cents after I watch it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Possibly the hardest-hitting of the Warner Bros. "social commentary" films of the early thirties, it was also very much a reflection of a larger concern in its day. Penal reform was a very widely discussed topic at that time, with an emphasis on prison modernization -- "20,000 Years in Sing Sing" by Warden Lewis Lawes was a best-seller at the same time "Chain Gang" was in its first release, leading to a lot of discussion favoritng reform-oriented prisons over the hard-time-on-the-rockpile approach. So whether or not the film actually promoted reforms, it was certainly a part of a larger trend in that direction.

While parts of the film come across as rather heavy-handed and obvious today, Muni's performance is still searing -- and the ending still packs a wallop. Well worth seeing for those who haven't.

 

[MudInYerEye]

One of my all-time favorites (the book is also a dynamite read).
However, Lincsong got the title criminally wrong.
It is actually called I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG, not "I was". A good deal of the book's (and later the film's) publicity stemmed from the fact that author Robert E. Burns was STILL a fugitive from the Georgia penal system upon publication.
Perhaps the greatest ending of any film ever.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I agree that this was a dynamite film. Very riveting and eye-opening.

 

[Lincsong]

One of my all-time favorites (the book is also a dynamite read).
However, Lincsong got the title criminally wrong.
It is actually called I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG, not "I was". A good deal of the book's (and later the film's) publicity stemmed from the fact that author Robert E. Burns was STILL a fugitive from the Georgia penal system upon publication.
Perhaps the greatest ending of any film ever.

I hope that warrants hard time with bread and water.lol

 

[MudInYerEye]

I hope that warrants hard time with bread and water.lol

I'd say a good whack with a slege hammer is more in order!

 

[Senator Jack]

A tough call on Chain Gang. You empathize with James Alan (IICR his name) because he was framed, but what about his fellow inmates? We find that one of them killed his wife, sister-in-law, and mothe-in-law. If he was the escapee, wouldn't we want him caught? Shouldn't he be serving hard time?

What's interesting about The Defiant Ones, filmed a quarter century later, is that you empathize with the chain gang cons even though you learn they're both guilty of their charges. Poitier's character admits to nearly beating his wife's lover to death. Curtis' wants to be a big shot, so he takes what he can get. Oddly, you still want them to escape.

Shows you how great filmmaking/writing can really skew your judgment.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Robert Conway]

Excellent film.

Mervyn LeRoy also directed The Wizard of Oz, Little Caesar and several other very well known films.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0503777/

 

[K by the bay]

One of my favorites.