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Movies: Best "release from prison" Movies

A prison film is a film genre concerned with prison life and often prison escape. These films range from acclaimed dramas examining the nature of prisons, such as A Man Escaped, Cool Hand Luke, Midnight Express, Brubaker, Escape from Alcatraz, The Shawshank Redemption, and Kiss of the Spider Woman to actioners like Lock Up and Undisputed, and even comedies satirizing the genre like Stir Crazy, Life, and Let's Go to Prison. Prison films have been asserted to be "guilty of oversimplifying complex issues, the end result of which is the proliferation of stereotypes". For example, they are said to perpetuate "a common misperception that most correctional officers are abusive", and that prisoners are "violent and beyond redemption". ()

Related keywords: "imprisonment" | "prison" | "prison escape" | "prisoner" | "prisoners of war"


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51 movies found (page 1/2):

Carlito's Way(1993)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 24min | Crime, Thriller, Drama, Romance / Love
3.9/5 (with 1,360 votes)

A Puerto-Rican ex-con, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him, and lead a better life outside NYC.

He Got Game(1998)

FSK: 12+ years
| 2h 16min | Drama
3.4/5 (with 299 votes)

A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter prison sentence.

Going Places(1974)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 57min | Comedy, Drama
3.4/5 (with 185 votes)

Two whimsical, aimless thugs harass and assault women, steal, murder, and alternately charm, fight, or sprint their way out of trouble. They take whatever the bourgeoisie holds dear, whether it’s cars, peace of mind, or daughters. Marie-Ange, a jaded, passive hairdresser, joins them as lover, cook, and mother confessor. She’s on her own search for seemingly unattainable sexual pleasure.

The Harder They Fall(2021)

2h 10min | Western
3.4/5 (with 433 votes)

Gunning for revenge, outlaw Nat Love saddles up with his gang to take down enemy Rufus Buck, a ruthless crime boss who just got sprung from prison.

102 Dalmatians(2000)

FSK: 0+ years
| 1h 40min | Kids & Family, Comedy
2.7/5 (with 602 votes)

Get ready for a howling good time as an all new assortment of irresistible animal heroes are unleashed in this great family tail! In an unlikely alliance, the outrageous Waddlesworth - a parrot who thinks he's a Rottweiler - teams up with Oddball - an un-marked Dalmatian puppy eager to earn her spots! Together they embark on a laugh-packed quest to outwit the ever-scheming Cruella De Vil.

The Limey(1999)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 29min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
3.3/5 (with 173 votes)

The Limey follows Wilson, a tough English ex-con who travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. Upon arrival, Wilson goes to task battling Valentine and an army of L.A.'s toughest criminals, hoping to find clues and piece together what happened. After surviving a near-death beating, getting thrown from a building and being chased down a dangerous mountain road, the Englishman decides to dole out some bodily harm of his own.

Stand Up Guys(2012)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 35min | Thriller, Comedy, Action
3.0/5 (with 403 votes)

After serving 28 years in prison for accidentally killing the son of a crime boss, newly paroled gangster Val reunites with his former partners in crime, Doc and Hirsch, for a night on the town. As the three men revisit old haunts, reflect on their glory days and try to make up for lost time, one wrestles with a terrible quandary: Doc has orders to kill Val, and time is running out for him to figure out a way out of his dilemma.

People I Know(2002)

1h 40min | Drama, Thriller
2.7/5 (with 71 votes)

A New York press agent must scramble when his major client becomes embroiled in a huge scandal.

A Score to Settle(2019)

1h 43min | Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
3.0/5 (with 223 votes)

A former mob enforcer who is released from prison after serving 22 years for a crime he didn't commit sets out on a path for revenge against the people who wronged him.

Tenderness(2009)

1h 41min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
2.7/5 (with 45 votes)

Russell Crowe stars as Detective Cristofuoro, a semi-retired police officer who is trying to unravel the past to discover whether a violent teenager, Eric Poole (Jon Foster), was responsible for the murder of his family. Sophie Traub co-stars as Lori, the teenage runaway who falls under Eric's spell. Based on the novel by Robert Cormier.

Small Crimes(2017)

1h 35min | Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Crime
2.7/5 (with 118 votes)

A disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, returns home looking for redemption but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind.

Directed by E. L. Katz

Three Fugitives(1989)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 36min | Comedy, Crime
3.4/5 (with 119 votes)

On his first day after being released from jail for 14 armed bank robberies, Lucas finds himself caught up in someone else's robbery. Perry has decided to hold up the local bank to raise money so that he can keep his daughter, Meg, and get her the treatment she needs. Dugan, a detective, assumes Lucas helped plan the robbery, and hence Lucas, Perry and Meg become three fugitives.

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The Edge of Heaven(2007)

2h 2min | Drama
3.6/5 (with 126 votes)

The lives of six German-Turkish immigrants are drawn together by circumstance: An old man and a prostitute forging a partnership, a young scholar reconciling his past, two young women falling in love, and a mother putting the shattered pieces of her life back together.

Shoot Out(1971)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 35min | Western
3.2/5 (with 31 votes)

Clay Lomax, a bank robber, gets out of jail after an 7 year sentence. He is looking after Sam Foley, the man who betrayed him. Knowing that, Foley hires three men to pay attention of Clay's steps. The things get complicated when Lomax, waiting to receive some money from his ex-lover, gets only the notice of her death and an 7 year old girl, sometimes very annoying, presumed to be his daughter.

I've Loved You So Long(2008)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 55min | Drama
3.6/5 (with 94 votes)

A woman struggles to interact with her family and find her place in society after spending fifteen years in prison.

Time(2020)

1h 21min | Documentary
3.5/5 (with 42 votes)

Fox Rich, indomitable matriarch and modern-day abolitionist, strives to keep her family together while fighting for the release of her incarcerated husband. An intimate, epic, and unconventional love story, filmed over two decades.

Directed by Garrett Bradley

Pale Flower(1964)

3.7/5 (with 40 votes)

Muraki, a hardboiled Yakuza gangster, has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for murder. Revisiting his old gambling haunts, he meets Saeko, a striking young upper-class woman who is out seeking thrills, and whose presence adds spice to the staid masculine underworld rituals. Muraki becomes her mentor while simultaneously coping with the shifts of power that have affected the gangs while he was interred. When he notices a rogue, drug-addicted young punk hanging around the gambling dens, he realizes that Saeko's insatiable lust for intense pleasures may be leading her to self-destruction.

Directed by Masahiro Shinoda - With Ryō Ikebe

The Ardennes(2015)

1h 33min | Drama
3.3/5 (with 78 votes)

A brutal home-jacking goes hopelessly wrong. Dave, one of the two robbers, manages to run off, leaving his brother Kenneth behind. Four years later, Kenneth is released from prison and much has changed. Dave has his life back on track and is trying to help Kenneth however possible, but is witnessing how the highly strung Kenneth tries to win back his ex-girlfriend Sylvie.

The Wendell Baker Story(2005)

2.6/5 (with 30 votes)

Luke Wilson plays a good-hearted ex-con who gets a job in a retirement hotel. Three elderly residents help him win back his girlfriend as he lends them a hand in fighting hotel corruption.

Blastfighter(1984)

1h 27min | Action, Drama, Crime
2.7/5 (with 12 votes)

Former cop Jake 'Tiger' Sharp returns to his old hometown after having been in prison for the murder of his wife's killer. Illegal hunting seems to be widespread and inbred rednecks control the city with an iron fist. Jake manages to make himself an enemy to hillbillies and he and his newly found daughter had to flee for their lives. Fortunately, Jake a GAT that can shoot grenades and rockets ...

Délivrez-Moi(2006)

1h 40min | Drama
2.6/5 (with 2 votes)

After spending a decade in prison, Annie returns to her hometown, and tries to reconnect with her now-adolescent daughter Sophie.

Best Men(1997)

2.7/5 (with 24 votes)

Four tuxedo clad men showing up at a penitentiary to meet a friend who has just been released after three years in prison and is going straight from the jail to marry his girlfriend. En route to the wedding, one of the men asks to stop by a bank to pick up some cash. As it turns out, he is a wanted bank robber who uses Shakespeare passages during his robberies and thus has become known as "Hamlet". Soon all five men are caught up in the bank and involved in the robbery as they end up in a hostage situation. The hostage negotiator shows up who turns out to be Hamlet's father.

Who We Are Now(2018)

1h 41min | Drama
2.9/5 (with 14 votes)

Recently released from prison, Beth is working with her public defender to get her son back from her sister, who was awarded legal custody while Beth was incarcerated for ten years. Soon after, Beth forms an unlikely alliance with Jess, an idealistic young protégé of the public defense team, who decides to take on Beth's cause whether she likes it or not.

Rhino Season(2012)

1h 28min | Drama, Thriller, History
2.9/5 (with 18 votes)

Kurdish-Iranian poet Sahel has just been released from a thirty-year prison sentence in Iran. Now the one thing keeping him going is the thought of finding his wife, who thinks he's been dead for over twenty years.

The Olsen Gang Outta Sight(1977)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 45min | Kids & Family, Comedy, Crime
3.5/5 (with 19 votes)

Egon is starting to be a little forgetful; he forgot the zone number, so he fails to open the strongbox. When he gets out of Vridslose State Prison, Kjeld and Benny have become associates of Yvonne's cousin Georg from America. He is not just some old-fashioned strongbox thief that can't remember like Egon, but a young hip IT criminal, that thinks that everyone else is inferior. However, Egon doesn't take lightly to the Georg's patronizing so he sabotages Georg's computer and ruins his cup. This time Egon's ambitions reaches a new high, when he and his gang break in to the World Bank, and they get away with it. Of course, thanks to Yvonne, they aren't rich very long.

The Last Ride(2004)

2.1/5 (with 14 votes)

After thirty years in prison, ex-con Ronnie recruits his grandson to exact revenge on Darryl, the cop who put him behind bars. Standing in their way is Ronnie's son, whom Darryl raised.

I Went Down(1997)

1h 37min | Action, Comedy, Crime
3.1/5 (with 7 votes)

Fresh out of prison, Git rescues a former best friend (now living with Git's girlfriend) from a beating at the hands of loan sharks. He's now in trouble with the mob boss, Tom French, who sends Git to Cork with another debtor, Bunny Kelly, to find a guy named Frank Grogan, and take him to a man with a friendly face at a shack across a bog. It's a tougher assignment than it seems: Git's a novice, Bunny's prone to rash acts, Frank doesn't want to be found (and once he's found, he has no money), and maybe Tom's planning to murder Frank, which puts Git in a moral dilemma. Then, there's the long-ago disappearance of Sonny Mulligan. What's a decent and stand-up lad to do?

Leo(2002)

1h 44min | Drama
2.6/5 (with 8 votes)

A young mother is plagued by a tragic mistake and alienates her little boy. A brilliant writer is released from prison after serving a 15-year sentence and begins working at Vic's Diner. Their stories converge when the man must overcome obstacles of the past to save the little boy and ultimately himself.

Directed by Mehdi Norowzian

Night Comes On(2018)

1h 27min | Drama
3.1/5 (with 14 votes)

Angel is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Haunted by her past, she embarks on a journey with her 10 year-old sister that could destroy their future.

Directed by Jordana Spiro

Autumn(2008)

1h 39min | Drama
3.6/5 (with 23 votes)

Arrested while a student in university, Yusuf is released from prison after ten years. He returns home and is welcomed by his sick and elderly mother. Soon he will meet Eka, a beautiful Georgian girl who is a sex worker, and love becomes a final desperate attempt to grasp life and elude loneliness.

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