247 Tempo

The Best Prison Movies of All Time, Ranked

By 247tempo,

2024-06-04

Since the beginning of civilization, imprisonment has served a useful, if unsightly, purpose: confine people who in one way or another have broken the social contracts of society. Be it a stopping place before better or worse things, a time-out for adults, or an authoritarian summer camp, prison is the place you go when you’ve done wrong. As such, it provides explosive potential for movie-making. While many movies take place in prison, a select few remain the best prison movies.

Since the pre-code era in Hollywood, prisons have been used as a setting for many movies. Be it “The Maltese Falcon” from 1931 to later ventures like “The Shawshank Redemption” from 1994, prison movies explore many of the same themes. These range from larger, existential themes like isolation, solitude, alienation, and redemption to the particular stakes of prison life; cruel treatment at the hands of inmates and guards alike, petty prison yard politics with fatal consequences, gang wars, and wrongful convictions. The genre has proliferated in recent decades, expanding the prison palette to include subgenres like in-prison fight clubs, inmates given a chance at more lenient rules by engaging in sports games against guards, and films centering on prisoners of war.

No matter how you slice it, prison provides excellent fodder for movies. It’s an ever-present world that many people have never experienced. There are life and death battles, wars between the self and its shadow, and motley crews full of dangerous, unpredictable characters. Though often entertaining, prison movies do not best represent imprisonment’s positive outcomes. The movie industry perspective of prison suggests a violent world, with little recourse, and even less chance at hope. That’s why the best prison movies find the middle ground between bad behavior and good intentions, violence and reform, and offer a slice of hope amid death and isolation. In this article, we will explore 50 of the best prison movies. (After this article, check out 15 Actors Who Are in Prison or Have Served Time .)

To determine the best prison movies, 24/7 Tempo developed an index using average ratings on IMDb , an online movie database owned by Amazon, and a combination of audience scores and Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes , an online movie and TV review aggregator, as of May 2024, weighting all ratings equally. Only movies with at least 1,000 reviews on IMDb were considered, and documentaries were not excluded. Director information is from IMDb.

Here is the list of the 50 best prison movies.

50. Lock Up (1989)

Source: Courtesy of TriStar Pictures

IMDb user rating: 6.4/10 (41,400 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 50% (15,531 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 23% (13 reviews)
Directed by: John Flynn

49. Jamesy Boy (2014)

Source: Courtesy of Phase 4 Films

IMDb user rating: 6.2/10 (5,922 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 57% (666 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 26% (19 reviews)
Directed by: Trevor White

48. Undisputed (2002)

Source: Courtesy of Miramax

IMDb user rating: 6.2/10 (31,401 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 46% (9,258 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 48% (106 reviews)
Directed by: Walter Hill

47. The Longest Yard (2005)

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

IMDb user rating: 6.4/10 (169,218 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 62% (32,774,364 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 31% (170 reviews)
Directed by: Peter Segal

46. Lucky Break (2001)

Source: Denis Makarenko / Shutterstock

IMDb user rating: 6.2/10 (2,201 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 48% (1,409 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 48% (44 reviews)
Directed by: Peter Cattaneo

45. Instinct (1999)

Source: Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

IMDb user rating: 6.6/10 (32,630 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 67% (31,133 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 27% (66 reviews)
Directed by: Jon Turteltaub

44. Mean Machine (2001)

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Classics

IMDb user rating: 6.5/10 (38,336 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 72% (38,166 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 34% (56 reviews)
Directed by: Barry Skolnick

43. Escape Plan (2013)

Source: Courtesy of Lionsgate Films

IMDb user rating: 6.7/10 (234,904 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 55% (58,800 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 50% (115 reviews)
Directed by: Mikael Håfström

42. The Great Raid (2005)

Source: Courtesy of Miramax

IMDb user rating: 6.6/10 (23,310 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 70% (16,838 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 38% (122 reviews)
Directed by: John Dahl

41. Triumph of the Spirit (1989)

Source: Courtesy of Triumph Releasing Corporation

IMDb user rating: 6.8/10 (2,427 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 52% (1,248 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 57% (7 reviews)
Directed by: Robert M. Young

40. The United States of Leland (2003)

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Classics

IMDb user rating: 7.0/10 (23,170 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 81% (30,380 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 34% (93 reviews)
Directed by: Matthew Ryan Hoge

39. Demolition Man (1993)

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

IMDb user rating: 6.7/10 (166,059 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 66% (270,572 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 60% (43 reviews)
Directed by: Marco Brambilla

38. Gridiron Gang (2006)

Source: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment

IMDb user rating: 7.1/10 (77,961 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 81% (286,881 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 42% (102 reviews)
Directed by: Phil Joanou

37. Life (1999)

Source: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

IMDb user rating: 6.8/10 (48,079 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 77% (50,406 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 50% (54 reviews)
Directed by: Ted Demme

36. The Last Castle (2001)

Source: Courtesy of DreamWorks Distribution

IMDb user rating: 7.0/10 (76,522 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 74% (45,903 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 52% (115 reviews)
Directed by: Rod Lurie

35. I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

Source: Courtesy of Roadside Attractions

IMDb user rating: 6.6/10 (96,896 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 61% (88,887 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 71% (159 reviews)
Directed by: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

34. Con Air (1997)

Source: Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures

IMDb user rating: 6.9/10 (285,500 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 75% (417,395 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 56% (66 reviews)
Directed by: Simon West

33. Murder in the First (1995)

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

IMDb user rating: 7.3/10 (29,081 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 80% (22,003 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 50% (36 reviews)
Directed by: Marc Rocco

32. Animal Factory (2000)

Source: Courtesy of Silver Nitrate

IMDb user rating: 6.6/10 (13,416 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 58% (9,403 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 83% (35 reviews)
Directed by: Steve Buscemi

31. Camp X-Ray (2014)

Source: Courtesy of IFC Films

IMDb user rating: 6.9/10 (40,440 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 63% (5,207 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 75% (59 reviews)
Directed by: Peter Sattler

30. Stir Crazy (1980)

Source: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

IMDb user rating: 6.8/10 (26,823 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 75% (20,036 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 67% (15 reviews)
Directed by: Sidney Poitier

29. Manic (2001)

Source: Courtesy of IFC Films

IMDb user rating: 7.2/10 (9,478 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 79% (8,462 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 67% (64 reviews)
Directed by: Jordan Melamed

28. Brubaker (1980)

Source: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

IMDb user rating: 7.1/10 (18,442 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 73% (6,671 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 75% (24 reviews)
Directed by: Stuart Rosenberg

27. Get the Gringo (2012)

Source: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

IMDb user rating: 7.0/10 (105,753 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 68% (9,713 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 82% (56 reviews)
Directed by: Adrian Grunberg

26. Felon (2008)

Source: Courtesy of Stage 6 Films

IMDb user rating: 7.4/10 (80,331 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (13,918 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 63% (24 reviews)
Directed by: Ric Roman Waugh

25. Bronson (2008)

Source: Courtesy of Magnet Releasing

IMDb user rating: 7.0/10 (133,342 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 74% (17,268 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 76% (83 reviews)
Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn

24. Holes (2003)

Source: Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures

- IMDb user rating: 7.0/10 (82,279 votes)
- Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 76% (212,020 votes)
- Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 78% (139 reviews)
- Directed by: Andrew Davis

23. The Longest Yard (1974)

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

> IMDb user rating: 7.1/10 (18,055 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 75% (81,360 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 79% (34 reviews)
> Directed by: Robert Aldrich