Back to trending
Brubaker

Brubaker

Crime · Drama · 1980

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

Movie details

Brubaker

“One man against a cruel system.”

1980 Crime · Drama 2h 5m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.1 / 10

Community rating

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Brubaker?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Unforgivable

The Unforgivable

Drama · 2021

A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.

Midnight Express

Midnight Express

Drama · 1978

Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".

South Central

South Central

Crime · 1992

During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.

Cool Hand Luke

Cool Hand Luke

Drama · 1967

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Drama · 2019

A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

McVicar

McVicar

Crime · 1980

John McVicar was a London Bad Boy. he graduated to armed bank robbery and was Britain's "Public Enemy No. 1". He was captured and put into a high security prison. Will even the highest security prison be able to hold him? This is the true story of his life, his criminal exploits and his eventual rehabilitation.

White Boy Rick

White Boy Rick

Crime · 2018

The story of Richard Wershe Jr., a teenager who became an undercover informant for the police during the 1980s, and was ultimately arrested for drug trafficking and sentenced to life in prison.

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

Drama · 1994

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

The Mustang

The Mustang

Drama · 2019

While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.

At Close Range

At Close Range

Crime · 1986

Brad Whitewood Jr. lives in rural Pennsylvania and has few prospects. Against his mother's wishes, he seeks out his estranged father, the head of a gang of thieves in a nearby town. Though his new girlfriend supports his criminal ambitions, Brad Jr. soon learns that his father is a dangerous man. Inspired by the real events that led to the end of the Johnston Gang, who operated in the northeastern United States in the 1970s.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Stuart Rosenberg

Written by

W.D. Richter · Arthur A. Ross

Robert Redford

Robert Redford

Brubaker

Yaphet Kotto

Yaphet Kotto

Dickie Coombes

Jane Alexander

Jane Alexander

Lillian

Murray Hamilton

Murray Hamilton

Deach

David Keith

David Keith

Larry Lee Bullen

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman

Walter

Matt Clark

Matt Clark

Purcell

Court is in session

Put Brubaker on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.