Best Prison movies of 1980s

Actors : Laura del Sol, Leo Gullotta, Ben Gazzara, Marzio Honorato,
Directors : Giuseppe Tornatore,

Vaguely inspired to the real story of boss of the Camorra's bosses Raffaele Cutolo, this is the story of the criminal career of "Il professore" (the professor). He is in prison, and by ...

Actors : Dragan Nikolic, Danilo 'Bata' Stojkovic, Predrag Ejdus, Vesna Stanojevic,
Directors : Aleksandar Boskovic,

The story of an outsider who spent seven years in prison for robbery. Eternal rebel, unsatisfied with the system and people around him, he wants to establish the way of his own justice. As ...

Actors : Raul Julia, Teri Garr, Griffin O'Neal, Desi Arnaz,
Directors : Caleb Deschanel,

The young and self-confident Danny blufs at the local police-station that he will escape out of prison within one hour. What follows is a flashback about his childhood with his uncle and ...

Actors : Ismaila Cissé, Ababacar Sy Cissé, Sidiki Bakaba, Hamed Camara,

In this semi-autobiographical film, black soldiers help to defend France, but are detained in prison camp before being repatriated home.

Actors : Márcia Fraga, Danielle Ferrite, Maria Stella Splendore, Neide Ribeiro,
Directors : Oswaldo de Oliveira,

In a prison, women rebel against the guards' sadism and sexual abuse and decide to run away. Some manage to escape and are chased by the Police.

Actors : Laura Gemser, Maria Romano, Ursula Flores, Gabriele Tinti,
Directors : Bruno Mattei,

Emanuelle, a reporter, comes just a little too close to exposing a corrupt official, and is sent to prison on trumped-up charges. In the prison, the inmates are constantly humiliated and ...

Actors : Sylvia Kristel, William Ostrander, Sue Kiel, Linda Blair,

An American woman visiting her fiancée in West Germany is caught up with a defecting spy and captured by those in the East. After brutal interrogation she is placed in a prison along with ...

Actors : Susú Pecoraro, Philippe Léotard, Miguel Ángel Solá, Lito Cruz,
Directors : Fernando E. Solanas,

The movie starts while Floreal, the main protagonist, was being released from the prison when the military coup ended in 1983. He is estranged to his former life because of his last few ...

Actors : Pierre Mondy, François Périer, Anne Parillaud, Alain Delon,

Jacques Darnay (A. Delon) is caught and convicted for stealing diamonds and murder of jeweler. Although he was not guilty, the prison has served eight years. At that time, the jewels are ...

Actors : Anthony Zerbe, Richard Roundtree, Tom Skerritt, Lisa Eichhorn,
Directors : Eric Karson,

The commander of an Air Force camp simulates prisoner-of-war conditions for realistic training goes too far, creating all too real torture situations. He preys on the only woman in the experiment.

Actors : Martha Plimpton, Tommy Lee Jones, Brian Dennehy, Shawn Smith,
Directors : Thomas Rickman,

After serving time for a theft he didn't commit, all Billy wants to do is to reconnect with his daughter. However, some loose ends, like the whereabouts of the stolen loot, just won't let him go.

Actors : Brigitte Fossey, Patrick Dewaere, Jacques Dufilho, Yves Robert,
Directors : Claude Sautet,

Bruno is released from prison. He looks for a job and tries to start a new life. His first stop is at his father's apartment.

Actors : Paul Le Mat, John Edwin Shaw, Ken Wright, Michael Moriarty,
Directors : Lionel Chetwynd,

A drama focusing on the suffering, torture, and brutal treatment the American P.O.W.s had to deal with daily while in North Vietnam's Hoa Lo Prison, the most infamous P.O.W. camp in Hanoi. ...

Actors : Christiane Jean, Gérard Lanvin, Bernard Giraudeau, Maurice Barrier,
Directors : Patrice Leconte,

During a routine transfer of prisoners from one jail to another, an accused cop killer, Paul Brandon, is temporarily chained to a con with only a year left to serve, Stéphane Carella. Paul ...

Actors : Raj Babbar, Farooq Shaikh, Rekha, Naseeruddin Shah,
Directors : Muzaffar Ali,

In Faizabad, British India, Daroga Dilawar is sentenced to several years in prison after Amiran's dad testifies against him. After his discharge around 1840, he extracts his vengeance by ...

Actors : John Schneider, Lisa Dunsheath, Kirk Douglas, Lee Purcell,
Directors : Jeff Kanew,

A young man, harshly sentenced for a few minor infractions, escapes from a prison in Huntsville Texas and flees to Laredo, Texas, where he hopes to cross into Mexico for a reunion with his wife and small son.

Actors : Andrey Tashkov, Anton Androsov, Lev Durov, Aleksandr Mokhov,
Directors : Igor Gostev,

A drama from the life of the prisoners in a regular jail in Soviet Union.

Actors : Themis Bazaka, Dimitris Katalifos, Maria Martika, Eirini Inglesi,
Directors : Pantelis Voulgaris,

The true story of a young couple (Babis and Eleni) fighting for love and freedom. An odyssey in and out of prisons during the dark period between the Greek civil war until the end of ...

Actors : Beano, Darwyn Carson, John McCafferty, Robyn Blythe,
Directors : Mark Pirro,

Chuck Toedan's the host of a gameshow featuring death row convicts competeing in life-or-death contests in hopes of cheating the executioner or, at the very least, winning some nice prizes ...

Actors : Suzane Carvalho, Gloria Cristal, Rossana Ghessa, Henri Pagnoncelli,
Directors : Michele Massimo Tarantini,

The young, pretty and shy Angela Duvall is jailed for murder in a Brazilian prison. Whilst there she is brutally "initiated" by the other inmates. The nice, honest and handsome prison ...