Best Prison movies of 1970s

Actors : Mickey Rooney, Luana Anders, Keenan Wynn,
Directors : Yabo Yablonsky,

An insane Hollywood makeup man kidnaps a woman, keeps her prisoner in his warehouse full of props.

Actors : Barbara Werle, Stefanie Powers, Aldo Ray, James Caan,
Directors : Bernard Girard,

After being framed, a cowboy is sent to jail. After his time is served, he leaves with vengeance in his heart. Soon he meets a young Native American woman and together they go to settle their score with a small town and its corrupt leader.

Actors : Simone Signoret, Bruno Cremer, Charlotte Rampling, Edwige Feuillère,
Directors : Patrice Chéreau,

A disturbed young woman is kept prisoner in a castle by her aunt for her money. The game-keeper, her guardian, tries to rape her but she escapes. In her flight she meets a man also running ...

Actors : Giuliano Gemma, Miguel Bosé, Chris Avram, William Berger,
Directors : Michele Lupo,

After the Civil War, Michael "California" Random, is released from prison and goes to Missouri with his partner William. He is killed by bandits. California decides to return the belongings to his family and help them against outlaws.

Actors : Georges Wilson, Riccardo Cucciolla, Franco Nero, John Steiner,
Directors : Damiano Damiani,

Because of a violation of traffic regulations an architect is put in prison. There he witnesses the grim reality of life behind bars: corrupt staff, corrupt inmates, an inhuman judicial system and the power of the Mafia.

Actors : Peter Fonda, John Crawford, Susan Saint James, James T. Callahan,
Directors : Richard T. Heffron,

Susan St. James helps Peter Fonda, an ex-convict who goes after the country music star who stole his song and made it a hit.

Actors : Vadim Glowna, Michel Galabru, Romy Schneider, Brad Dourif,
Directors : Aleksandar Petrovic,

The story follows the life of a regular German women Leni Gruyten during 1930s and 1940s. Through her interactions with friends, family and other people she knows, the regular folks' perception of the Nazi era is shown.

Actors : Pavle Vuisic, Aco Jovanovski, Risto Siskov, Darko Damevski,
Directors : Kiril Cenevski,

The story of Macedonian soldiers who were captured by the Greek army and taken to the prison camps on Greek islands during Greek Civil War in 1946. Suspected of being communists, they are maltreated by the Greek officers running the camp.

Actors : Martin Balsam, Paola Pitagora, Adalberto Maria Merli, Terence Hill,
Directors : Eriprando Visconti,

Luisa Latin, betrayed by her husband, is imprisoned for the murder of her husband's mistress - who is still alive. When Luisa is released from prison, she kills her.

Actors : Patrizia Gori, Jacqueline Laurent, Jack Taylor, Jacques Marbeuf,
Directors : Alain Payet,

A female Russian doctor is taken prisoner into a château where German officers go for entertainment, and she struggles both against imprisonment and the sadistic female warden.

Actors : Ediz Hun, Bülent Kayabas, Filiz Akin, Hayati Hamzaoglu,
Directors : Orhan Aksoy,

Zeynep lives with his old father. She has lost her ability to speak because of an accident. She needs an operation in order to be able to talk again. One day, five prison fugitives come to ...

Actors : Patrizia Gori, Richard Allan, Dominique Aveline, Malisa Longo,
Directors : Patrice Rhomm,

Vicious warden Helga runs the castle penitentiary Stilberg for female political prisoners with an iron fist. Stubborn and recalcitrant new inmate Elisabeth Vogel, who's the daughter of a ...

Actors : Ching Tien, Feng Yu, Mu Chu, Lung Ti,

Wu Sung, a military swordmaster, is acused of murdering his adulterous sister-in-law and a thug, and sent to exile in Meng Chou. At the prison camp, Shih En, son of the camp commander, ...

Actors : Bryan Brown, Gary Waddell, Max Phipps, Dennis Miller,
Directors : Stephen Wallace,

Filmed in the Clare Valley, Gladstone and the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, this prison movie was inspired by the true life prison riot at Bathurst Jail in 1974 and its subsequent Royal Commission into New South Wales Prisons.

Actors : Tallie Cochrane, Jabie Abercrombe, Donna Young, Rene Bond,
Directors : Stephen C. Apostolof,

Five inmates break out of a women's prison. Four of them are hardened convicts, but one is a girl who was convicted for a crime she didn't commit. As the authorities chase them down, the ...

Actors : Joe Don Baker, Gabriel Dell, John Marley, Conny Van Dyke,
Directors : Phil Karlson,

A gambler kills a sheriff in self defense. But as everyone in conspiring against him, he is condemned to a long sentence in prison.

Actors : James Booth, Lee J. Cobb, David Janssen, Jean Seberg,
Directors : Bernard L. Kowalski,

Macho Callahan breaks out of a Confederate military prison, intent on revenge against the man responsible for his imprisonment. Unfortunately, along the way, he kills another man and that man's vengeful widow tracks down Callahan.

Actors : André Le Gall, Paul Muller, Marion Game, Jean-Pierre Mocky,
Directors : Jean-Pierre Mocky,

A prisoner escapes and kidnaps a woman with her he falls in love. He's involved in a bad business where politicians and underworld are leading the dance.He'll die like the albatross in ...

Actors : Viera Strnisková, Július Vasek, Václav Helsus, Magda Vásáryová,
Directors : Jaromil Jires,

Towards the end of 1942 a young prisoner Maruska (Magda Vásáryová) awaits in her cell in prison in Breslau (after war Polish Wroclaw) her execution. After death sentence it was ninety nine ...

Actors : Linda Haynes, Geoffrey Lewis, Ellen Travolta, Lurene Tuttle,
Directors : Gregory Goodell,

A demented prison doctor performs gruesome shock therapy experiments on inmates.