Best Prison movies of 1980s

Actors : Diogo Dória, Teresa Menezes, Mário Barroso, Francisco Brás,
Directors : Manoel de Oliveira,

The life of a young man, son of an English officer who lets himself become a prisoner of love resulting in fatalism and disgrace.

Actors : Chema Muñoz, Xabier Elorriaga, Mario Pardo, Ramón Balenziaga,
Directors : Imanol Uribe,

In the summer of 1977, a political prisoner, living in exile, recounts the circumstances of his escape to a journalist: in April 76, a group of ETA members planned to escape from prison, ...

Actors : Harold Sakata, Jang Lee Hwang, Bruce Le, André Koob,

Reformed criminal and ace martial artist Bruce decides to go straight and settle down with his girlfriend after being released from prison. The gang he used to be part of kidnap the ...

Actors : Sally Yeh, Joyce H. Cheng, Brigitte Lin, Hui-Shan Yang,
Directors : Yen-Ping Chu,

A group of women with various criminal skills are thrown into prison during World War 2. They escape and proceed to head off to destroy a chemical lab in a well fortified valley.

Actors : Nikolai Sotirov, Vania Tzvetkova, Ivan Ivanov, Valcho Kamarashev,
Directors : Nikola Rudarov,

This is a psychological whodunit. The action is tense and there are many ups and downs. Vas, a young militiaman, has to pose as a ex-prisoner and infiltrate an international gang of ...

Actors : Linda Jones, Alessandro Freyberger, Rita Silva, Ajita Wilson,
Directors : Gianni Siragusa,

Julia, a famous physician, infiltrates a prison in an attempt to find a witness to her sister's killing, but instead she becomes the victim of a sadistic warden's sexual brutality.

Actors : José Dumont, Nildo Parente, Glória Pires, Carlos Vereza,
Directors : Nelson Pereira dos Santos,

Graciliano Ramos' period he spent in prison after being considered a subversive element by the government.

Actors : Victoria Abril, Richard Bohringer, Richard Berry, Farid Chopel,
Directors : Denis Amar,

Conflict between a hardened prison inmate and a ruthless prison guard.

Actors : John Laughlin, Michael Paré, Richard Farnsworth, Lee Purcell,
Directors : Conrad E. Palmisano,

In this sci-fi/western film set two hundred years from now, a bank robber, Grange is captured and sentenced to the penal colony on the mining planet Proxima Centauri 3 where he meets ...

Actors : T.J. Glenn, Mary Ann Schacht, Joe Niola, Joseph Eero,
Directors : W.J. Parolini,

After 16 years in prison, Igor and his gang are out and bent on taking revenge on the town that sent them up.

Actors : Richard Harris, Lindsay Wagner, James Coburn, Justin Henry,
Directors : Alan Gibson,

Threatened with recapture after a prison escape, Martin Stechert grabs a twelve-year-old as hostage. He proves to be named Martin, too, a quiet "good little boy" always obeying the rules, ...

Actors : Jorge Emilio Salazar, Sebastián Ospina, María Eugenia Dávila, Gustavo Angarita,
Directors : Jorge Alí Triana,

A man is released from prison, and after 18 years, returns to his "pueblo" (village). But in this village, time, in many ways, has stood still. The time served by Juan complied with the ...

Actors : Mammootty, Sumalatha, Urvashi, Babu Namboothiri,
Directors : Joshi,

Ravi Varma, who is sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife, tells his story to his wife's sister, a news reporter, about the true story of what happened.

Actors : Carey Zuris, Rick Gianasi, Natalie O'Connell, Teresa Farley,
Directors : Tim Kincaid,

Inmates at a women's prison run by a corrupt warden and her gang of sadistic guards plan a breakout.

Actors : Kin Shriner, Karen Chase, Sandy Martin, Roberta Collins,
Directors : Bruce Logan,

A sexy stuntwoman gets herself thrown into prison to avenge the death of her sister.

Actors : Edward Asner, Rene Auberjonois, Jim Metzler, Susan Tyrrell,
Directors : Alan Shapiro,

A counterfeiter finds the true meaning of the holidays.

Actors : Akiko Kana, Riki Takeuchi, Shima Iwashita, Rino Katase,
Directors : Hideo Gosha,

While her husband is in prison doing time, Tamaki, the wife of a yakuza capo, runs her spouse's gang with an iron hand. Meanwhile, Makoto, her younger sister, marries a member of a rival ...

Actors : Pierre Curzi, Marie Tifo, Robert Gravel, Jacques Godin,
Directors : Yves Simoneau,

A government ministry's fast-rising head of security asks a shadowy fixer, Meursault, to steal a bag from an armored truck. Meursault goes to Théo, a former night club owner, in prison for ...

Actors : Howard Knight, William J. Kulzer, Melanie Coll, Judi Trevor,
Directors : Eric Louzil,

A former female cop is framed by corrupt police, acting in collusion with the local judge, and has to fight her way out of the pen, alone, against tough inmates, and the people in charge.

Actors : Sergi Mateu, Assumpta Serna, Raul Solnado, Patrick Bauchau,
Directors : José Fonseca e Costa,

In Portugal, in the 60s, the corpse of a man appears on Dog's Beach. The corpse is identified as the major Dantas, a man wanted by authorities after his escape from a military prison where he was awaiting trial for insurrection.